XP Pro to XP Home

[Willy]

I purchased a used laptop that has what appears to be a pirated copy of XP
Pro on it. Would cost $129.00 from MS to get a valid CD Key. I can buy a
Upgrade of XP Home for $99.00. How or can I do the change without losing
all my other data on the hard drive?
Would appreciate any suggestions

 

[Og]

I purchased a used laptop that has what appears to be a pirated copy of XP
Pro on it. Would cost $129.00 from MS to get a valid CD Key. I can buy a
Upgrade of XP Home for $99.00. How or can I do the change without losing
all my other data on the hard drive?
Would appreciate any suggestions

Home is a *sub-set* of Pro.
Moving from Home to Pro = *downgrade*.
Downgrade can only be accomplished by formatting the hard drive and
installing Home on a bare drive. [e.g. you will lose all data that you have
not backed up to another medium.]
You can *not* use a Pro disk (pirated or not) as a qualifying product for
Home upgrade.
Steve

 

[Willy]

That's about what I thought Steve.

 

[Daave]

I purchased a used laptop that has what appears to be a pirated copy
of XP Pro on it.

What makes you think it's a pirated copy?

Does this laptop have a Certificate of Authenticity sticker on the
bottom?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I purchased a used laptop that has what appears to be a pirated copy of XP
Pro on it. Would cost $129.00 from MS to get a valid CD Key. I can buy a
Upgrade of XP Home for $99.00. How or can I do the change without losing
all my other data on the hard drive?

Two points:

1. You can not. Downgrades are supported, and a clean installation is
required.

2. You *should* do a clean installation, for another reason entirely.
If I bought a used computer, the first thing I would do with it would
be to reinstall the operating system cleanly. You have no idea how the
computer has been maintained, what has been installed incorrectly,
what is missing, what viruses and spyware there may be, etc. I
wouldn't want to live with somebody else's mistakes and problems,
possibility of kiddie porn, etc., and I wouldn't recommend that anyone
else do either.

 

[Willy]

No C of A on bottom plus it won't Validate when attempting to get Upgrades.
Tells me at that time it is possibly a pirated version.

 

[Willy]

Good point on your #2 Ken.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Good point on your #2 Ken.

You're welcome, Bill. Glad to help.