xp professional installation question...

[Feticeira]

i currently have xp home edition on my pc, i was
wondering if i would be able to install the xp
professional version without having to reformat my
drives, basically just install it over the home edition.
is that possible?

 

[purplehaz]

Yes, if you have a retail version of xp you can do an upgrade install which
keeps all settings and programs.
An oem version of xp will only do a clean install.

 

[Alex Nichol]

i currently have xp home edition on my pc, i was
wondering if i would be able to install the xp
professional version without having to reformat my
drives, basically just install it over the home edition.
is that possible?

Yes, using the regular Pro Upgrade CD. First make sure you *need* one
of the facilities in Pro that is not in Home - apart from these the
systems are identical and you should not waste money on Pro just because
it sounds macho.

See for example
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_home_pro.asp