XP Pro installed over XP Home in a LAN 1

[angryfoot]

I will soon receive a new Dell Dimension 8200 with XP Home installed. I also have XP Pro Full, new in the box, never installed. My current computer is an HP running Windows ME,with a DSL Modem and a LinkSys 4 port router connecting my home LAN to another HP (and an occasional laptop for internet access only). I would like to keep the first HP
hooked up to the modem and put the Dell Dimension onto the LAN for file and printer sharing as well as internet access.

Questions:

1) Will there be any problems installing the XP Pro Full over the XP Home?

2) This question has to do with registering the XP Home with Microsoft, not with conflicts XP Upgrade Advisor detects. Dell Tech Support told me that the new Dell would come with a CD for Windows XP Home. What issues (such as licensing/registering) can I anticipate when I install the XP Home that comes with the Dell over the ME on the HP?

3) What issues can I expect regarding the LAN connectivity, even if I do not make any OS changes?

4) Since XP doesn't use NetBUIE, how can I tell what protocol I am currently using on ME?

Big BIG thanks!!!

 

[dilettante]

1.) I suspect you'll have no problem.

2.) Dell's "restore CDs" for their machines are usually full versions, but with a customized setup on 'em that verifies you are installing onto a Dell machine. Perhaps it checks the BIOS?

3.) People have had a lot of grief networking XP with other boxes, often because they get the XP firewall turned on without realizing it by using the New Connection Wizard.

Other issues generally stem from NetBEUI being used on the older systems. You CAN install NetBEUI on XP (it is on the CD, but not offered as part of Setup). You can also choose IPX/SPX as your "local" LAN protocol if you are worried about "leaking" your shares out to the Internet.

My LAN is behind a cable router that effectively isolates me via NAT, so I always purge all my computers of NetBEUI and IPX/SPX and run all TCP/IP. Works fine, lasts a long time.

4.) Look in your network properties. Geeze, can't remember where they buried them in Me - are they under Networking in Control Panel, or had they "modernized" these to someplace else under Me?

 

[Masterpjz9]

2) I don't think the xp home cd from dell will be able to install on you'r windows me pc