XP UPGRADE FROM HOME TO PROF 1

[BWayne2k]

Hello, i recently upgraded a win98 computer with the home edition of xp, but i want to change it to XP Prof. instead. Does anyone know if I can use the XP Prof. full cd to upgrade, or do I have to get a WIN XP PRO upgrade.

I had Win98 - used Win XP Home Upgrade
I want to put Win XP Prof. over XP home,
Do I need XP PRO. upgrade
Or can I use XP Pro. Full version (OEM, Retail)????
Thanks

 

[FatFingerTony]

I don't think you can upgrade from XP Home to XP Pro. I think you'd have to do a new install of the OS.
Why do you want to upgrade to Pro anyway?

 

[mikecx]

FatFingerTony,
Sitting in a boring meeting one day I heard that some of the comapies users had accidentaly purchased Home Edition. These computers *HAVE* to be on the network. One of the tech guys called microsoft and found out that there are only a few registry changes keeping home from being pro. I have no idea who it was that called, or what needs to be changed but in the meeting it was also said that the machines were unstable after the changes.

There is no home to pro cd that you can buy and I doubt microsoft will tell a home user ( they tend to act different towards a company with a lot of servers and tons of computers ). Only way I can see for you is to either stick with home edition, or if you really need Pro do a clean install.

(P.S. sometimes stuff heard in meetings is BS, i'm just going by what I heard)

 

[linney]

Windows XP Versions: Comparative Pricing & Capabilities Win XP Edition Street Price What It Does. XP home can be upgraded to Pro.

http://www.cit.cornell.edu/computer/system/winxp.html#path

Win XP Home Edition

Retail “Full” $199 Clean Install & Upgrade

Retail “Upgrade” $99 Clean Install & Upgrade;
Requires you to have Qualifying Previous Version

OEM “Full” $90-$95 Clean Install only;
No Microsoft support


Win XP Professional

Retail “Full” $299 Clean Install & Upgrade

Retail “Upgrade” $199 Clean Install & Upgrade;
Requires you to have Qualifying Previous Version

OEM “Full” $140-$145 Clean Install only;
No Microsoft Support

 

[BWayne2k]

Thanks for the information, i suppose that im just going to format the pc and install a fresh copy of Winxp Pro. I needed to install XP Pro because the home edition doesn't have some options for networks like adding the pc to a domain the way that XP Pro does. (logging on to a domain, i can still connected but then some users will be complaining about having to do extra things to get to the shared drives, i'd rather just get xp pro.)

 

[DiamondSyxx]

The XP Pro Upgrade will work with XP Home. Microsoft also offers a "Step-Up" rebate on Home-to-Pro users, but with some tight restrictions: Home Edition has to be preinstalled on a computer you bought, and you have to have picked up the XP Pro Upgrade CD from the same retailer less than a month after you bought the new 'puter.

I'm running Home Edition at work, and the only problem with the network is that I have to type my domain username and password the first time I access it after powerup. After that, everything runs smoothly, even for other users on Pro, 2000, 98 and 95 seeing my shared stuff.

 

[FatFingerTony]

Wow, I never would have thought you could upgrade Home to Pro. You learn something new every day. Mikecx, yeah, it doesn't surprise me that you could change some reg keys and flip Home to Pro, they are damn near the same program, Home just has more restrictions. I heard the same thing for NT 4.0 Workstation to Server. Even the little bar graphic on the Start tab changes with the reg hack, but heck if I know what it is.

 

[RSA]

There is a program 'out there' called NT Switch, used to switch from NT Workstation to NT Server and vice-versa. It also works on 2000Pro/2000Server AND will transform XP in to a crippled version of .net (and an RC1 .net install in to XP Pro service pack 1!)

 

[rdwill657]

After purchasing a new PC with XP Home, I needed to upgrade to Pro to use all the features in VS .NET Enterprise edition. I got a MSDN subscription copy of Windows XP (the CD has both home and pro on it. The Pro installation recognized the Home and upgraded. The only problem to date was the "paging is disabled" error message after logging in. I learned that the Intel Accelerator software was disabled and I had to reinstall it.