Just got my new HP Compaq pc with XP Pro pre-installed. It's fully elgible
for a vista upgrade to the buisness edition. But it's for the familly pc? I
want home premium instead .
Surely this must be possible somehoe, it won't let me swap on the upgrade
website. Why do we want the buisness edition?
Any help on how to solve this would be great. Thanks!
,chuteuk
In typical Microsoft arrogance and stupidity they consider doing what
you want to do (I'm in a similar situtation) a "downgrade" not a
upgrade. I've had XP Pro installed for years. I got that version only
because I wanted to try the build-in file encription and a couple
other features that isn't part of the "standard" version of XP. I
tried the supposedly "better" features only part of XP Pro and didn't
end up using any of them anyway and yes... I use my computer, actual
several in business.
Fast forward to Vista. The retail packaging and marketing strongly
suggests the BEST version of Vista for MOST users is Home Premium. The
upgrade costs $160. That's what I orignally picked up. Like most
people I didn't read the fine print that says you can only do a clean
install if you already have XP Pro. Which of course is a stupid policy
and makes no sense. Since I have nearly 2 TB of files, that wasn't a
practical option. So I had to run out and buy a 2nd upgrade package,
the business upgrade version so I could install in place, which means
I'd save a week at least, avoiding having to reinsall all my software
and data files.
The business version cost me $200 to upgrade and not only contains
crap I didn't want or need, I'm stuck with that version unless I want
to do a clean install which I don't. Worse, the "business" version
doens't have all the new features I did want that the Home premium
version did; some of the newer multimedia features.
So right now I'm out of pocket $160 for a version I don't want and
can't get a refund from the store since it is "opened" software. I'll
have to go through the hassle of sending it back directly to
Microsoft, wait probably months for a credit or refund, pay UPS
shipping and for this privilage I am forced to pay $40 more for the
business version for features I didn't want and won't likely ever use
plus I lose features I did want.
Some foolish posters, aka Microsoft butt kissers which infest
newsgroups like this suggested my "solution" would have been to waste
more money and get the "Ultimate" version which does include what's in
the Home Premium, but that would cost another $50 which to me seemed a
stupid business decision.
So sorry to run on, but I see no solution to your situation aside from
throwing more money at it.
