DavidF said:
I scanned the group for this, but could not find an answer. I
have XP home installed, but need to upgrade to XP pro. I do have
a legal, full copy of XP Pro...not OEM.
Can I do an upgrade installation or do I need to do a reformat
and start from scratch? Any advice or words of caution would be
appreciated. Also links to proper procedure, etc. Also if there
is a better group to post this question...
Strange you could'nt find that topic,its as old as XP
itself....No one can not
upgrade from xp home to xp pro,microsoft has always said "a clean
pro insta- llation" from home is required.Simply install xp pro
cd,boot to xp cd,select install xp,new copy,delete the partition
(xp home),create one,then let xp format & install auto.
Strange that you have never ever been able to provide even one link
to any Microsoft articles or other technical papers on this old as
XP itself topic.
I actually (originally) chose not to respond to Andrew this time on this
topic. Strangely - perhaps through a typo/brain malfunction - Andrew E.
actually got this one right - sort of. At least more correct than his usual
drivel concerning an inability to upgrade from Windows XP Home Edition to
Windows XP Professional Edition.
His sentence, this time around, actually states, "No one can not upgrade
from xp home to xp pro" I realized that in his broken-english manner, he
had actually gotten this one right (up to that point.) Double-negative
rules means his sentence equates to, "One can upgrade from XP Home to XP
Pro". If he had only stopped there.
The next part, as usual for this topic where Andrew is concerned, became
non-sensical and untrue.
"microsoft has always said "a clean pro insta- llation" from home is
required."
That sentence (again, in Andrew E. Broken english) is actually
misrepresentation. First - Andrew E. is unlikely authorized to make
statements for Microsoft. Second - Microsoft has (to my knowledge) never
said anything resembling that. In fact - they have a knowledge base article
that pretty much says the exact opposite.
I do this not to attack Andrew E., but point out an incorrect answer so that
others might come across the correction in the future and *not* follow the
advice given by Andrew E. - as it is incorrect.
For the OP - if you purchase/utilize a retail (Full or Upgrade) version of
Windows XP Professional (x86) edition, you can upgrade your Windows XP Home
Edition installation. It would be wise (as it is all the time) to backup
your system before you begin. After that - reboot once, log in as a user
with Administrative Priviledges, put in the WIndows XP Professional CD, if
it autoruns choose Upgrade, if it does not - open it so it does run and
choose upgrade. The rest should just 'happen' - as the move doesn't add all
that much in terms of visible features for most users.
If I might ask - what is your need for XP Professional over XP Home? Do you
need EFS? The ability to join a domain? Better user control? Better
file/folder sharing ability? Something else?