Change XP-Home to XP-Pro

Currently my OS is XP-Home, I want to change it by install XP-Pro. Anything I have to do before the change.

 

I did not run into any problems upgrading to Pro over the top of Home. Just like anytime you change your operating system it a good thing to do a backup first. As you never know how things may turn out.

 

As for any major upgrade, even though this one should be a foolproof as any, make sure everything in Home is working as it should. Run chkdsk and defragment. Run a virus scan and scan for malware.

If you use any boot screen managers that may have altered your boot.ini file, uninstall them.

Remove any virtual drives,and disable or remove your antivirus and firewalls.

Pretty much the same advice would apply as for installing SP2:

http://users.adelphia.net/~abraxas/pub/XPSP2Prep.rtf

It may well be that not all of these things are necessary, but the more prepared you are, the more likely that the transition will be a smooth one.

 

I agree with Abraxas

Shut down everything possible.

Also it helps to set the Video back to standard VGA.

BillyBob

 

Thanks to you all.

 

ltchang did not tell us whether the upgrade would occur with an XP Pro Upgrade CD or with a full retail XP Pro CD. Would the advice given be valid for either?

 

Hi Jim,

I was researching another issue and happened on this thread.

AFAIK, the only difference between "full retail" and "upgrade" is that the retail disc dowsn't need proof of a previous copy of Windows, while the upgrade does. So if I wanted to install XP - pro or home cleanly, I would use the upgrade, since I do have a previous windows, 98 is included, at approx half the cost.

Have done a clean install with XP home upgrade disc.

Regards - Charles

 

charlesvar--Thanks. I have had a full retail version WinXP Pro CD sitting in my CD rack for some months, but have been reluctant to install it over my existing WinXP Home (installed by Dell at the factory), feeling that it might wipe out all the other (personal) data on my hard drive.
You are telling me I should not have such concerns.

 

Yes, the install will detect the current installation and ask whether to upgrade or format/install.

Regards - Charles