Changing from Pro to Home

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giarc25

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 25, 2003
Messages
308
If I am currently running XP Pro SP2, could I install XP Home SP2 and overwrite the original install of XP Pro, or would this be problematic? I know the best theory would be to do a clean format/reinstall, however I have gobs of information on my system that would be tedious to backup and restore on a new system.

thanks
 
Not sure if that would work or not, of if the installer would allow such a thing.

Havne't tried to go backwards yet.. :rolleyes:

Any reason for jumping back to the Home Edition vs. Pro?
 
Without a format I'd say your just asking for trouble and if it really hoses then you may just lose it all.....back it up and do it clean is my suggestion..

and why would you want to drop from pro to home anyways.
 
l337zax said:
Not sure if that would work or not, of if the installer would allow such a thing.

Havne't tried to go backwards yet.. :rolleyes:

Any reason for jumping back to the Home Edition vs. Pro?
Click to expand...

Misplaced my XP Pro disc and key during a move......going to buy a new XP Home version to save money...

The computer is starting to get a little skittish on me, had the current install for over a year now.....time to clean up.

anyone else have any insight on this?
 
It may or may not work, but it wouldn't take any longer to do a full clean install anyway, so why not choose the safe route?
 
getting the key off that machine, should be simple.. just spend 30 seconds on google and then borrow someone elses disk, shouldnt be to hard, just make sure you get the same type of disk that you originally used... OEM or Retail or VLK,
 
hulksterjoe said:
getting the key off that machine, should be simple.. just spend 30 seconds on google and then borrow someone elses disk, shouldnt be to hard, just make sure you get the same type of disk that you originally used... OEM or Retail or VLK,
Click to expand...

He's right. Keep in mind it's not the disc that makes you legal, it's the key.
 
giarc25 said:
Misplaced my XP Pro disc and key during a move......going to buy a new XP Home version to save money...

The computer is starting to get a little skittish on me, had the current install for over a year now.....time to clean up.

anyone else have any insight on this?
Click to expand...

First let me say that if it's a pirated Pro load and your getting legal by buying Home, that is OK to talk about on the forums.

That being said, you probably don't need to reload. You can get the key off your machine from Magical Jelly Bean. I would assume you can get a copy of the Pro disk (copied CDs are NOT illegal, unlicensed software is).

Now if your actually buying Home because you lost your Pro license (a piece of paper), CDkey, and CD I'm wondering why? Are you really buying replacement software to stay legal when you have a legal key?!? IMO, that's a bit "too" honest. You do own the software if you purchased it, MS or the BSA isn't going to come after a single install who's key hasn't been used on a plethora of other systems.

edit: well I guess I should add something else, I have heard people go from home --> Pro with no real issues, but I have not ever heard someone back-step like this. I do foresee some problems as it's a downgrade. The upgrade (home->pro) is adding files (functionality), not taking them away. You can always "give it a whirl" and the worse case is you have to reload anyways. Little can be lost, your expecting to reload now, and the install over the top won't take long to figure out if it's going to work or no. The gain is nice however, not having to reinstall... If it doesn't work, format and move on.

Good luck.

 
You can clean install home over the top of pro no problems. Run winnt32 or do a CD boot and it will ask you if you want to overwrite the old windows directory by hitting L, and you say yes. Phoenix is right though, Microsoft doesn't care what CD you used to install it's all about the Prodkey and the License certificate.
 
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