Removin Upgrade OS...

Starter

I upgraded my xp home machine to xp pro using the evaluation version. If I want to go back to xp home, probably when it expires, what do I do? I thought there was a way to uninstall the upgrade using add/remove programs but there isn't any.

johnnynodough

nope, your gonna have to wipe clean and reload XP home.

Starter

In that case, I want to be able to re-activate xp pro. Can I do that before the current install expires? Do I have to reinstall it? I wanna be able to do it without losing any data.

Starter

One other questions:

How many times can the evaluation version of windows xp pro be reinstalled?

shadown7

At school we used xp pro eval for the XP pro class. We installed them on 20 computers using the same key and they all activated. But on the other hand I installed my eval copy at home and activated it once. Then I had to reload the system before the 120 days because I had a crash and my same key would not activate it. So, it really is weird how that works.

Chivalry1

You will have to reload the entire OS. When you upgrade Windows 98 to Windows XP pro you can remove it from the Add/Remove Program menu. But you can only do this on a Windows 98 to XP upgrade.

* I am not a MCSE or anything............. But I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night!*

Drakonblayde

Microsoft upgrades are bad juju. If you're going to change OS'es on a longterm basis, you're better off just installing from scratch. If you're just evaluating.. well, I still think you're better off wiping and installing from scratch. I have a test box (or as I affectionately call it, my break box) for just such a purpose. VMWare also pretty nice for testing OS'es.

Uninstalling a Microsoft OS upgrade is a sure way to guarentee you're going to be wiping the drive. Save yourself the hour and a half of headache and just do a new install.

yanqui

starter wrote:

I upgraded my xp home machine to xp pro using the evaluation version. If I want to go back to xp home, probably when it expires, what do I do? I thought there was a way to uninstall the upgrade using add/remove programs but there isn't any.

Is there anything on teh Microsoft KB's about this? What did the information say that came with the evaluation copy? Any indication about what would happen?

XP HOme to XP Pro is more about features than system-deep operations, and an evaluation copy might just be running on top of the installed system; otherwise, there'd be no option not to buy it, in which case MIcrosoft would be involved in a huge class action lawsuit, because informed consent is a major part of contract law.

Starter

yanqui wrote:

starter wrote:

I upgraded my xp home machine to xp pro using the evaluation version. If I want to go back to xp home, probably when it expires, what do I do? I thought there was a way to uninstall the upgrade using add/remove programs but there isn't any.

Is there anything on teh Microsoft KB's about this? What did the information say that came with the evaluation copy? Any indication about what would happen?

XP HOme to XP Pro is more about features than system-deep operations, and an evaluation copy might just be running on top of the installed system; otherwise, there'd be no option not to buy it, in which case MIcrosoft would be involved in a huge class action lawsuit, because informed consent is a major part of contract law.

I'm sorry but I didn't get your point at all.

Drakonblayde

He's basically saying that if there's no way to remove it, then Microsoft could possibly be the target of a class action lawsuit because, if you can't uninstall the evaluation, you have no way to remove it (short of flattening the disk), and therefore are left with no option but to buy XP Pro in order to use your computer. Whether or not that would be true would depend on what that cute little EULA that you have to agree to before the installation says. If they tell you flat up that if you install this, and you decide not to buy it, you're kinda screwed, then there's no room for a lawsuit. Just because no one actually READS an EULA doesn't mean it's not valid.

Starter

Thanks for your point Yangui and Drakonblayde for your explanation.

It appears I'm gonna have to format my hard drive and reinstall xp pro once more.

Thanks all for your suggestions.

yanqui

johnnynodough wrote:

nope, your gonna have to wipe clean and reload XP home.

Yeah, that's what Microsoft says, in their kb. After the evaluation period is up, 180 days, your system will not load windows. YOu will be prompted to do a clean install of XP Home or purchase a retail version of XP Pro and install it. It's not like shareware where the software stays on your computer in full until you unlock it with a digital key. This is a genuine evaluation that will absolutely stop working when the evaluation period is up.

Are there features in the Pro version that you like enough to buy it?

yanqui

Drakonblayde wrote:

He's basically saying that if there's no way to remove it, then Microsoft could possibly be the target of a class action lawsuit because, if you can't uninstall the evaluation, you have no way to remove it (short of flattening the disk), and therefore are left with no option but to buy XP Pro in order to use your computer. Whether or not that would be true would depend on what that cute little EULA that you have to agree to before the installation says. If they tell you flat up that if you install this, and you decide not to buy it, you're kinda screwed, then there's no room for a lawsuit. Just because no one actually READS an EULA doesn't mean it's not valid.

That's true enough. Lots of software companies have been pretty good about letting you know what to expect from an install, so that you know what's normal and what's not. Even Microsoft has done some of that, I know that with DX9, there were a couple of things that they advised about that made me stop and wonder if I really needed DX9. That sort of information is usually available at the download site, something like "After you install this version, you will not be able to revert to your previous operating system without a clean install;" but once again, if you don't read it, you'll never know about it.

The EULA isn't supposed to be the place for technical advisories, it's an End User License Agreement that is only supposed to tell you how you're allowed to use the software, on how many machines or how many times or for how many users. If any software vendor starts using the EULA for technical advisories, the whole EULA for that vendor will be determined to be invalid. Technical information is not part of Licensing.

Drakonblayde

The EULA isn't supposed to be the place for technical advisories, it's an End User License Agreement that is only supposed to tell you how you're allowed to use the software, on how many machines or how many times or for how many users. If any software vendor starts using the EULA for technical advisories, the whole EULA for that vendor will be determined to be invalid. Technical information is not part of Licensing.

True, but you could argue that basically saying 'If you don't pay for this software within x days, your computer goes boom' isn't really a technical advisory, it's a notification of the limits of the evaluation license, which certainly is appropriate in the EULA.

But that's just semantics anyway. Some common sense needs to be involved, especially with Microsoft products.... if you're installing an evaluation version, you better not care about the box it's going on hehe

Starter

yanqui wrote:

johnnynodough wrote:

nope, your gonna have to wipe clean and reload XP home.

Are there features in the Pro version that you like enough to buy it?

The only reason why I installed Pro was because I needed to join a windows 2003 domain I setup on my other computers. But I'll be installing the evaluation version one more time because I'm not going to shell out $275 for a software.

yanqui

Drakonblayde wrote:

But that's just semantics anyway. Some common sense needs to be involved, especially with Microsoft products.... if you're installing an evaluation version, you better not care about the box it's going on hehe

Common sense is going to have to be on the part of the user!

If Microsoft was really interested in doing things right, though, they'd have a huge ugly-colored popup during installation saying:

THIS IS AN EVALUATION COPY, AND IT WILL EXPIRE IN XXX DAYS. HOWEVER, THIS IS AN INSTALLED OPERATING SYSTEM. AT THE END OF THE EVALUATION PERIOD, YOU WILL HAVE TO PERFORM A FULL INSTALLATION OF SOME FORM OF OPERATING SYSTEM.

not likely to happen, but SHOULD--because some things are too important to bury in small print. If McDonalds can be forced to put "Caution--contents are hot" on a coffee cup, Microsoft should be forced to do the same--but it won't happen wihtout a lawsuit.

and until Linux gains more popularity with software developers, it won't happen anyway. there has to be somewhere to go, so that people can walk away from Redmond. Actually, Linux has every type of productivity software that Windows has; it's the recreational software that's lagging behind, but look for that to chnage as well. Eventually we'll see better support for Linux systems, and that will be when Microsoft will have to tighten up on the things they SHOULD do but don't HAVE to.

yanqui

starter wrote:

yanqui wrote:

johnnynodough wrote:

nope, your gonna have to wipe clean and reload XP home.

Are there features in the Pro version that you like enough to buy it?

The only reason why I installed Pro was because I needed to join a windows 2003 domain I setup on my other computers. But I'll be installing the evaluation version one more time because I'm not going to shell out $275 for a software.

Good luck with that, but I doubt you'll be able to do it. Surf the web--you might come up with a better deal.

bighusker

You can get a student version of the XP Upgrade CD for like $82, nowhere near $275. Then there's always "alternative methods" that shouldn't be mentioned.

Starter

yanqui wrote:

starter wrote:

yanqui wrote:

johnnynodough wrote:

nope, your gonna have to wipe clean and reload XP home.

Are there features in the Pro version that you like enough to buy it?

The only reason why I installed Pro was because I needed to join a windows 2003 domain I setup on my other computers. But I'll be installing the evaluation version one more time because I'm not going to shell out $275 for a software.

Good luck with that, but I doubt you'll be able to do it. Surf the web--you might come up with a better deal.

I don't see any reason why I shouldn't be able to wipe clean the xp pro and clean install my old xp home. What kind of problem do you think I'm gonna have?

shadown7

You shouldn't have any problems!! I did the same thing a couple months ago and it worked fine.