Can I upgrade to XP Pro from XP Home

Okason

Hi all..Happy Thanskgiving Please can someone tell me if I can upgrade from XP Pro to XP Home without loosing all my personal settings or do I need to do a full back up. Either way whats the best way to go about this and/or whats the best backup tool to use.

mobri09

Do you mean downgrade from XP pro to XP home.
PRO is much better than home!

Okason

No I mean Puogarading from XP Home to XP Pro, I have XP Home installed and I want to Upgra de to XP Pro.

determinedgerman

Hey Okason,

Try this here. This is a upgrade checker from Microsoft. It will tell you if you are able to upgrade from Windows XP Home to Windows XP Pro or not.

Upgrade Advisor:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/upgrading/advisor.mspx

Upgrade Eligibility:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/upgrading/matrix.mspx

After looking at those links, YES you can upgrade to XP Pro but it will not tell you if you will loose data or not. I didn't read that far....

Hope this helps....

drainey

I have upgraded Home to Pro without loss of data and personal settings for clients, but in my book a clean install is always better. It's more work to back up your data, do a clean install, reinstall programs and tweak them the way you like them again, but you usually get a more stable system that way.

JDMurray

Reformatting is recommended when upgrading the actual operating system, such as going from Windows 98 to Windows XP. However, Windows XP Home and Pro are the same operating system. The major difference is that Pro comes with a few additional utilities and features that allow it to work in a Windows Active Directory environment.

Have a look at the comparison:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/choosing2.mspx

Webmaster

I agree. The reason for 'unstableness' after an upgrade is usually that the previous windows leaves artifacts and incompatibility between drivers/software and the new OS. When upgrading from XP home to XP pro that should not be an issue. Plus if you can always try an upgrade first.

NDoscher

I'm having the same issue here.

I need to upgrade home to pro. I do NOT want to format. I do NOT want a clean install. I just want to upgrade. How do I do it?

I boot from cd, follow directions, hit REPAIR because I need to repair my broken computer, and I get a message saying Which installation would i like to log on to? And then a blinking cursor. I type 1 then enter, type passwrod, then I'm brought to c prompt.

Again, I do not want to format unless it is absolutely necessary.

RussS

There are two usual ways to do an upgrade installation. The first way is to run the install from within Windows (this is the recommended way) and the second is to use the repair installation method. To do it that way you want to go for install at the first prompt and then select repair at the second prompt.

NDoscher

Can I repair be done while windows is running? IN other words, can I repair windows without having to screw up boot sequence at all?

I already did boot from cdrom and hit repair and stuff, but as I said, It just goes to c prompt afterwards. It doesn't start the repair

3000GT

I'm having the same issue here.

I need to upgrade home to pro. I do NOT want to format. I do NOT want a clean install. I just want to upgrade. How do I do it?

I boot from cd, follow directions, hit REPAIR because I need to repair my broken computer, and I get a message saying Which installation would i like to log on to? And then a blinking cursor. I type 1 then enter, type passwrod, then I'm brought to c prompt.

You are loading the Recovery console by the sounds of it, you need to select the option to install windows and not repair, it will then detect a previous version of windows and ask what version of XP you would like to repair.

NDoscher

Okay thank you. Everything is finally back up and running. Thanks again