I have 6 computer running XP Home. I want to order XP Professional and install it on these computer. I would like to order the Full Version of XP Professional. Is the FULL VERSION of XP Professional capable of upgrading my XP Home machines without deleting the files and programs or do I have to by XP Pro UPGRADE.
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yes it is, the only difference is what you are licensed for.
the Full version is a whole license (ie if you didn't have anything installed at all) while the upgrade is to upgrade from another version of windows.
why do you want to order the full, when all you need is the upgrade since you already have XP home?
given the differences between XP Home and XP Pro, I think you would be much better off copying your user info off of the Home workstations and using a clean install (i.e. completely erase the XP Home Harddrives). There are versioning issues and patching issues that could cause an unstable upgrade.
there is a product by a company called powerquest that was called deploy center that could enable you to save the user data off of one machine and install it onto another machine with little hassle. I was able to move a user from windows 98 to xp in less than an hour.
that was bought by symantec and it looks like it is now called Symantec LiveState™ Recovery, I would look at the Desktop version for your needs.
HTH
-t
I hear your frustration jt-
I mispoke about the Full licensed CD not working, according to the link on the support.microsoft.com, it is possible to do, but I still think it is a bad idea if you are trying to upgrade a machine that has been patched or updated. The upgrade disk will not accomodate those changes correctly.
I have tried to upgrade every windows OS from 95 on up and found out in every situation that I spent more time massaging the updated machine than I would if I had just wiped it clean and done a clean install.
-t
ignore decleur's comment, it is incorrect.
this link clearly says that windows xp home to windows xp pro is a supported upgrade path with either the full or upgrade pro CD.
http://support.microsoft.c
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by: dsc18Posted on 2005-06-22 at 12:55:30ID: 14278894
EE already has a lot of info on this subject posted!
Yes, you can use XP pro CD (full version) to upgrade your Windows XP Home to Windows XP Professional. It will just upgrade the operating system and you will not lose your files. Your existing applications will continue to work. Take a look at this page:
Windows XP Supported Upgrade Paths
http://support.microsoft.c
However if you have installed service packs for XP home already you may run into problems trying to upgrade to XP Pro with no SP. What service pack level are you at on the xp home devices?