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CEHJFlag for United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

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XP Pro installer and downgrading

I was wondering whether it's possible to install the standard edition (i can't remember its name now) from an XP Pro Installer?
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Yes, thanks, but i've seen that.
Then get your XP Home CD, boot from it and perform a "repair install".
The motivation for my question is precisely that i don't have an 'XP Home CD'
my apologies on your original question you did not mention what have you tried so far. Have you tried anything else?
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i assume that you do not have a home licence either?
why do you want to install the home edition of the software if you have a xp pro version of the software. Unless you only have a license key for the home edition. If you have a home edition product key you will need a home version of the installation disc. If the product key is an oem key then you will need a oem home version of the installation disc.
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Nope, you need an XP Home CD
Thanks - i feared that might be the case
i assume that you do not have a home licence either?
I'm only interested in situations where the user does have a Home licence
Unless you only have a license key for the home edition. If you have a home edition product key you will need a home version of the installation disc.
That's the case
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As long as you have an XP Home license then download and run the ModeSwitch file linked to in your original post.  Use it to move from Pro to Home, then boot from your Home CD and run the repair reinstall. You will be prompted for the activation Key for XP Home that matches the CD you are using.

See also my reistallation article
https://www.experts-exchange.com/OS/Microsoft_Operating_Systems/Windows/XP/A_3218-XP-OEM-and-the-repair-reinstallation-a-cautionary-tale.html

NB the ModeSwitch util is unsupported and could be construed as a hack, repairing the install after using it restores the original system but the middle stage is very much a "at your own risk" process.  If it all goes pear-shaped a repair using the Pro CD that matches your current install will undo everything.
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nobus, that looks ok in theory, but the driver business seems like a pita. The whole thing looks pretty long-winded ;)
you can use nLite if it is any better for you.
i posted it works fine - i did not add that it's dona in a mouse click or 2
you have to do some work
as for drivers - you can always download them from the manufacturer site (best approach)
or use the lazy solution :  www.drivereasy.com
There is a risk with the HowToHaven option, this is designed for repairing the system that contains the \i386 folder not a separate machine - it will work in many cases but again you are creating a CD that is has the same licensing arrangements as the machine it is created from - so you could have a CD you don't have the right activation key for or it may be for a different manufacturer.  Just a heads up.

Drivers shouldn't be a problem if they are already installed - Home and Pro use the same driver files and the registry entries for them are identical.  If you manage to move successfully from Pro to Home without reinstalling there's no reason for the drivers not to be good to go immediately.

CEHJ, I read your comment as you have an XP Home CD and license - did I get that bit wrong?  If you've got the CD already and it's the same or better Service Pack as the XP Pro install you want to downgrade you don't need to create yet another CD.
As MASQUERAID pointed out, you'll need an XP Home CD in order to install XP Home. You can't install XP Home from an XP Pro install disc.

He also mentioned making sure the XP Home disc has the same licensing type as the product key you have for the machine. Check his guide on XP install discs and licensing:
https://www.experts-exchange.com/OS/Microsoft_Operating_Systems/Windows/XP/A_3218-XP-OEM-and-the-repair-reinstallation-a-cautionary-tale.html


If the user doesn't have the proper XP Home CD, they cannot do an install of XP Home.


Note that most manufacturers nowadays ship their desktops and laptops without Windows install discs. Instead, they place a "recovery partition" on the drive that can restore the drive to the original state in shipped in. They also typically include a utility for the user to create recovery discs in order to perform the recovery in the case of a replaced drive. This is the recommended method of "reinstallation" for most PCs for the past decade. Look at the user manual for the specific model PC to see how to perform this type of recovery.
Masqueraid - i use that cd to install and repair on many boards - test, repair, install - no problem
of course - for activating Xp you'll need your key
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Thanks folks