Windows XP professional help!!

by Louismoore16 Sep 3, 2010 2:08AM PDT

Hello, one of my familys old pcs has got very slow and has a lot of crap on there. I thinking of wiping everything off and upgrading the hardware to be better. I was unable to find the OS disk that came with it. It is currently windows XP home edition, is it possible to whipe everything off and update it with a windows XP professional disk??
Thanks in advance

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Re: wiping

by Kees Bakker Sep 3, 2010 2:15AM PDT

After wiping it's wiped. So you can put on it whatever you like, if you have the right license. But it isn't called an 'update' then. It's a "clean install".

So you need:
- an unused retail copy of any Windows version (a copy that's currently being used can't be activated with the license key and an OEM copy is not transferable to another machine).
or
- any Linux install CD (no license needed).

Kees

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Help

by Louismoore16 Sep 3, 2010 2:28AM PDT

Thanks for your reply!
So are you saying I could not activate a windows XP professional OS with a windows XP home edition key?
Cheers

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That's right

by MarkFlax Forum moderator Sep 3, 2010 6:23AM PDT

They are two different OSs.

But if you have a Windows XP Professional retail Setup CD and it has not been used anywhere else, then you can use the key for that.

You may have to watch out for and find drivers, eg motherboard/chipset drivers, video card, sound card, and so on, and if this system is using SATA hard drives that brings it's own problems. XP doesn't recognise SATA so you would have to install those off a floppy disk during the XP setup process.

Mark

Windows XP professional help!!

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