Win XP Pro Upgrade software

[Politically Incorrect]

Got a question.
I just bought a Compaq Presario lappy and it has Win XP Home installed on it, of course now they don't provide any cds with a new PC but instead a recovery partition and the option to create restore CDs.

I created the restore cds so I could delete the recovery partition to free up room (also deleted the preinstalled games 50 of the damn things, and all other fluff) it is a sad state of affairs when you buy a pc with a 80 gig HD just to find you only have 50gigs free at first boot .

Anyway does the Win XP Pro upgrade install on top of Win Xp Home? or is it basically a full install?
I don't see anything in the requirements stating you need to have any copy of Windows for a install.

I want XP Pro on this pc, just becasue I prefer Pro over Home edition. But will I be able to install on top of Home or is a format in the picture?

[ctjoyce]

You can add Pro over Home, but just know that with the upgrade, you cant reformatt from that disk. You have to have a older OS disk, then upgrade with the new disk. You would be best off getting an OEM disk from newegg and reformatting useing that.

However what is it in pro that you want? The only thing that I ever found in pro vs home is the added parental controols, and extra networking stuff. Other than that Home has done everything Ive needed it to.

Cheers
Cameron

[Politically Incorrect]

Well I find that Pro has better memory management (or maybe it is what I like to belive, lol).

Also I am taking a programming class starting with Visual Basic and was told that VB runs better on Pro, I don't know the validity of this statement but made me wonder. Pro is all I ever used so I really dont know all the differences between the 2 OS's.

Here is my concern now, it will be installed on the new laptop. which is a HP so that means no install discs except the ones that I made for recovery. Looking at various site my understanding is that the Pro Upgrade can not be intalled on a OEM Windows setup because it will need the original OS disk for validation. You know if this is true?

[ctjoyce]

This is true, however like I said before don't get just the upgrade, get an OEM disk from Newegg. All the OEM means is that you can only register it on one machine insted of three. Doing it that way will save you alot of time in the future.

Cheers
Cameron