How to upgrade Inspiron 6000 from XP Home to XP Pro

Question

Hi everyone,

I will try to keep this post short, but want to give you all the necessary information.

I purchased an Inspiron 6000 for my niece to go to college. She is required to have XP Pro to join the college's network. Since her college offers XP Pro upgrades for $11.99 through Microsoft University, I only purchased XP Home through Dell.

Now I have her laptop (running XP Home) and I want to perform the upgrade to XP Pro with the CD she purchased from the school's bookstore. Here is what I did:

Booted up into XP Home and inserted the XP Pro upgrade CD-Rom. The Welcome to Microsoft Windows XP greeting popped up and presented me with four options: Install Windows XP, Install optional Windows components, Perform additional tasks or Check System Compatibility. I clicked Install Windows XP. I then received an error message that stated:

"Windows Setup: Setup cannot continue because the version of Windows on your computer is newer than the version on the CD. Warning: If you decide to delete the newer version of Windows that is currently installed on your computer, the files and settings cannot be recovered."

I am presented with two options, Cancel or Details. Details offers the following explanation:

"To install the version on the CD, restart your computer, boot from this CD, and follow the instructions for a new installation. Warning: The default setup options will replace your existing version of Windows with this version. If you wish to keep both versions you must select a new destination folder for this version of Windows. If you decide to delete the newer version of Windows that is currently installed on your computer, the files and settings cannot be recovered."

So, wanting to install the upgrade, I booted from the CD-Rom and installed. However, the installation overwrote all of my applications and made them unusable. It also removed all of my drivers. Not wanting to lose all of the applications and drivers, I restored the laptop's original configuration. See this post on the forum.

Now I have two questions:

First, why won't the XP Home Edition installation allow the XP Pro upgrade? I went to Start --> Help and Support --> Computer Information, and it tells me I am using XP Home Edition, version 5.1.2600. According to the documentation that came with the XP Pro upgrade, it's Windows XP Pro B English (with service pack 1).
How can I upgrade to XP Pro without overwriting all of my applications and drivers? Is it possible?

Many thanks

-Friendlyname- · Answer

Sabre-

1. Your Home CD probably includes SP2, whereas the new Pro Edition CD includes only SP1.

2. A new, clean reinstall is the only way to go when you are upgrading. I know it's a hassle, but an overwrite is trouble. To ease the situation, burn your application setups and drivers to a CD, so they will be handy to install again.

This thread will help you understand the installing over a newer version.. http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=sw_winxp&message.id=145437

Also see this post: http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=sw_winxp&message.id=143296

Since you are going to a less protected system without the Windows firewall, be sure to disconnect your modem and peripherals before the process. Also, you should do the download of SP2 to disk, so you wont have to connect to the Internet before the SP2 firewall is in.

Good luck,

Jane

By the way I found these posts doing an Advanced Search at the bottom of the page. You can find more there.

Message Edited by -Friendlyname- on 07-19-2005 06:41 PM

Message Edited by -Friendlyname- on 07-19-2005 06:56 PM

osprey4 · Answer

Well, since you made a liar out of me (just kidding), I'm not going to say you can't. However, I've looked around and don't see any 'legal' methods for upgrading Home to Pro. Is there any reason you can't reinstall the applications you want to keep?

Sabrewolf3 · Answer

That's just it, I'm not sure how to get my application setups and drivers onto a CD so I can have them for later use.  Many of the features did not come on CD's like they normally do.  For instance, I have MusicMatch Jukebox, Sonic CD-RW Burning software, and PowerDVD that are all installed, but I have no CD's for them.    How do I get my applications and drivers onto a CD? Thanks! -- Richard

-Friendlyname- · Answer

Sabre- Some of the software may be trial versions and others not, so Dell may not provide CDs for them.  However, for the ones that Dell can provide, call Customer Service (not tech. support) and ask them to send you a CD for them.  As for the drivers, just go to the Dell Downloads site for your model, download them to your current system and use your CD burner software to burn the downloads to a CD.  Dell may (and I stress may)  also have some of the application set-ups on their Download site, so check it all out.  Let us know how you fare. Good luck, Jane

Windows General

How to upgrade Inspiron 6000 from XP Home to XP Pro

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