You would have to do a clean install to get around this and then upgrade to sp2, however, what you want to do is illegal. Operating systems plus any upgrades stay with the first computer, even if that computer is trashed or the operating system is removed. That activation key belongs to the old computer and cannot be used again on the other one. It won't activate.

I called Microsoft support and they said as long as it is a retail copy I purchased to upgrade

an OS that was "originally" on PC I can use this upgrade for any PC as long as I have uninstalled the OS or no longer use the PC.

Thanks for the help but I can't do that b/c SP2 is on the XP home OS I'm using

 

 

Rich this is a good question....

I have no idea why I want to upgrade home to pro

I just figured I had the upgrade paid for it and not using it.

Isn't it better? "upgrades" are always better right? :smileyvery-happy: (ie-vista)

 

will XP Pro give my Overclocked BEAST better performance?

Before going thru all this, why do you want to install XP Pro . . what features do you need that Home does not have?

Rebel9

check this link do you mean this?

 

http://www.helpwithwindows.com/WindowsXP/winxp-sp2-bootcd.html

 

or

 

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sp2_slipstream.asp

 

which In your opinion is better I like the latter of the two seams easier to follow

great article I wish I read it a long time ago

that being said if I didn't have the upgrade already I'd say "heck yeah I'm sticking with home"

but I already have it and If I remember it was freaking expensive!!!

I'm going to try and at least use it....

lets just hope it doesn't crash my PC

Unless you have a need for the features in Pro, it's a waste of time .  .Pro is no better, it offers some additional features that 99% of home users will never use.

 

For a comparison:  http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_home_pro.asp

 

 

I followed Thurrott's instructions (your second link).

I have a newer XP pro upgrade CD w/ sp2 but am already using the Key it came with on another pc can I use that CD but use my product key from the Older XP pro version?