Yes, you can replace XP Home with XP Pro, and the process of a clean installation eliminates the previous installation when you boot to the Windows XP CD and then delete the hard disk partition containing the Windows installation and create a new partition in it's place, followed by formatting the partition prior to the new installation. You'll also need to install Windows updates, drivers, utilities, applications, plug-ins, codecs, and whatnot to the new XP Pro installation, and set everything up to your personal taste.

Alternatively, you might install XP Pro in a separate partition giving you the option of booting to either Home or Pro. You would still need to dedicate a partition to XP Pro and install all subsequent softwares, you just wouldn't be eliminating the XP Home installation.

A disk may have several partitions, or virtual drives, so a good starting point would be to examine what's currently being used.

The Radified site provides a good article on partitioning strategies.
http://partition.radified.com/


GM

Will XP Pro guide me through the clean installation process when I insert the XP Pro CD? I'm fine with eliminating the previous installation because I do not need anything contained on the existing computer (the one with XP Home). Would I be better off to purchase the SP3 version in terms of Windows updates, drivers, utilites, etc?

Thanks, Eric

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If you've already got a (legit) copy of XP Pro Eric, you don't need to worry about whether it includes the latest service pack (SP), because SP3 can be downloaded/installed later.

XP SP3.

After you've installed SP3, you can then use Windows Update to get all the latest important/security updates.

As for the OS guiding you through the installation process:  It doesn't.  But there are LOADS of guides available:

Dell provide this 'How To Restore or Reinstall Microsoft Windows on a Dell Computer'.

But there are many others available - a number of which include screenshots of each step:

Official Microsoft (with screenshots) Install Windows XP
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Official Microsoft How to install or upgrade to Windows XP


Paul Thurrott's 'Windows XP Clean Install (Interactive Setup)'

With screenshots Install Windows XP

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How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install

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Clean install XP

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