Hi,

I have my own copy of Windows XP Professional, which I wanted to install on my Dell Inspiron 8500 (laptop), as my laptop came with Home Edition when I bought it a year ago. I have run into a couple problems, though.

1. Even though I reformatted the harddrive, it still lists Windows XP Home as one of the startup options. This is annoying because my laptop won't automatically boot to XP Pro; instead, it presents me with a choice, even though Windows XP Home doesn't even exist on my system.

2. When reinstalling required Dell software (such as the software that gives support for USB, the touchpad, etc.), it says my system does not support this operating system. Well it obviously does. Can I get around this? How can I configure my touchpad or install USB support without using this software? I also ran into the same trouble with my internal wireless network card but was able to install the driver without the software by manually searching the directory in the Device Manager's driver update.

Does Dell really want me to use their custom OS? Do I really have no choice to customize the system I paid for? Or am I missing something..?

Thanks!

Matt