Upgrade from XP Home to XP Pro or clean install.

I have WinXP home edition and want to upgrade to XP Professional. Would
it be better to do the upgrade or a clean install?

 

You should be ok with either.

 

CrackHeadBob did mumble with his mouth full...

As a general rule of thumb, a clean install is better than an upgrade.
However, if you have a lot of data/programs/settings/etc that you want to
keep after the install, an upgrade may be the way to go.

 

Upgrading should be a "Snap"

I've upgraded from XP Home to Professional on several machines with no
problems UNLESS . . . . the machine had first been upgraded from WIN
98 or ME. The difference it seems, is because when 98 or ME are
upgraded, the drive is not reformatted to NTFS.

I've also upgraded several machines from 2000 to XP Pro with no
problems.

Cheers,

Rusty

 

In at least 99 and 44/100% of the tests that I have done there is zero
difference in performance or stability between an upgrade install and
a clean install with Windows XP.
Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."

 

The is probably the simplest operating system upgrade in Microsoft's
history, and if you have a genuine need or desire for any of the
additional functions or features that are found only in XP Pro and are
not in XP Home then you should have no concerns about doing so.

Both XP Home and XP Pro are produced from the same source code base
and there is zero difference in performance or stability between the
two versions.

You should, however, do some planning and prepartion before doing the
upgrade including of course a verified backup of any and all important
data files.

Former MVP Gary Woodruff has written an excellent article on the
subject of upgrading to Windows XP and while most of it is more
relevant to those who are upgrading from earlier versions of Windows
you should read it before doing the actual upgrade. You will find it
at http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpupgrad.htm

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."

 

|> I have WinXP home edition and want to upgrade to XP Professional. Would
|> it be better to do the upgrade or a clean install?

There are only 6 files that XpPro has that XP doesn't and they are all network
related. This is the ONE time I'd say an Upgrade would be ok. Only if you
haven't installed a service pak or an upgrade.