Installing XP Pro

Hello everyone.
I have a S6231 which I purchased with XP Home installed because I already bought XP Pro from my university. Now I would like to install XP Pro on my notebook, but I don't know how I should do it. Should I just put in the XP Pro cds, or is there something else I must do. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

I would do a clean install of XP Pro..If you are not sure how to do this here is a tutorial with some explination on why a clean install is good to do.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

 

You can try upgrading to Pro, but it doesn't always work as well as a clean install, though a clean install is a little bit of a pain because you have to re-do all the drivers. Why do you want Pro anyway? I find very few people need the benefits Pro offers.

Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com

 

Thanks led2112 for the link, but it confused me a bit. Brian, to answer your question, I want Pro because it has Excel and Powerpoint, which I use for school. I'll try later today to upgrade to Pro, though I don't think I can do a clean install because I don't know anything about drivers and the such.

 

Sorry, but you are a bit confused.
Pro and Home are operating system versions of XP, and have no applications as such. Excel and Powerpoint are part of Office XP which does not come with either XP Home or Pro. It is a separate suite of applications that sells for a bunch more money.
Check out:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx

Andrew
Austin, TX


<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by dreamangel50

 

Right, you're talking about programs that come with Office. I hope we stopped you in time...

Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com

 

What are the differences between the two? I just kept seeing on all of the webstores, that they recommend Pro if you're getting a notebook. Why is that? And is it true that Pro has built in virus protection?
Amy

 

You probably won't need XP Pro. Just get new or old Office bundle and you should be fine.

Windows XP Home Edition

* Contains basic support for security among multiple users.
* Built-in support for peer-to-peer networking, but only for up to five computers.
* The backup utlity is not installed by default, but is included on the CD.

Windows XP Professional Edition

* Includes extended support for security between multiple users on the same machine.
* Better support for peer-to-peer networking, plus support for joining a "Windows NT domain."
* The backup utlity is installed by default.
* The Professional edition includes the following components not found in the Home edition:
o Administrative Tools (in the Start Menu and Control Panel)
o Automated System Recovery (ASR)
o Boot Configuration Manager
o DriverQuery
o Group Policy Refresh Utility
o Multi-lingual User Interface (MUI) add-on
o NTFS Encryption Utilitiy
o Offline Files and Folders
o OpenFiles
o Performance Log Manager
o Remote Desktop
o Scheduled Tasks Console
o Security Template Utility
o Taskkill
o Tasklist
o Telnet Administrator
* Provides support for multi-processor systems (2 or 4 CPUs), Dynamic Disks, Fax.

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article10-002

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>I just kept seeing on all of the webstores, that they recommend Pro if you're getting a notebook. Why is that?<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>It's a big experiment by microsoft to see how many dumb@$$es are out there. Note on every manufacturer's website you see:

dell/hp/fujitsu/ibm/ETC. recommends Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional

It should read:

dell/hp/fujitsu/ibm recommends you save $100 and get XP Home, but Microsoft has bribed us to recommend PRO.

I would like to play with remote desktop one time, but I don't really need it. And my backup is to copy all my documents to a dvd, take it to my bank and put it in my safe deposit box, so even if the house burns down, my data will be safe. Don't need NTFS encryption, cause that will just slow down disk access.

-David

 

Also check this thread for more info

http://www.notebookreview.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=117

Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com

 

Yeah, exactly Microsoft Pro has nothing to do with it's Office software, they don't even include Word, Excel, or PowerPoint in any operating system. I always wished that Microsoft did this but; nope, they want to scam us of another $500 for Office. Sometimes I get frustrated with Microsoft.

Windows - The operating system that runs the world.

Toshiba - Quality, price, and features!

 

Thanks everyone for the inputs. I was confusing Windows XP Professional with Microsoft Office XP. The cds I have are Microsoft Office XP. Thanks once again.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Karim
* Better support for peer-to-peer networking, plus support for joining a "Windows NT domain."
<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

Be careful, this last part here is not trivial. It means that if you take your laptop to an office, you cannot get on the network without reinstalling your OS with XP Pro! At some internet places (not all) this might also hinder your ability to get on the internet, if they are using a domain and passwords for access.

That missing feature of XP Home would be fine on a desktop PC - but not a LAPTOP - which by definition you want the flexibility to take it different places and be able to log on.

Also the bit about peer-to-peer networking speaks for itself. *cough-cough*.

The way I'd put it is this: XP Home is crippled version of what Win XP is supposed to be. It is just Microsofts (bad) way of trying to justify overcharging corporations for XP Pro. On top of which then they hope to squeeze a few consumers for $100 more (orwhatever their share of that $100 extra is).

I too just bough an S6231. Lets just say that I "acquired" XP Pro by my own methods and will install it on my laptop. The last thing you want is a laptop that one day you find you are somewhere and you can get on a network.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>I "acquired" XP Pro by my own methods and will install it on my laptop.<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>Will you recover the "image" partition? How many gigs will that save?

-David

 

You can do a clean install with the XP CD alone if its not a O.S. re-install cd. Just go into your bios and boot from cd-rom and follow the scripting that the installation gives you. The clean install comes from deleting the primary partition and assigning a new partition and then format the drive. The rest will just install.

Device drivers usually come available by the manufacturer when you buy the laptop, so go through the cds that came with it. If not, go to the manufacturers website and download the appropriate drivers.