I bought a new laptop that has XP home preinstalled on it.   I'v
already spent hours installing apps and configing prefs and email
profiles and shortcuts, and all kind of settings.

If i buy an XP Pro upgrade CD, and install it, will I lose apps and
config.  Like my Outlook and OE profiles, like my installed Apps (will
i have to reinstall).

Also, i noticed that when you buy a upgrade cd, it comes with it's own
serial num.  So does my xp home ed serial become invalid?


thankx

I upgraded to XP from Win 98. Before the upgrade actually happens, the
installer disc can do a test to show you which programs can be
retained, which need to be installed and which to reinstall when
moving up to Win XP. You can even just run this test without
installing. You can use this feature so you can prepare for the change
of OS beforehand.

With regards to the XP Home Edition serial number, it does not become
invalid. However, if you take a close look at the end user license
agreement for the XP Pro Upgrade Version, you will see that Microsoft
requires that you retain the XP Home Edition CD and serial key to
qualify for the 'upgrade' pricing. As well, the user license agreement
for OEM pre-installed versions of XP typically do not permit
redeployment of the pre-installed operating system onto a computer
other than the computer it was originally deployed on. So, technically
the XP Home serial number remains with your laptop as a condition of
you being able to use the XP Pro upgrade.

aht-ga

You may be throwing your money away XP Pro is designed for buisness
users,do you really need to upgrade?

To echo the comment above, is there a reason why you need to upgrade?

For all intents and purposes, the biggest difference between XP Home
and XP Pro is that XP Pro can join a domain.

As a side note, home networking is a bit simpler with XP Pro

Ya, i do need to upgrade.  Need to VPN into a domain.  Also need the
remote desktop thing.

I'm just wondering if it would be better to forget all the apps and
drivers that sony preinstalls (like movieshaker) and just blow away
the XP Home that is on there with a clean format and reinstall of a
out of the box ver of xP pro.  If so, I won't need to buy the upgrade
cd, but the real pro cd. I don't care about the cost of the software,
it is my time that i am worried about.  I have a feeling reinstalling
all the sony drivers from their web site will take days, and
movieshaker and other apps will be non-installable. Then I have to
reconfigure email and reinstall my apps.  But at least it is clean.

Maybe just upgradeing the XP home is the way to go.  

Can I buy the Pro CD and use that to upgrade, that way if it doesn't
work, I will be able to do a clean install of XP pro without buying
anouther CD.

Any ideas?

With the 'full' version, you have the option of either upgrading the
existing OS, or doing a clean install.

With the 'upgrade' version, you theoretically have the option of doing
a clean install, as long as you can prove that you have a previous
version of Windows. For your pre-installed XP Home, I'm not certain if
this is possible. What did Sony provide with the PC?

sony provided restore cds, but these blow away the whole HD.  No no
plain windows cd.

PRO has an IIS.. whereas home does not have that :)

If you are developing pages then you should go for PRO, otherwise home
is good enough :)

So, Pro it is.

A fresh install should find almost all your drivers, and the rest
should be easily enough installed from the driver CD that came with
the system or downloaded. Drivers for XP Pro will be identical to
those for XP Home, so you've already downloaded what you need.

However most of what comes preinstalled on any provided system is
fluff. I don't know what Sony programs you're referring to but I'd
hazard a guess that you don't need most of them in the slightest.

If you do a fresh install, then follow it up with Service Pack 4, all
relevant updates from Windows Update, any hardware drivers needed and
an anti-virus software package. Once you've done that, look at what
software you've been provided with and only install what you need.

For the update everything is going to be find but you must have the
same service pack installed on the laptop than the one provided on the
cd. What I mean by that is that if you winxp home service pack 1
installed on your laptop you need to install a version of winxp pro
that will contain the service pack 1. If you don't have the service
pack 1 on the xp pro cd, youre gonna have an awful lot of problems.

I actually did the upgrade on my vaio grs175 and it work like a
charms. Its going to be like XP Pro came with the machine. You won't
loose any config and all the programs will work.

Nah. It wont hurt in the long run if you upgrade. If you were
upgrading from anything below ME you would probably have to change the
compat. settings for the individual programs and files. Easily done.
Now it depends on what you are doing here. Are you a web surfer and
IMer? If so you are wasting your money. Are you dont 3-D graphic
rendering, setting up a files server (in this case don't use PRO), or
doing DV editing, programing, or doing things that require advanced
processing and dll libraries? Then go pro.

The files and settings transfer wizard (on both XP Home and any XP
upgrade or install CD) will save all your Windows settings and any
files you specify to one big file. After you upgrade or install just
run it again to restore everything. Make backups yourself of
everything anyways just in case, I always back up redundantly. To
backup your Outlook Express files go to File>Export>Messages and
File>Export>address book. ****Very Important**** If you only have one
drive set up (IE. only Drive C) back up everything to a CD, Network
drive, or a ton of floppy's. If you have a gigs and gigs to back up,
the Files and settings transfer wizard makes a pretty big file, a
program called WinRAR can both compress files and split up the archive
into any size chunks. If money is not a big concern then I would
highly recommend a fresh install of XP Pro. I have an older Sony VAIO
and was having problems with Win 98, and Win2000 (ME is the worst one
of them all). I did a fresh install of XP Pro and everything was
perfect. The only thing I can't do on the VAIO without the Sony
drivers is turn off the touch-pad (just an annoyance really, nothing
serious). I have been running XP since 9/2000 and I love it. The only
draw back is the it seems to need reinstalling about every 6 mo. - 1
yr. That is not really a big deal, (and a really good idea anyways),
since I store most of my files on other drives. I am currently running
XP on 3 different computers and love it. Just make sure you keep it
updated. I have been a technical supervisor at a major Internet
company for 3+ years and from our customers experience, and mine, Pro
is better. Its built on 2000 and handles programs better, more secure
and more stable. If you are going to upgrade I would really suggest
you do a fresh install. An upgrade is more likely to have problems
down the road. Insert the XP CD and run the files and settings
transfer wizard and back anything up that is important. Remember if
you only have one drive set up (IE. only Drive C) back up everything
to another drive (if you are already on a network then the transfer
wizard can back it up to a network drive, or you can just burn the
file onto a CD). Do a fresh install and let the Install CD format for
you. I use NTFS file system (more secure and efficient). What I do on
my computers is set 10GB for drive C. I only put Windows, and Windows
related programs on the C drive. You want plenty of space on Drive C
for virtual memory and Windows swap files. If I have room to spare, I
make Drive D 10GB, I have never needed more than that. I install ALL
my programs on Drive D. What ever is left I leave for my storage
files, music, and pictures on Drive E. Just take is slow and do more
research. You will need a new serial if you go Pro. And remember I am
not a Google Researcher, just an experienced end user.

P.S. Either way you will have to reinstall every program over again.
Even if you just upgrade over itsself. But if you restore from the
Files and settings wizard after, everything should be back to normal.