XP to XP PRO upgrade , is it worth it?

irishgeo

got a copy of xp pro and i am thinking of updating my laptop from xp home to pro. is it worth it?

Whats happens all the security patches etc i downloaded that were for XP home only?


Should i back up my hard drive first and if so anyone got a good link to buy a usb external hard drive from?

homerzero

the only difference between xp home and xp pro is its ability to stay connected to a domain server on a network every thing else is the same , so unless you are connected to a win 2k server or win 2003 server it will make no difference to you

oneweb

...as well as encrypting file system and access control (for a multi-user environment)

info

jabberwock

oh ya, you got a copy of XP Pro!!!


/*not trolling. irishgeo is a good friend of mine

Creamy Goodness

i also heard gpedit.msc isn't in the home version or is it?

irishgeo

Originally posted by jabberwock
oh ya, you got a copy of XP Pro!!!


/*not trolling. irishgeo is a good friend of mine

yeah i did and lets just say i have this activation thingy seems to missing from this verison. Also laid my hands on a office 2003 disk.

ill have service pack 2 for windows xp as soon as its out i got a mate who works for a company behind all of the above mentioned stuff.

gpedit.msc is not in XP home.

Going to do the Micorsoft certified Desktop support technicain course as well.

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/mcdst/default.asp

pm me when sp2 comes out and ill sort you out mate.

silverside

be careful when admitting to getting software without paying for it. The mods may decide to shut down the thread.

damnyanks

IIS wont work on XP Home will it ?

silverside

you would be better off installing apache in any case, unless you need to install IIS for work reasons, in which case your employer should buy XP pro for you.

ColmOT [MSFT]

There are a good few differences between XP Home & XP Pro:

WMI
Remote Desktop (inbound connections)
EFS
>1 CPU support
GPEdit.msc
mmc.exe

etc..

It really depends on what your needs are whether you should upgrade or not.

Also, patches for XP Home are the exact same as for XP Pro.

irishgeo

i am going to do it but first i must get a hold of external hard disk for backing up.

Capt'n Midnight

Originally posted by ColmOT [MSFT]
WMI
Remote Desktop (inbound connections)
EFS
>1 CPU support
GPEdit.msc
mmc.exe

Depends on the MUST HAVE features or if you are LOCKED IN to it - eg: by needing to connect to a Windows network.. I still say HOME is just PRO - just some features hobbled for marketing reasons - and they are getting sneakier - some workarounds have been "patched"

NB. If you are using this to connect to work then check with them - in case they don't allow or will subsidise it ..

WMI
Remote Desktop (inbound connections) - Netmeeting sharing Explorer / RealVNC / PStools using local user
EFS - most docs can be passworded and many thirdy party apps
>1 CPU support - only if you have >1 cpu
GPEdit.msc - XP home is a single user system (ie. any user can get to everything without too much trouble so Group Policy not really relevant for it)
mmc.exe - woopie do for (http://seclists.org/lists/vuln-dev/2003/Apr/0057.html)


http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/1049820788 on how to paint yourself into a corner with GPEdit

Bebop

XP Pro also has the Files and settings transfer Wizard, this is useful if you need to reinstall Windows, it will take all your files, e-mail, graphics, screensavers etc, and you can export them to a networked PC or burn to a CD, when you finish your reinstall you can just import it and all of your stuff is back, it makes a good backup tool also
I would say go for it, but dont upgrade, do a clean install of XP Pro, boot from the CD and reformat the HDD to NTFS [even if the existing disk is NTFS]

timeout

If you are upgradeing , make sure you got all the drivers for your hardware and if not make a list of what it is so you can get hold of it. Depending on your brand of laptop you got, the hardrive might contain a backup of the os for recovery resons or it may be on cds. If its on the hardrive try and put it onto cd as if anything goes wrong you will have no comeback.

Sae yourself some money and just conect to a friends PC over a crossover cable to save your files rather then buying an external hardrive.

Timeout