# Difference between Windows 7 Home Premium and Professional? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 13, 2010, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-windows-7-home-premium-and-professional/524839 "2010-01-13T21:35:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-windows-7-home-premium-and-professional/524839/1 "2010-01-13T21:35:52Z")
I’m buying my boss a new laptop. It comes pre-loaded with Windows 7 Home Premium. I’m trying to research if he needs to upgrade to Professional but all I’m seeing is either marketing non-speak or technical techo-babble I don’t reaaaaally understand. Can someone explain to me, in layman’s terms, the difference between Windows 7 Home Premium and Professional? ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-windows-7-home-premium-and-professional/524839/2 "2010-01-13T21:40:47Z")
Here is the difference from the [MS Website](http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/compare) You can see it depends on the individual needs ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-windows-7-home-premium-and-professional/524839/3 "2010-01-13T21:44:36Z")
Yeah, I went there, but that doesn’t really clarify it for me. Sure, sure, I may just be stoopid. But that’s why I turn to the Great Minds of the Dope. ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-windows-7-home-premium-and-professional/524839/4 "2010-01-13T21:52:56Z")
Basically Win 7 Pro has a few more features which may or may not be useful. Most important, probably, is that Pro can join domains – which is critical to join certain office networks. However, I don’t know if you’re office runs a domain, and for that you’d have to ask the IT department. Other features are some backup tools, which can copy files from the laptop to other computers on the network (to protect against your boss spilling coffee on the new laptop. and frying his only copy of some important document). There’s also some better backwards-compatibility, which could be really critical if your boss relies on some crufty old piece of 10 year old software that’s never been updated. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-windows-7-home-premium-and-professional/524839/5 "2010-01-13T21:53:40Z")
Wikipedia breaks it out a bit better: > **[Windows 7 editions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions)** > > Windows 7, a major release of the Microsoft Windows operating system, has been released in several editions since its original release in 2009. Only Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate were widely available at retailers. The other editions focus on other markets, such as the software development world or enterprise use. All editions support 32-bit IA-32 CPUs and all editions except Starter support 64-bit x64 CPUs. 64-bit installation media are not included in Home-Basic edition packages, ... Here’s what’s different between the two with my half-ass explanations: Dynamic Disks – Lets you either combine or divide hard disks into either more or fewer drive letters. Not going to be that useful on a laptop. Encrypting File System – Lets you encrypt folders. Useful if he’ll keep sensitive data on it. Location Aware Printing – Changes the default printer based on what network you’re on, so you can take it home and not have to muck with it. Presentation Mode – Something to do with hooking up a projector to it. I think it shuts down all popups and other embarassing things like your mom sending you an IM in the middle of a big presentation. Group Policy – Lets the computer accept settings from a domain controller. Necessary if he’ll be connecting to a domain at work. Offline Files and Folder redirection – Like location aware printers, it lets you set up certain things if you’ll be travelling a lot and/or working from multiple locations, one of which may not have a network connection. Windows Server domain joining – The domain I mentioned prior. If he’ll just be logging in as “steve” with a simple password, this isn’t necessary. If he’ll be logging in as “steve.companyuser” or something official, it’s probably gonna need this. Windows XP Mode – Can run apps as XP. Not sure of the specifics. Software Restriction Policies – I think this goes along with group policy stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-windows-7-home-premium-and-professional/524839/6 "2010-01-13T21:59:31Z")
Interesting. We are a very small office, no network really. No IT department, frankly. It sounds like he’d be able to get away with Home Premium, although the Location Aware Printing would be awesome to have. I wonder if that alone is available on a black market somewhere. (I keed. Please don’t disappear me, Microsoft Masters.) ---
**Author:** ![HorseloverFat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-windows-7-home-premium-and-professional/524839/7 "2010-01-13T22:39:02Z")
Never get Home for a business. You cant join a domain and do a bazillion other things common in a business. Even if youre not a sophisticated shop, you’ll reget it if the business grows or if things change. ---
**Author:** ![HorseloverFat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-windows-7-home-premium-and-professional/524839/8 "2010-01-13T22:40:46Z")
Also business allows remote desktop, which is a life saver if you need to do remote support. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-windows-7-home-premium-and-professional/524839/9 "2010-01-13T22:43:10Z")
Some software won’t run on Windows home , SAS is 1 example. BTW, in the US Home premium is the only home version. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-windows-7-home-premium-and-professional/524839/10 "2010-01-13T23:28:30Z")
Good points, all. I would be more comfortable if we had Pro because it gives us more options. But the boss… well… he’s…uh… Ok, he’s cheap. He’d run the Student version if he thought he could save some money. ---
**Author:** ![sevenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-windows-7-home-premium-and-professional/524839/11 "2010-01-13T23:48:28Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > Windows XP Mode – Can run apps as XP. Not sure of the specifics. As it happens, I had to upgrade my copy of Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional just so that I could download and install Microsoft’s Virtual PC and XP mode (which together give you the capability to run a virtual copy of Windows XP in a window on your Win7P desktop - my ancient FORTRAN compiler wouldn’t install under Windows 7 but did install in this virtual XP machine). Read [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=546492) if you want to read the gory details. The good news is that if you **think** you can get away with Windows 7 Home Premium but aren’t 100% positive, you can purchase your PC with Windows Home Premium and later use Microsoft’s “anytime upgrade” feature to upgrade your OS to Windows 7 Professional in about ten minutes for $90(US) plus tax. That’s what I did. I don’t think you can do that if you start with the “student edition”, though. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-windows-7-home-premium-and-professional/524839/12 "2010-01-13T23:57:51Z")
Yeah, I think that’s what I’ll do. ---
**Author:** ![srzss05](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@srzss05](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srzss05)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-windows-7-home-premium-and-professional/524839/13 "2010-01-14T00:17:16Z")
> [@sevenwood](#): > > As it happens, I had to upgrade my copy of Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional just so that I could download and install Microsoft’s Virtual PC and XP mode (which together give you the capability to run a virtual copy of Windows XP in a window on your Win7P desktop - my ancient FORTRAN compiler wouldn’t install under Windows 7 but did install in this virtual XP machine). As an aside, you don’t need Windows 7 Pro to do this if you have a retail copy of XP. I am running XP/Virtual PC on Vista Home Premium. It is useful for running 16 bit programs (non DOS, I use DOSBox for that) on 64bit Vista. ---
**Author:** ![sevenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-windows-7-home-premium-and-professional/524839/14 "2010-01-14T00:44:14Z")
> [@srzss05](#): > > As an aside, you don’t need Windows 7 Pro to do this if you have a retail copy of XP. Good point. I didn’t, so that (free) version of XP contained in the XP Mode download came in very handy. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-windows-7-home-premium-and-professional/524839/15 "2010-01-14T01:07:53Z")
Well you can always upgrade to business, and since it’s a business expense that is deductable. Plus there are ways of doing things. If your boss is gonna be that cheap, he might be better off running Linux and hiring a college kid to set it up. I’m not kidding, in 2003 I was doing pretty good with my computer business, till about a year later, suddenly I’m getting competition from college kids, taking computer classes and charging $10/hr 🙂