[QUOTE=newcrasher]
Yeah but it won’t ship until 7/25…I need it sooner than that…
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OK I get it. Then just get the PC without XP Pro, go to the store and get the XP Pro Upgrade and install it. Piece of cake. FYI, that’s exactly what I did for the desktop Dell that I’m using to type this reply. The upgrade is exactly the same as the full version after it’s installed. During the installation, you will be asked for proof that you already have some legitimate version of XP installed, so be sure to have the XP Home or whatever XP disc from Dell or wherever you buy your computer. Good luck.
[QUOTE=Shagnasty]
I am still puzzled about the media versus nonmedia XP Pro versions. There is an XP Media version that is really XP Home with some flash added but it isn’t that. I am pretty certain, the the two XP Pro versions are for companies that want to allow flashy media things or just lock it down as a no nonsense workstation. I would get the one with media.
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It doesn’t have anything to do with Windows Media Center Edition. The difference between “with media” and “without media” is the recovery CD you get (“the media”). With media, you get an honest-to-god WinXP disc and can do a real install, including non-destructive repair. Without media means you get a disk image on a separate partition which will restore your operating system and applications, but all your personal files (documents and pictures) will be gone. Always order “with media”, it is only a $10 difference in price.
XP Home cannot be a member of a domain, lacks the ability to be a remote desktop server, cannot use Windows 2000/2003 domain features like Group Policy, RIS, encrypting file system, the ability to log on locally to the machine as administrator in something other than safe mode, and will not function properly with a VPN because of the lack of IPSec support.
So yes, they can be ‘used on a LAN’, that is tecnically true, but you really shouldn’t tell someone their IT department is talking out the ass. There are a lot of reasons not to allow XP Home onto a domain LAN, especially remotely via VPN. I do know what the hell I’m talking about, and while I may temporarily attach an XP Home machine to the LAN while inside the building to download updates, I would never allow an employee to have one as their workstation or to VPN in from home with one. It’s XP Pro required.
Also, Dell typically has an option to ‘upgrade any XP Home system to XP Pro’, and what they mean is ‘If you pay us this extra money, we will ship your computer with XP Pro.’
Finally, I wouldn’t buy a CD at a store that was just an upgrade to XP Pro because at some point you’ll end up like a coworker of mine: hard disk that dies on a system that came with an XP Home recovery partition. You won’t be able to install shit, because your XP Pro disc doesn’t contain the full installatio of the OS, only a way to upgrade Home to Pro, and you don’t have Home anymore because the installation media for that was the HD that just shit the bed.
[QUOTE=catsix]
Finally, I wouldn’t buy a CD at a store that was just an upgrade to XP Pro because at some point you’ll end up like a coworker of mine: hard disk that dies on a system that came with an XP Home recovery partition. You won’t be able to install shit, because your XP Pro disc doesn’t contain the full installatio of the OS, only a way to upgrade Home to Pro, and you don’t have Home anymore because the installation media for that was the HD that just shit the bed.
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This isn’t entirely true. The Windows XP Professional Upgrade CD does have the complete install, and can be installed on a new hard drive. The only difference from between the “upgrade” and the “full” version is the upgrade checks for a previous version of Windows. If you are installing it on a new hard drive, it will prompt for the install CD of a previous version. All it does is check the disc; it does not use any files from the previous version.
You are correct in that if your computer came with only a restore partition, you have a problem. But you can continue with the install with any Windows install disc; 95, 98, Me will all let the install continue. I have no ethical problem doing this on a computer that had a legal version of windows to begin with. This is why it is important to buy your computer “with media” and not “without media”.
I haven’t bought a pre-built machine in a long, long time. I’ve just experienced a lot of problems trying to deal with ‘upgrade’ discs when people have brought me computers to fix. Some of them would not respond to the ‘any older OS disc’ thing unless an older OS was already installed on the computer.
I also recommend that people make a backup of their OS CD, and then put the original away somewhere safe where it won’t get destroyed. It is legal to back up the CD, since the license key that you get is for one installation of the software.
I’ve had mixed results with it. Sometimes it would work, if we used it with a 2K CD, sometimes it would refuse to work at all unless something was installed on that new HD. Being flaky like that, I just choose to get a full version of the OS whenever possible so that I don’t have to muck about with other CDs.
