# XP Home v XP Pro **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 29, 2005, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xp-home-v-xp-pro/296817 "2005-03-29T19:36:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TheBoneyKingofNowhere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@TheBoneyKingofNowhere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBoneyKingofNowhere)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xp-home-v-xp-pro/296817/1 "2005-03-29T19:36:21Z")
I’m taking a class at a community college for both work and personal reasons, and one of the nice things about taking classes there is the ability to ‘check out’ Microsoft software. Last year I took some programming and got Visio, C++, etc, all for free, basically. I’m learning websites now too, and know that certain things (messageboards perhaps?) require Win XP Pro rather than Home and so I’m wondering two things. 1. Should I ‘upgrade’ since I can for free and 2. will Pro suck up much of my system resources? Will it be worth it later on perhaps? I’ve got 2001 Dell, 1Ghz, 512 ram, machine that has treated me well. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![TheBoneyKingofNowhere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@TheBoneyKingofNowhere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBoneyKingofNowhere)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xp-home-v-xp-pro/296817/2 "2005-03-29T19:38:03Z")
I have no idea how this ended up in MPSIMS… to many tabs open I guess. Sorry. Please move!? ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xp-home-v-xp-pro/296817/3 "2005-03-29T19:41:19Z")
If you can upgrade for free, then yes, by all means do so. No, it doesn’t suck up that much mroe resources. I ran XP Pro on my 700 Mhz, 256 MB (i think it was 256 ) IBM T20 just fine, so you should be even more just fine. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xp-home-v-xp-pro/296817/4 "2005-03-29T19:43:48Z")
> [@TheBoneyKingofNowhere](#): > > 1. Should I ‘upgrade’ since I can for free and I “upgraded” for about $200 since I was told by an affiliate I needed XP Pro to run some of their software. Besides the cost it wiped out all of my device drivers and has somehow permanently disabled my ability to use Wireless LANs. It has, so far as I know, no benefits, since it later turned out I could have used the affiliate’s software with XP Home. YMMV. But net, what I _did_ learn is that if you do or must go from XP Home to Pro, back up your data and do XP with a clean, new installation. At least that’s what I’ve been told. Too late for me. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Tuco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tuco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuco)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xp-home-v-xp-pro/296817/5 "2005-03-29T19:49:53Z")
I used to use XP pro, now I use XP Home (pro wasn’t a legal copy) and I honestly can’t tell the difference. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xp-home-v-xp-pro/296817/6 "2005-03-29T19:56:27Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > disabled my ability to use Wireless LANs. I had some laptops with Intel NICs. I had to deselect the “let Windows manage this wireless stuff” box to get wireless working. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xp-home-v-xp-pro/296817/7 "2005-03-29T20:00:07Z")
Well, since this _is_ in MPSIMS, let’s see what googlefight has to say: XP Home! (25,500,000 to 16,500,000) ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xp-home-v-xp-pro/296817/8 "2005-03-29T20:15:44Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I had some laptops with Intel NICs. I had to deselect the “let Windows manage this wireless stuff” box to get wireless working. I’ll try anything. Any idea where to find that particular box? ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xp-home-v-xp-pro/296817/9 "2005-03-29T20:32:37Z")
According to “Windows XP Pro-The Missing Manual”, Pro offers the following over home: Remote Desktop, Corporate domain membership, Administrative shares of folders, Remote Installation Service, Acknowledgement of high-horsepower chips, Offline file access/mod, Roaming profiles, Group and local policy settings, Individual file protection, NTFS permissions, Internet information services, and Dynamic disks. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xp-home-v-xp-pro/296817/10 "2005-03-29T20:41:41Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > I’ll try anything. Any idea where to find that particular box? With the Classic View on the control panel: Control Panel Network connections Properties of WIreless Network Connection “Wireless Networks” tab Upper left hand corner “Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings” and deselect the box. Intel has their own app in the control panel that runs the NIC. Service Pack Two added some wireless stuff, but I’ve not had to mess with it. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xp-home-v-xp-pro/296817/11 "2005-03-29T21:09:32Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > With the Classic View on the control panel: > > Control Panel > Network connections > Properties of WIreless Network Connection > “Wireless Networks” tab > Upper left hand corner “Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings” > and deselect the box. > > Intel has their own app in the control panel that runs the NIC. > > Service Pack Two added some wireless stuff, but I’ve not had to mess with it. See, part of my problem is, it doesn’t even show “Wireless Network Connection” anymore. It’s just _gone_. I think the cat’s eaten it. Of course I don’t seem to have the option to switch views, either. But I seem to be in Classic View anyway. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xp-home-v-xp-pro/296817/12 "2005-03-29T21:14:54Z")
That sounds pretty grim. Can you see the wireless card in Hardware Manager? You might try buying a cheap new wireless NIC. You might try backing up all your stuff and reinstall beginning with FDISK. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xp-home-v-xp-pro/296817/13 "2005-03-29T21:40:14Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > That sounds pretty grim. > Can you see the wireless card in Hardware Manager? > You might try buying a cheap new wireless NIC. > You might try backing up all your stuff and reinstall beginning with FDISK. Well, I can’t see the Centrino wireless chip anymore. Which would be okay, since I also have two wireless cards, but XP won’t recognise either or the device drivers for them. Lost both in my XP upgrade, they worked fine before that. ---
**Author:** ![1010011010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/ea666f/32.png) [@1010011010](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1010011010)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xp-home-v-xp-pro/296817/14 "2005-03-29T22:38:37Z")
Download the install files of all the software you commonly use (another good chance to upgrade), note any particular customized options you use (config files, cookies, user profiles, theme settings, etc), GO TO MICROSOFT’S SITE AND DOWNLOAD THE MANUAL UPGRADES TO BRING YOU UP TO SERVICE PACK 2, Sort through all your music/pictures/movies/documents and pick what you want to keep. Burn all of the above files to CDs. Disconnect computer from all networks. Install XP Pro. Install the windows updates to bring up up to SP2. Reconnect the computer to a network if you wish. Install all the other crap, trying to keep it organized this time. Re-download all the stuff you forgot to keep. If you do choose to reformat the disk… keep in mind you could also re-partition the disk and keep the partition with Windows on it seperate from all your MP3s and porn… making it easier to upgrade in the future without losing all your crap or having to pull it off a back-up CD. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xp-home-v-xp-pro/296817/15 "2005-03-29T23:21:34Z")
Whe I got this computer (Dell 8300), I got XP Pro. When I upgraded to SP2, the splash screen no longer says “Professional”. What’s up with that? Do both Home and Professional become equal after SP2? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xp-home-v-xp-pro/296817/16 "2005-03-29T23:46:15Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > the splash screen no longer says “Professional”. I hadn’t noticed. Says “Professional” on the login and shutdown screens, though. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xp-home-v-xp-pro/296817/17 "2005-03-30T00:00:03Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > Whe I got this computer (Dell 8300), I got XP Pro. When I upgraded to SP2, the splash screen no longer says “Professional”. > > What’s up with that? > > Do both Home and Professional become equal after SP2? No. They’re as different as they ever were. ---
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xp-home-v-xp-pro/296817/18 "2005-03-30T01:09:16Z")
Actually, I just upgraded my wife’s HP ze4300 laptop from home to XP. A simple upgrade, set a restore point in case of troubles, and upgraded. I’ve finally got everything installed properly, and it’s workin fine. Didn’t back anything to CD, the wlan works the same as it did before the upgrade. XP seems to have better networking capabilities (just from experience, no cite) but otherwise, not much difference.