XP Pro > XP Home

[ShinyF1]

SOLVED - XP Pro > XP Home

I have a PC running XP Pro [an old work computer] which I want to install XP Home on [we have other PCs in the house and kids are more familiar with the HP Home experience]. Or is there a setting within XPP that allows you to run it as XPH - I suspect that the Home and Pro versions are completely different...

I have original XP Home CDs. Is it a simple a case of running the setup programme for XPH from a boot disc and installing from there? Would all the application software/drivers be preserved or would I need to reinstall everything. I particularly want to preserve a Lotus Notes suite that is currently on the computer as it has important archive information on it.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

Sean

 

[Sp!ke]

Why would you want to downgrade your XP version?

Pro gives you all the features of home and then some.

 

[ShinyF1]

Can I make it appear like Home then - is there a 'soft' setting that can do this?

Sorry, but not expert at all in these matters

 

[Sp!ke]

But they do appear the same - identical even.

Describe what is different?

 

[jpskiller]

the main difference between Pro & Home is the extra Networking Cababilities, apart from that there identicaly to look at and use

 

[ShinyF1]

It's the startup front end I want to be more 'Home' like, ie the pretty screen with identities listed to select.

Also all logons are currently password protected, but I cannot change them to be non-passworded. It's probably a hangover from the old company IT policy - how can I change those settings?

Sean

 

[stevesey]

Those things are nothing to do with Home vs Pro - but are things that might have been disabled in a corporate environment.

To get the multi user screen - go into services (start -> run -> services.msc) and check that the Fast User Switching service is set to "Automatic" (although this is one of the first thing I disable normally as it's a bit of a resource hog).

To play with the look and feel - right click My Computer -> Properties -> Advanced Tab -> Performance Settings button. Also check the Themes service is set to "automatic".

 

[Sp!ke]

It's the startup front end I want to be more 'Home' like, ie the pretty screen with identities listed to select.

Also all logons are currently password protected, but I cannot change them to be non-passworded. It's probably a hangover from the old company IT policy - how can I change those settings?

Firstly, make sure the PC is in a workgroup and not in its old corporate domain. If it is still a domain member, you'll need to think carefully about user accounts and whether they are local ones or domain ones. If you take it out the domain you'll need to log in using a local account (I assume you know the local admin password) as the old corporate account will be rendered useless.

If you are in a workgroup and you are local admin you should be able to override any policy enforcing password lengths by editing the appropriate registry strings.

User Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
Network]
Value Name: MinPwdLen

&/or


System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
Network]
Value Name: MinPwdLen