Installing XP Pro will this disk work on a current xp home set up

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We have an XP Pro disc for a machine that no longer exists

It is for a dell machine and says reinstallation CD and has a sticker on it saying - the enclosed cd contains a complete version of your operating system software - this software has been pre installed on your system - please store safely in case of recovery of your software.

The disc is branded Dell and I can see no serial code on it just a bar code.

[drounding]

You will still need a Microsoft Activation Key for the installation. This was originally on a sticker on the side of the computer that was purchased with the XP disk.

[computer storm]

You do have another way of doing it and that is to change the registry, below is how you do it.

To convert and upgrade Windows XP Home to Windows XP Professional, follow procedure below.

1.Open Registry Editor (regedit).
2.Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/ControlSet00X/Control/ProductOptions, where ControlSet00X is the one with the highest number.
3.Delete the ProductSuite registry key.
4.Then, create a new DWORD value and named it as Brand.
5.Set the “Brand” value data as 0.
6.Reboot the system.
7.On boot up after the BIOS screen, press F8 to display Windows XP Startup Menu.
8.Choose Last Known Good Configuration (LNG) and hit Enter.

Windows XP will start up as usual. After logging into the desktop, check the system properties to verify that it’s now Windows XP Professional.

This way you dont have to do a full install of windows again and will then allow you to have the 10 connections. But as everything with the registry you play with it at your own peril.

[tcehn]

You do have another way of doing it and that is to change the registry, below is how you do it.

To convert and upgrade Windows XP Home to Windows XP Professional, follow procedure below.

1.Open Registry Editor (regedit).
2.Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/ControlSet00X/Control/ProductOptions, where ControlSet00X is the one with the highest number.
3.Delete the ProductSuite registry key.
4.Then, create a new DWORD value and named it as Brand.
5.Set the “Brand” value data as 0.
6.Reboot the system.
7.On boot up after the BIOS screen, press F8 to display Windows XP Startup Menu.
8.Choose Last Known Good Configuration (LNG) and hit Enter.

Windows XP will start up as usual. After logging into the desktop, check the system properties to verify that it’s now Windows XP Professional.

This way you dont have to do a full install of windows again and will then allow you to have the 10 connections. But as everything with the registry you play with it at your own peril.

This worked for me

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Well that may save some messing but I am unclear on 3 -4 -5 would you mind expanding them at - for dummies - thanks

[computer storm]

Well that may save some messing but I am unclear on 3 -4 -5 would you mind expanding them at - for dummies - thanks

Once you have deleted the key from the location stated you have to right click where the old key was and then create a DWORD entry called Brand. Once you right click you will have a sub menu come up. From this sub menu choose New then DWORD and name it Brand. Once you have created it double click on the new DWORD and put a Value of 0 in the box.

Hope this helps

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Seems to have worked a treat - so thanks.

It does not actually install the main additional features of xp pro but does solve my immediate problem.

I can always do the disc at a later date if I want but it seemed that I was going to have to start uninstalling all the service packs first so was going to be a ball ache.

[computer storm]

Seems to have worked a treat - so thanks.

It does not actually install the main additional features of xp pro but does solve my immediate problem.

I can always do the disc at a later date if I want but it seemed that I was going to have to start uninstalling all the service packs first so was going to be a ball ache.
Glad it worked out for you, as you state it does not install the extras that windows xp pro does, if you need remote desktop then you can just download it from microsoft and install it. But cant see any reason you should need this, but at least it resolves your connection restrictions for now.