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Help - Windows XP Pro downgraded to XP Home

A

Archman

Senior member
Howdy,

This problem has come up regarding a Compaq Presario 1200 Notebook and upgrading from Windows ME (original installation) to having XP Pro put on, to now having XP Home (with SP2) installed. The computer was never formatted, so it was never a fresh clean install.

Originally it had Windows ME, but XP Pro was added over top of the OS, so you could choose to either go into Windows ME, or XP Pro (and it has a timer that counts down from 30 seconds).

XP Pro wouldn't work after MS Publisher was loaded onto the system, and the XP Pro disc was not working as it was a developer's edition, and not a bootable CD.

The notebook was taken in to a local computer shop, and XP Home was purchased and installed (that is what they said was the only way to fix the problem) because it wouldn't load Windows XP Pro.

Well, now there are three options at the boot screen: a. "Windows XP Home", b. "Windows XP Pro", and c. "previous OS"

Choosing the last option an error message appears when Millenium tries to load up, with the message that VMM.SYS (or something close to that) is missing.

Choosing the XP Pro option goes back into the XP Pro installation screen, but now the serial number is not accepted what so ever. Could The XP Home installation have done something?

Now the XP Home software works, but there are duplicate files, users, and other things, and sometimes triplicate files as well.

What is the best solution for this issue? Any ideas on how to fix the problems? The MS Office suite has issues to whenever any program is run it searches for files, and eventually loads up.

Is the best thing to just do a clean wipe, and start from scratch? Can anyone explain what has happened to this system with so many OS's overlapping?

Thank you for any and all of your help, it is much appreciated.
 
To cut to the chase: start WindowsXP Home Setup from the CD-ROM. When you get to where there's a list of the partitions, delete ALL of the partitions, and then EXIT WinXP Setup completely. Now start WinXP Setup a second time and proceed with Setup.
 
here is the really bizzare thing... at that screen it only shows one partition being Windows XP Home, and Fat 32, and nothing else... so I was really puzzled.

 
Is there any way to salvage the system, or would it be too much work trying to repair the problems from the three overlaying Operating Systems?

Thanks 🙂
 
Yes, that was my first impression when I looked at the system... there are some important files to be backed up, but now they are missing though 🙁

Mozilla files for bookmarks and email messages. Does anyone know where they might be hiding, in what default directory?
 
Delete all of the partitions (or the one partition if all of the operating systems are squeezed onto one partition- EWW NASTY) and reformat that thing ASAP before M$ takes over the rest of it.

They should be located in the profile directory which moved around with different versions of the browser. It is almost always a subdirectory of the root Mozilla directory, though.
 
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