Swapping XP Home/Pro between two machines

[Rhythmdvl]

Hello, and thanks for opening this thread. I've read/relied on these forums for quite some time, and finally have something of substance to ask. (I think it'll be quite some time before I'll be able to answer anything of substance).



How I want to make my life difficult:

I have a desktop with Win XP Home and a Laptop with Win XP Professional.

Both XP discs are upgrade versions. The desktop had Win 98 on it, the laptop (a Dell Inspiron) had Win ME. I have the original (i.e. licensed) Win 98 and Dell installation discs, and both licensed upgrade discs.

Is there a way I can upgrade the desktop's XP Home to XP Professional and downgrade the laptop from XP Professional to XP Home? Is there a way to do it without losing all the software/ configurations I have on the two machines? That is, can I do it without subsequently re-downloading/installing a slew of programs and tweaking the systems to how I'm used to? Also, although I plan on backing up as many data files as I can, is there a way to swap operating systems without having to rely on the backups to copy back from? In short, I'd like to avoid simply wiping each drive and starting from scratch.

What? I'm not making my life difficult enough? Ok, well, here we go...

I'm replacing the desktop. It's currently a PIII 550. I'm putting an AMD 3700+ (939) into an Asus A8V-E. Which means when I switch the current drive to the new system, it will be sitting in an entirely new Motherboard/chip configuration. I've heard that XP's authentication and settings don't always take well to such a switch.

Speaking of making switches, this is the last wrinkle (I think). The current drive is a Western Digital EIDE drive. I'm also getting a newer WD SATA drive. At twice the capacity and higher speed, I'd like to make that my primary drive.

So.... so.... so now what?

I am considering putting the new system together, installing Win 98 on the SATA drive (will that even work?) then upgrading/reregistering Win XP Pro on it. Then installing the EIDE drive as a secondary hard drive and migrating all data from there. BUT, then I lose all system configurations and installed programs, don't I? And I still have no idea if I can downgrade the laptop's operating system. There are a few other buts, so I'm pretty sure this is an option of last resort.

Should I get the upgrade/downgrades done, put the EIDE drive in the new system, deal with XP's change of hardware issues, install the SATA drive and finally mirror the old drive onto the new?

Egad, I'm making things difficult. Can anyone help?

Rhythm

PS
I hope this is the correct forum/structure for asking this question. If not, please accept my apology.


PPS
If it makes any difference (or if you want to point out a glaring mistake) this is the full description of the new system:

Case: Antec TX640B, 400W power supply
Chip: AMD ATHLON 64 3700+ (SAN DIEGO)
Board: Asus A8V-E Delux
RAM: Kingston 1GB DDR400 (512MB X 2);
Drive: Western Digital 160GB 1600JD SATA-150
Video: ATI Radeon X800XL PCI Express

Again, thanks!

 

[mechBgon]

Which means when I switch the current drive to the new system, it will be sitting in an entirely new Motherboard/chip configuration.

If you feel like being compliant with your license agreement, then you really ought to pick up a new OEM WinXP Pro license at about $145-ish for this one. Your OEM Win98 license that would've been the basis for your desktop's XP Pro Upgrade is tied to your old hardware, with the mobo being the anchorman. Don't transfer OEM software. Sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear

Also, I wouldn't get an A8V-E if I were you and I would go a bit heavier on the PSU if it were me, since that's a split-rail PSU. Have you considered the Sonata II or perhaps an Antec SLK3000B chassis with a separate PSU like a TruePower 2.0 430W or higher?

 

[Rhythmdvl]

I... I... You mean... but.... waitaminutesomethingisverywronghere~

OS:
The Win 98 discs and the XP Pro upgrade were both purchased as retail versions?not as part of a system with software pre-installed. Since I paid retail, i.e. not an OEM discounted price for the OS, they shouldn't be tied to a particular piece of hardware, should they? I'd understand there being problems if I was keeping the old system around and running it simultaneously with the new one, but this is not the case.


Mobo:
Yikes! I've always had good luck with Asus boards, and gave them quite the benefit of the doubt. Thanks for the heads up on the A8V-E. I'll go back to the drawing board for a bit, but this may be the wrong forum to get too far into that.

Thanks for your reply!

Rhythm

 

[NogginBoink]

You can upgrade, you cannot downgrade short of flattening and rebuilding the box.

 

[mechBgon]

If all of the licenses are retail, you're home free but yeah, plan on a reinstallation. Sorry, I assumed the computers came with OEM licenses and that that was what you were using to base the Upgrades off of.

Asus A8N-E might be worth a look if you don't mind it not having onboard Firewire. I'm biased against VIA chipsets after some of their half-baked stuff lately, like SATA controllers that may only work in RAID0 or RAID1.

 

[Rhythmdvl]

Ok, with regards to the licensing.... WHEW!

The only OEM software is the laptop's original ME, so it looks like I'm relatively free to transfer the desktop's OS at will. Good.


So if I read NogginBoink's and mechBgon's replies together, it seems like I'll be able to put the Pro disc in the desktop and it will work to upgrade it from Home to Professional.

Will I lose any data or configuration, or will it merely upgrade the OS and leave everything else intact?

If it will muck up installed software and data, will it have any affect on the other partitions of the machine?

Since the Pro disc was previously activated via the laptop, when I connect to the activation server what types of problems am I likely to encounter? Can I do anything to avoid this (short of buying a new disc)?

How does the SATA drive fit into all of this? If I go with the start-from-scratch option, will it take an installation of Win 98? I assume I'll be able to get drivers from Western Digital, but such assumptions are likely to get me in to loootttsss of trouble. Is there any way to avoid doing it this way?i.e., what order should I upgrade/install?


RE: the laptop
If I understand correctly, if I put the XP Home disc in the laptop, it will give me a confused look and not install Home over the Professional installation. So I'll have to dig out the original Dell discs, reinstall ME, then upgrade to XP Home. I assume I won't be able to do that without losing everything, but if I'm wrong, let me know.

Thanks for your input so far! I'm off to the motherboard forum to read/ask/research....

Rhythm

By the way, great page mechBgon!

 

[NogginBoink]

The uprade will preserve apps and settings.

Boot into home. Log in as administrator. Do the upgrade from inside the OS you're upgrading.

After doing a backup, of course.