Win XP Home with Pro Key!

[hotlips69]

A client has Win XP Home installed and it must have been originally installed with a pirate key as it is now going on about not being able to receive updates because of the key.

I'm trying to help her, but I only have genuine Win XP Pro keys available.

She doesn't want to re-install etc.. as everything else works fine.

I've been reading elsewhere that it may be possible to do a reg hack or similar and get XP Home to accept an XP Pro key and solve this problem.

Has anyone heard of this or have a clue how to do this?

Cheers.

 

[montag451]

She probably did an online update.
There may be other reasons why her key doesn't work.

Anyway, it is possible to disable the MS update in Add/remove programs. Select 'include Microsoft updates' or something like that.
Look for the 'Genuine Validation' update. Uninstall.
That update has actually caused a lot of problems with some legal (can verify that they were legal) installations.

 

[soonerproud]

You could try running a repair installation of XP Pro and retain all the data and settings. Another method that may work is to run an upgrade installation from inside XP Home with the Pro CD. Both will retain all the settings and the applications/data that are currently in use.

 

[Aluvus]

Upgrade to Pro. No reinstall is required.

 

[montag451]

There is also a registry hack - you find the key that was typed in in Regedit, delete a character in the key, then when you reboot, it will tell you to input a new serial no.
I don't think you will be able to use a Pro key with a Home install though.

Sorry - you will have to search for that one.

 

[Tarrant64]

Originally posted by: Aluvus
Upgrade to Pro. No reinstall is required.

:thumbsup:

 

[Nnyan]

There was a method of creating a franken-build winxp pro CD from a winxp home install but that won't help you in this case since that still used the winxp home key. Not sure if they offer this anymore but the Windows XP Professional Step-Up upgrade is an option (thats if they don't require an authentic key for the home version).

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Nnyan
Not sure if they offer this anymore but the Windows XP Professional Step-Up upgrade is an option

Never heard of that, tell me more. I remember the MS-DOS 6.2 to 6.22 step-up, and the Win98 to 98se step-up, and the WinNT 3.5 to 3.51 step-up, but I don't remember ever seeing an XP Home to XP Pro step-up. I was always under the impression that you would have to pay for an XP Pro Upgrade edition. If there is a cheaper option to go from XP Home to XP Pro legally, I'm all ears. (Damn laptop came with XP Home, bah. Would have rather saved $50 and put my own retail XP Pro OS on instead. Instead, I have the option of wasting the money for the OEM install, and upgrading, or just leaving it on there.)