XP Home or Pro?

[Satanist]

Well, I've had my copy of Home Edition about 6 months now and it has worked pretty well (not counting the innumerable updates and fixes =))
Me and my friends have these regular "computer-parties", gathering in a same place and putting all the comps. in the same hub for playing and filesharing...(and drinking, but that has nothing to do with hubs...), Great fun indeed!

The problem is that I have Home Edition and almost all the others have Professional versions, and the rest with Home Edition have it in english but my copy is in finnish so the net doesn't work right...we have to spend hours and hours to make it work and after that it doesn't work very well, for example I can dl files from the others but can't join their games or vice versa....That sucks!

So, the question is: I could get an english version of Professional version, but the moral thing is that it has been "cracked" so that you don't have to get it activated...I don't want to break the law or anything, but because i already own a copy of Windows (legal) (and from my opinion they should work together without any complications no matter what version it is!!!!!) shouldn't I have a right to use that Professional version to get things work right as they should work?

 

[Confused]

Using that "cracked" version of Professional is illegal.

Whether or not you own XP Home OR Pro, using that version is illegal.

The XP Home should not give as many problems as you seem to be having, or, alternatively, yours could be set up right, and theirs not.

All you should need to do (regardless of language) is to set the right IP addresses and Workgroups, and it should work fine.


I would not use the cracked version, purely due to the case that it IS illegal. XP Home and Pro ARE different, and having a licence for Home does not allow you to use Pro, and the other way round.

You would probably be better in figuring out if it's not some hardware problem (dodgy network card?) or something else than that you have a different version of Windows XP.

I have had a network with XP Pro and Home, 2000 and 98, after plugging all in and setting IP addresses, everything has worked for us.


Confused

 

[Satanist]

So am I...I can't figure what could be wrong, but what I've heard, the different language can be the problem...it isn't the cards 'cos almost half of us have the same card =)....

An example:

Me: XP Home Finnish
I was able to dl files but couldn't join in their games because they did not show up in the game menus (e.g. RtCW and BF 1942)

Friend: XP Home English
Everything worked well. Wasn't able to dl from a couple of comp. 'cos they had Win 98s and MEs and so on....but all the games worked well, even with the 98s and others...


But on the other hand...I CAN get to their comps via the hub...so from that I think that it isn't about the language or OS....
Could you kindly give suggestions why the servers in the games don't show up....(all the un-necessary programs and firewall are shutted down....)
God damnit if it's some "put a cross in here to be able to do that" thing....I'll be very pissed off !!!

 

[Ichinisan]

"Computer-Parties" = LAN Party (Local Area network)

You probably need to disable the built-in Windows XP firewall...

 

[Ichinisan]

By the way, there is no "cracked" version of Windows XP. You simply need to use a corporate key with any normal copy of Windows XP Professional. The commonly-distributed corporate key (FCKGW...) has been blacklisted. Service Pack 1 and Windows Update refuse to install if you use that key.

Personally, I don't care if it is illegal to disable activation. I certainly don't feel that it is immoral, so I don't feel "sorry" for Microsoft when I use my personally generated key. They got their money from me many times over (I own several XP Pro boxes). Oh yeah, SP1 and Windows Update still work fine for me. No activation. Ever.

 

[bsobel]

...I don't want to break the law or anything, but because i already own a copy of Windows (legal) (and from my opinion they should work together without any complications no matter what version it is!!!!!) shouldn't I have a right to use that Professional version to get things work right as they should work?

No. You own a home license, not a pro license. Any thoughts that you should be able to 'upgrade' for free simply are stealing.
Bill

 

[Ichinisan]

Who knows why XP Home and Pro aren't working together, try what I mentioned earlier (disable the built-in firewall).

 

[Satanist]

Ok. More help needed here...it still doesn't work...I put up a net between my 4 own computers with xp home (fin), xp pro (eng) and 2x98 (eng).

I can move files from comp. to another but when I set up a server in Battlefield 1942 with that Pro comp, I can join it with the 98s but not with that Home....Really weird! Could it really be the language what causes the problem? All un-necessary programs are closed and the firewalls are down too...

 

[TonyRic]

This is sounding to me like it is NOT a problem with XP, but a problem with 1942 using the Finnish lang. The language issue shouldn't be a problem for Windows (as you have stated). Have you tried changing the codepage in the control panel (change the language setting to Eng).

 

[Satanist]

No I really haven't tried that yet....have to try, any other solutions?

 

[toant103]

Pro

 

[Satanist]

Otherwise it would be great, but whatabout if I get my comp. so messed up and have to take it to the firm where I bought it for fixing?
It could be unwise to give them pirate XP Pro...

On the otherhand I could just say: Just fix the f*****g computer! I'll deal with windows myself later

 

[nta]

save mulah, home

 

[Satanist]

mulah=??? I'm from Finland (you know, the land of Santa Claus, sauna and Nokia...) and my english is not perfect

 

[Ichinisan]

I don't know what mulah is...

 

[Guspaz]

Originally posted by: Ichinisan
By the way, there is no "cracked" version of Windows XP. You simply need to use a corporate key with any normal copy of Windows XP Professional. The commonly-distributed corporate key (FCKGW...) has been blacklisted. Service Pack 1 and Windows Update refuse to install if you use that key.

This is not correct. Corporate edition keys only work on corporate edition copies of Windows XP. You cannot use a corporate key to install a regular version of Windows XP, nor can you use a regular CD key to install a corporate edition. I have tried, having switched from a corporate edition to a purchased copy.

 

[bsobel]

And I'll add that the MSDN versions where also different until recently, they now switched to using retail keys but with a higer use count on the backend.
Bill

 

[Booter]

pro

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: Booter
pro

Huh?

 

[Booter]

Originally posted by: bsobel
Huh?

bsobel thanks for the heads up! Oops, i didn't release that Satanist post was about illigel stuff (i only read the title):Q I thought it was one of those XP PRO versus Home Edition posts. I'l admit it was an perfect 'nef (post count) opportunity

 

[hasu]

Originally posted by: bsobel
And I'll add that the MSDN versions where also different until recently, they now switched to using retail keys but with a higer use count on the backend.
Bill

I read somewhere that MS destroys the activation information after a period of time which is less than an year. Which means that it should be ok to make changes to your hardware once in an year, am I correct?. I would really love to buy a Windows XP Pro, but never bought one for fear of activation menace and all related problems. I already have licensed versions of Win98-SR2 (OEM Came with machine) and WinNT4.0 (Retail).

If you buy a new XP Pro, can you install it in two machines? (of course the second machine be illegal).

I have recently used TurboTax and was holding my new motherboard from testing to finish my Tax returns!! That's painful, though. But that's the way the world goes!! I guess all-in-one integrated motherboard/memory/harddisk/etc (everything put inside a sealed enclosure may be like a PDA) make sense in the new world. So you never have to or can upgrade your machine and they (companies) can make more money!

BTW, going by the same rule of piracy, I guess you should not overlock your CPU, mobo or alter Promise ATA/100 card to use it as RAID etc. just loud thinking...