Hello,

I have an XP pro CD and would like to install it but I only have the product key for XP home...will this key work? How do I go about installing it? I would like to reformat my entire laptop but dont have any recovery CDs and the program that I have will not allow me to use it until I insert the recovery CDs. Please let me know what I can do. Thank you.

XP Pro is not that much different from Home. It does have several features that make it more useful in business environments. I find it curious that you have a Pro CD but not the product key. I strongly caution against installing a copy of Windows that does not come with a COA. Very often they install malware as part of the setup. Perhaps the wisest route would be to correct any problems that you are having with Home, and then add the features you need. Many of Pro's functions can be added to Home manually through download and install, including Security tabs and group Policy editor. Geeks to Go cannot offer any help with using non-genuine Windows products.

I have the pro CD through my roommate and I have the product key of XP home because my laptop came with XP home. I want to reinstall windows or restore my entire laptop to its factory settings but I dont have an XP Home CD or my recovery CDs and the program that is on my laptop asks for recovery CDs to be installed before it can work so I was going to ask if it would work to install my roommates windows xp pro and use my home product key to reinstall windows. Please let me know if that is possible. Thank you.

Not likely that you will be able to use a Home key for a Pro install. The question remains--Why do you feel the need to do this? What is the problem with your current installation? Many newer systems that are shipped with pre-installed XP contain a hidden Recovery partition. Have you contacted your computer's manufacturer to discover if that is true for your machine?

My laptop has been running very slow and its a bit old so it started off with SP 1. I have installed SP 2 but I feel it has so much junk on it from other people using it that I just want to get my laptop back to normal. I got it from the UK and have had it since 2004. Is there any way to access that partition to restore my laptop without having to contact the manufacturer? Thanks.

You may not use your friends XP pro CD and license. It belongs to him.
You may not use his XP pro CD and your XP home license. It will not work.
Give us some specs on the laptop and maybe we can determine if it has a recovery partition.
The manufacturer would also be able top help, and should be able to get you new recovery CD's.
You could also ask the computer manufacturer for a legitimate XP cd with key.
You could purchase a legitimate XP cd with its key.

I don't know that you have such a partition. Often the manufacturer's website will provide the information through "Support." If you do not have a major malware problem or serious system (Windows) malfunctions, I believe that you can correct your issues without a "repair" or re-install. Take a look at my Vox: http://doc1101.vox.com/ To visit the "links" copy and paste to your browser address bar in a new tab. If you do go forward with a repair or fresh install, don't forget to backup all your data first. Put it on an exterior hard drive or burn it to CD.

This post has been edited by 1101doc: Apr 8 2007, 03:22 PM

Here are the specs:

It is a Packard Bell Easynote

OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name NAMAN
System Manufacturer Packard Bell NEC
System Model 00000000000000000000000
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 9 GenuineIntel ~3060 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Insyde Software Version 4.00, 9/2/2002
SMBIOS Version 2.3
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United Kingdom
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)"
User Name NAMAN\Namz007
Time Zone Pacific Daylight Time
Total Physical Memory 256.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 33.05 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 345.55 MB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys

Seems that you can quite easilly increase the performance of the laptop without repair or format.

1: Use doc's link.

2: Consider doubling your ram to 512 MB. The ram in your computer is very small and is choked-up with only 33 MB available free space.