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Invalid copy of XP

Started by ferrous2 , Mar 30 2007 10:00 PM

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#1
ferrous2

Posted 30 March 2007 - 10:00 PM

New Member

Member
1 posts

I recently (well, not so recently) had a new motherboard, cpu and hard drive installed in my computer. The problem is that I didn't give them my XP installation cd (XP Home edition) and they installed XP Pro from their own cd. Well now I can't receive any updates from MS because I can't validate the copy of XP they installed. Can I just do a repair using my OEM cd or is that not possible since the shop installed the Pro version and I originally had Home edition? Where do I go from here? Do I have to do a clean installation and if so, where can I go to get step by step instructions to do so.

Obviously, I'm not experienced with this kind of thing and greatly appreciate any advice on how to procede.

#2
wannabe1

Posted 30 March 2007 - 10:30 PM

Tech Staff

Technician
16,645 posts

Hi ferrous2...

IF whoever installed XP Pro on the machine did so as an upgrade, you may be able to return to the old version XP. IF it was a clean install of Pro, there is no way to revert to the older version and you will have to format and do a fresh install of XP Home...there is a good guide for doing that HERE.

Be sure to back up any important data to external or removable media before you format and reinstall Windows.

wannabe1