How do you upgrade from Win XP Home to Pro?

B

bkingbking

Junior Member
I had to reinstall OS X dues to kernel panics, prior to which Parallels was working fine. I've reinstalled the latest version of Parallels but am having a difficult time installing Windows.

I have full versions of Windows XP Home and Pro on original CDs, however, I can only install Home version (Pro says it cannot recognize previous OS version). So I gave up trying to go directly to Pro and instead install Home first, then upgrade. After installing Home, I've tried to upgrade to Pro but it mangles the original VM installation (VM becomes unbootable), so I have to delete the VM and start all over again.

Questions:
1) What could be causing the system to not recognize the Pro CD as a full version? I've keep all of my CDs in a clean, safe place so they do not have scratches, etc.

1) Assuming I need to install Home first then Pro, should I upgrade to Pro using Parallels Install OS button, or upgrade from within the instance of Home (i.e. install Pro CD from within Home up and running)?

3) How should I sequence Windows updates: after installing clean version of Home and then upgrade to Pro, or install clean version of Home, upgrade to Pro, then run Windows update?

Parallels does not seem to have improved their install process since when I first installed back in September (prior to kernel panics). Also, there are some threads on here that indicate the kernel panics may be caused by Parallels. Anyone else experience this issue?

Any thoughts, suggestions, or words of encouragement would be great.

thanks!
 
I think that if you create a new VM and attempt to install XP and it says it can't recognize a previous version, you probably have an upgrade version which means you need to install something else (home perhaps) first.

Most of the kernel panics reported have been on core 2 duo machines with a Parallels version prior to 1970. Upgrading Parallels fixes that problem.

Running Windows Update or not would be your choice depending on your intended use of the system. If it's exposed to the Internet, update would be a good idea since it would increase the mean time to exploit. I'd do it anyway.
 
OK, I've got Windows XP Home installed and up and running. If I want to upgrade to XP Pro (why, I don't know ;-) do I do it from within XP Home, or do I use the Install OS button from the Parallels application in OS X?
 
Well, I have no idea why you want to upgrade either. I flunked mind-reading in High School.

But if you decide you do want to upgrade, start Windows Home, and upgrade from there. Since I've never done it, I can't help you with what to run to make it happen.
 
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