Can Windows XP Home Edition be repaired with an XP Pro disk?

Question

Theoretically, if someone has Windows XP Home Edition on their PC, and it requires repairing, but the only install disk you have is XP Professional..., can it be done? We don't want to lose any files, so repairing is the only way to go. But can XP Pro repair it without ruining anything?

Answer 1

No an xp pro disc cannot repair a home edition.





You can however upgrade to xp pro and THEN repair your files you won't lose anything that way.



To upgrade you just put the xp pro cd as you would as if you were installing a game or any other normal piece of software.

Answer 2

Best not to because although Windows XP Home Edition is just a scaled dowm version of Professional there are registry hives that are different and also during a repair windows checks to see if serial numbers on the cd belong to the correct group,despite what a lot of people think there are serial numbers for xp home and xp pro and there is a chance that you could run the repair perfectly but be unable to logon.

Answer 3

Yes, xp pro is just xp home with extra's. The repair console can only repair files that are there to repair, it can't repair a file that doesnt exist.

You wont loose any files or data, because the repaired file will be the same sizes as the corupt file. if your xp home install is legit and you have a genuine license key, borrow a xp home cd, and just install over the top of the old install, do not format the drive or delete the partition!!! you can also request a replacement disc from microsoft for a fee, if your origional disc is lost or damaged.

hope this helps.