Hi fellow techies,
is there a way to swap OS??
I have 2 gateways xp pro and xp home both came w/ os installed. they (gateway)want me to buy an upgrade for my home machine. can't i just take the Pro disk and overwrite the home machine then do the same w/ the pro machine and make it home???

my home machine has a 2.4 40hdd 512 64mb video.--that's why...

thanks a terabyte

depends on the OEM disks, they may only work on the computer it was made for.

Necesito el controlador de la tarjeta de video Trident 9685/tv si me puedes ayudar

Pavel,

please don't interrupt another post to post nonsense about video card drivers. Start a new thread if you have a question.

Por favor, empieza un nuevo hilo para tu topico. No es bueno poner tu topico aqui!

-=Bryan=-

Carmine...

What you are saying makes perfect sense to me unless as Buzz says, those particular OEM disks won't allow it.

To my knowledge, Pro can't be "downgraded" to Home. So...the system that currently has Pro installed...you'll probably have to format and install Home. Use the Product ID that came with your system running Home when it comes time to call Microsoft.

The system currently running Home can be upgraded to Pro. You should be able to put the Pro CD in and upgrade should be pretty automatic. When it comes time to call Microsoft, just use the product ID that came with your Pro system.

There's nothing illegal about what you're doing, so you shouldn't have any problem explaining it to Microsoft when you call.

-=Bryan=-

Bryan, thank you. but OEM??? both machines have their own disks and why would i call microsoft when i bought both machines and the licenses

Hi Carmine.

Well...even though you own the machines and licenses, usually (if not always) when reinstalling your operating system, you have to call Microsoft to activate the product. You probably didn't have to do it when you purchased your computers originally, because Gateway already did it for you. Manufacturers are allowed to do that. Microsoft uses this method to try to limit piracy.

For instance, if you were to say install XP Home, you would normally have 30 days to active your product with Microsoft. They're going to see that your Product ID has already been activated on a computer (yours). So they won't let you do it. This "stops" people from purchasing one copy of Windows and using it on as many computers as they like. So more than likely, you are going to have to call them and activate, and when you do, they'll ask you questions (since your Product ID has already been used). Just explain to them what you are doing and there should be no problems at all.

OEM stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer. When computer manufacturers distribute Windows and other software, it is usually in the form of OEM (as opposed to full retail version). Some manufacturers actually limit what computers can operate using thier OEM software. For instance, you might not be able to use a Windows OEM CD from Gateway to install Windows on a Compaq computer, etc, although normally, this isn't the case.

Hope that helps clarify things a little. =)

-=Bryan=-

thank you so much Bryan. I think I'll just have to waste the $300 'cause microsoft may think i'm stealing their stuff. then i'll have 2 machines out of whack.

God Bless

carmine

You're welcome!

But please don't waste the $300 Carmine!!! You don't need to. MS will not think you're stealing their products since what you're doing is perfectly legal.

I've reinstalled my OS on my system a couple times already and have had no problems when I called MS. I just told them what I was doing and they didn't even question it.

No sense in wasting the money if you don't have to. =)

Good luck Carmine.

-=Bryan=-

Bryan,
I don't mean to be a pest but do you have the # to microsoft that I'll need to call?
I can call them Tuesday and ask what I need to do befor I reimage the machines.

thanks carmine

Hi again Carmine.

No trouble at all. Ask away! That's what we're here for. =)

Unfortunately, I don't have their number. I know it comes up when you go to Phone Activation...but this isn't until everything is installed and you're ready to activate it.

I went ahead and looked on Microsoft's website too for the number, and they just say that it comes up when you go to activate...they don't have a list or anything that I could find.

Good luck!

-=Bryan=-

I have registered XP Home and Pro hundreds over the net on the same machine and never had a problem doing that way, it doesn't really matter how many times you register it, just as long as its not a of the net piracy copy.

Hope this helps

Richard...problem with this situation is that she isn't going to be re-registering it on the same machine. It will actually be a different machine...she's going to be essentially transferring the licenses. So I'm pretty sure activating over the net isn't going to work in this case.

Also Carmine, I just found this number in another post. You might want to give this a try. It's one of Microsoft's activation numbers. And I'm sure you don't have to wait until Tuesday to call. I imagine they are open 24/7...even holidays.

1-888-571-2048

-=Bryan=-

consider the type of cds gateway gave you if they have specific driver disks for youre individual machines then you may have hardware issues by upgrading the home to pro and downgrading the pro to home.

Thanks again Bryan...
Al, you're probly right. we'll see what happens. God Bless to all....

carmine