If I install Windows XP Pro will I lose my files and programs?

Question

Please help me. I offered to do maintenance on my mother-in-law's pc and basically I tried everything and I believe her OS is fried and unfixable. I even removed all the spyware/virus's I could find MANUALLY and with a virus scanner. Did many other computer optimizing tasks as well.

So anyway to the point- She has Windows XP Home and I have a Windows XP Pro install disk... if I put in the CD and choose upgrade will it keep her FILES and PROGRAMS<<< Important!

Will it even give me the option to upgrade? I am basically trying to do a fresh install of the "windows" part but nothing else. If there is another method other than this please tell me.

Your answers will be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks.

Answer 1

With your situation, there are a few issues:

1) You can&#039;t just re-install the &#039;Windows&#039; part - the issue could still be somewhere, so you&#039;ll lose the files &amp; programs.

2) You&#039;ll need to purchase her a license - she only owns a XP Home license, and unless you have a spare XP Pro license, it won&#039;t work.

You&#039;ll need to run a System Recovery, which WILL involve losing all of the documents. If she has it from a manufacturer (Like HP or Toshiba), there should be an option on the Start Menu, or a CD.

If neither of those options are available, try pressing F11 when you see the manufacturer&#039;s logo and do a full recovery. Make sure that you run a backup before, because she may lose her documents &amp; programs.

If you built it yourself, or a local system builder did it, then install a fresh version of XP Home by booting from the disc. Consult Google for more info on that.

Answer 2

hi depends if the xp pro is an upgrade, try running a repair before hand, boot from the xp cd select the repair option, recovery console, type logon to access the os and then type chkdsk /r

Answer 3

Since the os versions are different there might a chance for problems. The best you can do here is try to install your XP pro to a new drive. And from that drive retrieve all the content from the XP home drive. Once all the necessary contents are removed, you can do a fresh install.