Upgrade from XP Home SP3 to XP Professional SP2

I bought a retail box with genuine Microsoft Windows XP Professional Upgrade.
It’s written on the outside of the box that this software will upgrade XP
Home to XP Professional and I want to keep my existing files and programs
intact. Unfortunately after starting, I am getting a message that the
software installed in computer is newer than the one on the CD and
installation is terminated. The box states that the XP Professional c/w SP2
and my machine (DELL 8300 Desktop) have XP Home and SP3 on it. The next
message suggests rebooting the computer using the CD and performing the new
installation but it was not my intention. I can not get the technical support
because support dialog box does not recognize the product key. Could someone
please help me?
Thank you.
--
Mike

"Mike_T" <MikeT@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:D00B6122-A0FA-4871-B139-3ED632067096@microsoft.com...
>I bought a retail box with genuine Microsoft Windows XP Professional
>Upgrade.
> It's written on the outside of the box that this software will upgrade XP
> Home to XP Professional and I want to keep my existing files and programs
> intact. Unfortunately after starting, I am getting a message that the
> software installed in computer is newer than the one on the CD and
> installation is terminated. The box states that the XP Professional c/w
> SP2
> and my machine (DELL 8300 Desktop) have XP Home and SP3 on it. The next
> message suggests rebooting the computer using the CD and performing the
> new
> installation but it was not my intention. I can not get the technical
> support
> because support dialog box does not recognize the product key. Could
> someone
> please help me?
> Thank you.
> --
> Mike

i would uninstall SP3 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950249
then try the upgrade

Maybe the box says "upgrade",however no where on a microsoft web site
will you find that "Microsoft" says to do a Windows XP Pro upgrade from
Windows XP Home.The two will have many conflicts if done,the upgrade is
specifically for older windows OS...Sure its has been done,however the
majority
of the upgrade end up with a corrupted OS...

"Mike_T" wrote:

> I bought a retail box with genuine Microsoft Windows XP Professional Upgrade.
> It’s written on the outside of the box that this software will upgrade XP
> Home to XP Professional and I want to keep my existing files and programs
> intact. Unfortunately after starting, I am getting a message that the
> software installed in computer is newer than the one on the CD and
> installation is terminated. The box states that the XP Professional c/w SP2
> and my machine (DELL 8300 Desktop) have XP Home and SP3 on it. The next
> message suggests rebooting the computer using the CD and performing the new
> installation but it was not my intention. I can not get the technical support
> because support dialog box does not recognize the product key. Could someone
> please help me?
> Thank you.
> --
> Mike

You cannot upgrade a XP SP 3 installation with a XP SP 2 install disc.
It's that simple.

You either uninstall SP 3 or do a clean install with the SP 2 disc.
---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est

Mike_T wrote:
> I bought a retail box with genuine Microsoft Windows XP Professional Upgrade.
> It’s written on the outside of the box that this software will upgrade XP
> Home to XP Professional and I want to keep my existing files and programs
> intact. Unfortunately after starting, I am getting a message that the
> software installed in computer is newer than the one on the CD and
> installation is terminated. The box states that the XP Professional c/w SP2
> and my machine (DELL 8300 Desktop) have XP Home and SP3 on it. The next
> message suggests rebooting the computer using the CD and performing the new
> installation but it was not my intention. I can not get the technical support
> because support dialog box does not recognize the product key. Could someone
> please help me?
> Thank you.

"Andrew E." <eckrichco@msn.com> wrote in message
news:D75010C3-55D5-4272-B062-35A1C4C0CD05@microsoft.com...
> Maybe the box says "upgrade",however no where on a microsoft web site
> will you find that "Microsoft" says to do a Windows XP Pro upgrade from
> Windows XP Home.

You will find it in many places, including on the disk packaging.

> T he two will have many conflicts if done

Sorry, that;s just false.

> the upgrade is
> specifically for older windows OS...

No, it's intended for a number of OS's including XP Home.

> Sure its has been done,however the
> majority
> of the upgrade end up with a corrupted OS...

And yet another false statemtent.

Andrew, Please stop trying to mislead people.

In reality, Home to Pro is the *easiest* and most reliable upgrade. The
problem you're seeing is between the service pack levels.

See my other post.


>
> "Mike_T" wrote:
>
>> I bought a retail box with genuine Microsoft Windows XP Professional
>> Upgrade.
>> It's written on the outside of the box that this software will upgrade XP
>> Home to XP Professional and I want to keep my existing files and programs
>> intact. Unfortunately after starting, I am getting a message that the
>> software installed in computer is newer than the one on the CD and
>> installation is terminated. The box states that the XP Professional c/w
>> SP2
>> and my machine (DELL 8300 Desktop) have XP Home and SP3 on it. The next
>> message suggests rebooting the computer using the CD and performing the
>> new
>> installation but it was not my intention. I can not get the technical
>> support
>> because support dialog box does not recognize the product key. Could
>> someone
>> please help me?
>> Thank you.
>> --
>> Mike

"Figaro" <figaro@mailinator.com> wrote in message
news:e4WP8DQgJHA.3716@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>
> "Mike_T" <MikeT@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:D00B6122-A0FA-4871-B139-3ED632067096@microsoft.com...
>>I bought a retail box with genuine Microsoft Windows XP Professional
>>Upgrade.
>> It's written on the outside of the box that this software will upgrade XP
>> Home to XP Professional and I want to keep my existing files and programs
>> intact.

And you're mostly ready to go.

>Unfortunately after starting, I am getting a message that the
>> software installed in computer is newer than the one on the CD and
>> installation is terminated. The box states that the XP Professional c/w
>> SP2
>> and my machine (DELL 8300 Desktop) have XP Home and SP3 on it.

Yes, because you can't Upgrade to an earlier service pack. That would be a
downgrade.

But the solutions are simple, and you have two.

Either remove SP3 from the system, do the upgrade, and reinstall SP3, or...
..

or update your SP2 CD with SP3 - this is called slipstreaming, and it
results in you having a backup and UPDATED copy of your XP CD.

Google "slipstream XP SP3 autostreamer" and you'll find all you need. You
do need the full SP3 installer, which is abiut 400 meg. This will save you
time in the long run.

HTH
-pk

> The next
>> message suggests rebooting the computer using the CD and performing the
>> new
>> installation but it was not my intention. I can not get the technical
>> support
>> because support dialog box does not recognize the product key. Could
>> someone
>> please help me?
>> Thank you.
>> --
>> Mike
>
> i would uninstall SP3 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950249
> then try the upgrade
>

Andrew E. <eckrichco@msn.com> wrote:

> Maybe the box says "upgrade",however no where on a microsoft web site
> will you find that "Microsoft" says to do a Windows XP Pro upgrade from
> Windows XP Home.The two will have many conflicts if done,the upgrade is
> specifically for older windows OS...Sure its has been done,however the
>majority
> of the upgrade end up with a corrupted OS...

This goofball is a moron. Disregard his posts.

On Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:09:01 -0800, Andrew E. <eckrichco@msn.com>
wrote:

> Maybe the box says "upgrade",however no where on a microsoft web site
> will you find that "Microsoft" says to do a Windows XP Pro upgrade from
> Windows XP Home.


Andrew E. has repeated this nonsense here dozens of times, despite the
many times we have corrected him, and pointed him to Microsoft web
sites proving him wrong. He ignore the corrections on this issue, just
as he ignore the many corrections he gets on other issues.

Here's one such Microsoft site:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/292607


> The two will have many conflicts if done,the upgrade is
> specifically for older windows OS...Sure its has been done,however the
> majority
> of the upgrade end up with a corrupted OS...


Absolute nonsense. In fact, because so little has been to be changed,
it's the most likely successful of all possible upgrades to Windows XP
Professional.


--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

Thank you gays for your input. I decided to use slipstream disc and it worked
fine. My new problem after upgrading creates IE 7 SP3 which stopped working.
After clicking icon I can see the start up page from my provider but any
address entered in the address bar gives such response: The requested look up
key was not found in any active activation context.
Any ideas?
--
Mike


"Leonard Grey" wrote:

> You cannot upgrade a XP SP 3 installation with a XP SP 2 install disc.
> It's that simple.
>
> You either uninstall SP 3 or do a clean install with the SP 2 disc.
> ---
> Leonard Grey
> Errare humanum est
>
> Mike_T wrote:
> > I bought a retail box with genuine Microsoft Windows XP Professional Upgrade.
> > It’s written on the outside of the box that this software will upgrade XP
> > Home to XP Professional and I want to keep my existing files and programs
> > intact. Unfortunately after starting, I am getting a message that the
> > software installed in computer is newer than the one on the CD and
> > installation is terminated. The box states that the XP Professional c/w SP2
> > and my machine (DELL 8300 Desktop) have XP Home and SP3 on it. The next
> > message suggests rebooting the computer using the CD and performing the new
> > installation but it was not my intention. I can not get the technical support
> > because support dialog box does not recognize the product key. Could someone
> > please help me?
> > Thank you.
>