Convert and Upgrade Windows XP Home to Professional Without Reinstalling
After installing Windows XP Home Edition or Windows XP Professional Edition onto a computer, officially it’s impossible for user to convert, or upgrade from Windows XP Home to Pro edition, or downgrade from Windows XP Professional to Home edition without reformatting and reinstalling the operating system from clean and fresh state.
A lot of people always associate conversion of Windows XP edition to illegitimate or privacy reason, but sometimes, there may be legitimate and genuine reason for change, such as customer, who all the while using Windows XP Home Edition (HE) finally buy a genuine license product key for Professional edition to replace the illegal pirated version installed, or user receives additional license as gift, but don’t want to go through clean install Windows XP again, or want to keep using the computer with all data intact without interruption.
Here’s a trick to convert and turn Windows XP Home Edition to Windows XP Pro Edition, from within the operating system without going through installation again. Ok, let’s be frank. The hack doesn’t actually install and add in all the features from Windows XP Professional that Windows XP Home lacks of, such as Remote Desktop Server (see guide to install Remote Desktop on XP Home) and Group Policy Editor (GPedit) utility tools, which has been removed on Windows XP Home edition. Some functions which turned off and disabled via integrated switches which read from registry flag whether it’s Home or Professional edition, such as EFS, RAID support and ability to join domain, may or may not work after migration. Basically, the trick only work to let Windows XP recognizes itself as Professional edition.
To convert and upgrade Windows XP Home to Windows XP Professional, follow procedure below.
- Open Registry Editor (regedit).
- Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/ControlSet00X/Control/ProductOptions, where ControlSet00X is the one with the highest number.
- Delete the ProductSuite registry key.
- Then, create a new DWORD value and named it as Brand.
- Set the “Brand” value data as 0.
- Reboot the system.
- On boot up after the BIOS screen, press F8 to display Windows XP Startup Menu.
- Choose Last Known Good Configuration (LNG) and hit Enter.
Windows XP will start up as usual. After logging into the desktop, check the system properties to verify that it’s now Windows XP Professional.
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Entries (RSS)
June 26th, 2009 03:23
unfortuately, IIS is not found in optional Window Components even though the OS became Windows XP Pro. RDP and new games are enabled but those aren’t what i’m looking for.
June 20th, 2009 02:59
it didnt work for me i have xp home sp2
May 31st, 2009 15:39
didn’t work for me. I have sp3
May 31st, 2009 09:32
You are a genius.
You just saved me hours of installing Win XP Pro on 3 machines.
I was installing a software which just installs on Pro, it checks this reg value so did not let me.
I followed these instructions and voila, i could install the software on those 3 machines with out the painful process of buying/downloading/installing/customizing xp pro.
Thanks, thanks , thanks
May 29th, 2009 14:35
I tested and wala…!!!
I can share folders on the first boot after the change…!!!
Note: My XPH have SP3 installed
May 28th, 2009 00:44
Wow! This really works. Never thought it would be so easy to change ‘home’ to ‘professional’. Thanks for saving me time and agravation!
May 27th, 2009 18:15
my registry edit has 2 control sets u said controlset00x
i have
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/ControlSet001/
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/ControlSet002/
wich one do i change
May 18th, 2009 11:38
Worked on my Acer Aspire one.
May 16th, 2009 01:26
I think I followed the instruction correctly
1. I deleted Productsuite
2. I changed Dword/brand to zero file was already on my sytem
4. I rebooted several times as the XP pro was not in windows system. Still is not there
4. Also rebooted with F8 as instructed.
I need to change to windows XP Pro to load SAS Enterprise guide 4.1. one of the requirements is that XP Pro must be on my system.
Can someone advise on what I am doing wrong.
May 13th, 2009 20:17
i have controlset 001,002,003 not OOX :S
April 29th, 2009 08:44
anyway im using acer aspire one zg5 and i want my home edition to be upgraded into xp pro….
April 29th, 2009 08:42
in my registry editor
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CONTROLSET00X
There is no CONTROLSET00X IN MY REGISTRY WHAT WILL I CHOOSE?
April 21st, 2009 23:47
Worked as posted, any other tip for pro app.
April 5th, 2009 02:26
if you actually want to upgrade to Win XP Pro it is possible if you simply uninstall the service packs down to the service pack of the install disc you have. I just did this, works much better.
April 3rd, 2009 12:54
Before I attempt this, could you clarify for me how to “create a new DWORD value”? Thanks.
March 16th, 2009 05:12
Tried this on a New Acer netbook that came with XP Home w/ SP3 already installed. I had did a lot of data migration and application installations. I wanted to be able to join my domain at home and use offline files and folders (neither feature available on XP Home). I purchased XP pro but didnt want to have to reinstall and do all that customization again. I Followed the steps exactly as written (including step
and the machine came up as a professional (screen splash and all). I was able to run windows update (including the validation tool) without any problems. its been 2 weeks now and no discernable problems yet. Im still amazed that was so simple, oh BTW i was able to join my domain and offline files and folders was not available.
Thanks !!