I need help with Windows ME to Windows XP Professional

When I got this computer it had windows ME on it and a friend installed windows XP Professional for me, my problem is before she install XP she didnt uninstall ME so now when I do my disk cleanup it says i need these files{ME} if I want to revert to old OS, so my question is, is it safe to just delete them? also when I tried to install XP service pack 2 it said product key is invalid should I uninstall XP Professional and install XP Home Edition? and one more thing, is it safe to use a XP Home Edition CD recommended for DELL comp. on another comp. such as a compaq?

 

it sounds like you have an illegal version of XP Professional installed on top of ME.

i would use the Windows XP home edition (or buy an OEM upgrade to Windows XP Professional) and do a clean reformat.

it is very safe and easy to use a retail copy of Windows XP on a dell or compaq, you just might need to find certain drivers (windows should contain most of them).

here is a step by step if you are not familiar how to reformat:
http://www.blackviper.com/Articles/OS/InstallXPHome/installxphome1.htm

good luck and welcome to MajorGeeks!

 

Please note that formatting your machine means all data on your disk will be lost!!

 

I just wanted to thank you for your advice,I have never done a reformat but Im going to try and reformat and install XP Home Edition. Hopefully it will work. Thanks again

safirejul

 

so what do u suggest?

 

1. Ensure BIOS is set to boot from CD before IDE0, (your HD)


2. Place XP Home CD in Drive


3. Restart, boot off CD


4. Format as NTFS


5. Follow installation procedure


6. Update @ http://www.microsoft.com


7. Voila