On Tue, 16 Dec 2008 13:30:01 -0800, Max
wrote:

Have a laptop on which I am now getting the message that Windows XP
Professional is not genuine Microsoft. Have been getting this for about 3
weeks.

Have purchased Windows XP Home. Can I install this onto the XP Pro laptop?
If so, are there any special things I should do? Should I use Control
Panel/Add Remove Programs to remove XP Pro


It's not a question of "should" you do that, it's a question of *can*
you. The answer is no. You can never uninstall any version of Windows
from within Windows. That would be like sawing off the branch of a
tree while you're sitting on the branch.

Yes, you can install XP Home on the laptop, but you have to do a clean
installation. Downgrades from Professional to Home are not possible.

To do a clean installation, first back up any data that you need to
external media, but note that all programs will have to be
reinstalled. Backing up programs won't help you.

Just boot from the Windows XP CD (change the BIOS boot order if
necessary to accomplish this) and follow the prompts for a clean
installation (delete the existing partition by pressing "D" when
prompted, then create a new one).

You can find detailed instructions he
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

or here
http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org/how...windows_xp.htm

or here http://windowsxp.mvps.org/XPClean.htm

or here http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm


--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
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