New OS on Acer 3003LMi

hi, i have a laptop with a copy of windows xp home edition. i would like to install windows xp professional so i can connect to my network properly and join my domain. my copy of windows xp home is realy a copy, it is a restore disk and i think it reads some info about the laptop from somewhere. the laptop has three partitions (two actual partitions) the third is an eisa configuration partition or something. how would i go around installing windows xp professional on my laptop but still be allowed to restore it back to windows xp home?
i tried explaining this my best.
thanks, dandono
ps. could i get around this using ghost?

If you've got the drive space, the easiest thing to do would be to make another partition and intall xp pro on it.

On the new Dell's you can press F12 to run system restore in the POST screen, that runs it before Windows boots up. If that's the case with you, then you should be able to delete everything in the Windows partition, and still be able to do a restore.

You could upgrade to XP Pro, and run it. If you did a restore, (after erasing that partition) you should be able to reload XP Home.

Keep in mind that some computers (like HP) tatoo the hard drive with a serial number. If that number gets erased, the restore diskettes won't run. (there is a copy of the number in the restore disks on HP's though)

You could always order restore diskettes from the mfg to restore it. If that's the case, then you could format the drive and install XP Pro to reclaim the disk space, but you'd lose your installed apps. Upgrading seems to be the best idea, but be prepared to have to order CD's, and ask for help getting the tatoo back on it (if it has one)

The Acer Travelmates that I set up this past summer had the Cds with them.

well the bios on it is nearly the same as my desktop pc. i can boot from network and cdrom. i have all the drivers on the first restore disk which includes all the programs that come with it aswell. i might do a ghost of everything on c drive before i go to professional and then if i mess it up and cant use my restore disks then i can ghost my partitions back on to it and then restore. its a bit long but should work. i just dont want to mess up my laptop because ive only had it a few weeks but i think xp home is horrible compaired to xp professional.

Ghost it and then upgrade install Pro :thumb:

ok i will try in a bit. at least i got several other computers to keep me ocupied for an hour :)

Hehe, i acquire a furthur two computers on saturday ;)

Should be my file server, and my "experiment" machine, lmao.
(In other words one will be testing malicious apps, the other will be hosting files for my college work.

ha, i have:
my laptop 1.8 ghrz sempron
my desktop 2.5 ghrz sempron
my server 1.8 ghrz sempron
my pocket pc xdaII :)
my dads (i manage it and can use it whenever) 3.0 ghrz AMD64
my brothers 2.0 ghrz sempron
my other brothers 1.7 ghrz sempron (faster then the 2.0 ghrz)
my sisters 500mhrz p3 (useless)
not bad for 14yr old eh :p

Cool, now get all the facts together and add them to this thread ;)
http://vbforums.com/showthread.php?t=383636

im backing up my laptop which is taking a while because im backing it to a file on my server. i also backed up a partition named PQSERVICE. It sounds like something importaint :) probably something to do with ghost becaouse thats what the restore disk is. because i backed up that partition i can view all the files on it using norton ghosts image browser thingey and i found out that the message boxes are actualy pictures :). it is full of dos commands and stuff. i figured that acers copy of ghost is not stored on a disk but is on the harddrive. laptops are realy different from desktop pcs. if this was a desktop i could of probably installed windows xp several times in the time it is taking me to ghost it.

i have successfully installed xp pro on my laptop:) dont know if it will let me restore home edition on it but that is for when i get a virus or something. i got backup images on my server but im happy now i got professional installed :D
thanks for the help!

Yey, good for you :)

And thanks for adding to my thread ;)

in a few weeks im adding some more computers to that thread :D buying two more to fix some old ones

Yey, i need all the results i can get :)