how do i delete xp pro (illegal copy)

[strategy]

have just got windows xp home (legal copy)because the xp pro i already have on is an illegal copy.the problem is that it has gone to d drive and the illegal copy is still on c drive.anyone got any ideas how to get rid of the illegal copy and put the legal copy on to c drive.any help would be greatly appreciated.

[yankinlimey]

Do you have the legal copy on a disc? I would suggest a reformat of the drive.

[rojash]

Boot from the CD. When it shows you the partition list, choose D to delete the existing partition, then L to confirm
Create a new partition, quick format and install to that partition.

This will of course delete all your existing data and program files, so make sure that you have backups of your data, installation files for all your applications, and the driver disks for your motherboard and other devices. After installing XP, install the motherboard drivers first, followed by any other drivers, then you apps, and finally restore your saved data.

As far as I am aware, there is no other way to install Home onto a machine which is currently running Pro.

If you had bought Pro, you could just do a repair install over the top suing the new CD key.

[vehelpfulguy]

Strategy, the problem is that while you can technically upgrade XP Home to Pro you cannot upgrade XP Pro to Home.

As rojash says, if you had bought XP Pro you could have installed it on the top of your existing illegal version of Pro.

Because you were installing XP Pro on a machine that already had XP Home it assumed you wanted it on a different disk.

Anyway, that is now all history.

First thing I would do is back up EVERYTHING you want to keep off BOTH hard disks to CD or DVD because if you start to re-install Windows then it is going to reformat your hard drive and delete ALL your files.

continued...

[dog breath]

go to www.killdisk.com and download free version. erase everything on both drives. Your computer will be like when you bought it brand new.
Very very simple

[vehelpfulguy]

continued...

Now I would do a rojash says, and start the Windows install.

Make sure when you get the partition list you delete the partition off the C drive AND the D drive (if you dont do this you may be left with Windows on the D drive).

THIS WILL DELETE ALL THE FILES OFF C AND D.

Create and format a partition on the C drive (but dont create one on D until AFTER you have installed Windows, then there is no danger of it putting Windows on the D drive).

Once you have a valid formatted partition on C then continue with the Windows install and you should finish up with a XP Home on the C drive.

Then you can create a partition on D and format it (let us know if you dont know how to do this)

[strategy]

thanks guys