Windows XP Pro vs. Home

[LeeBkr311]

I have used Win2k Pro since it came out until now, and am thinking about switching to XP I have 5 licensed copies of XP Home that were given to me. (Work had no use for them machinces they came with are immediatly formatted and loaded with OBSD). But, I'm wondering what the differences are between WinXP Pro and Home? Should I just use home or are the benefits worth going out and getting XP Pro?
The machine I'm loading this on has the following hardware and is used for gaming, internet use, and the occasional web design but no hosting:

1.8ghz p4
Geforce4 MX 440 (Replacing soon... I want to get the Quadro FX or whatever it is... the latest Nvidia card just gotta wait till I have the money)
768mb ram
125gb drive and a 30 gb secondary drive
I really don't know of anything else you would need to know...

I tried looking up the differences on Microsofts website and it all looked like propaganda I could pull very little of the info I wanted from it...

So if you guys have experience on the differences It would be much appreciated.

-_LeeBkr_-

[morganlefay]

Depends on the enviroment you are going to be using it in.

XP home is good for a peer to peer network...but is limited when trying to join a domain and/or the MS Exchange server.

HTHs

MLF

[Irongeek]

This page will give yo more details http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase...p_home_pro.asp but some of the features that you might care about that Pro has that Home does not are:

Remote Desktop
Multi-processor support
Encrypting File System
File-level access control

[cacosapo]

WIndows XP Home is a stripped version on XP PRO.
There is some diferences, but for most needs one you kick your a...

you cant upgrade from W2K to XP Home :P

take a look on this pretty old article and see some diferences.


http://www.winnetmag.com/Article/Art...536/20536.html

IMHO, i would use (and allways use) XP PRO even on home computers.

[LeeBkr311]

Thanks guys. I think I am gonna go ahead and use Home for now but when I go to build my new computer I'm gonna have to buy pro because most likely I'm getting a dual-cpu.

[ss2chef]

One important difference is that XP Pro can join existing AD domains where XP home can't.
It's more of a headache as you can easily access domain resources via a peer to peer style
configuration instead.

I also think XP home is limited to 10 concurrent connections (to xp home box) which can put a damper on file sharing with a busy network. IIRC

Also there is no backup software built in which although not a show stopper, can be a pain for some.

[tonybradley]

I would not recommend using XP Home. It is like XP Pro without the security (and we could have a whole debate on the security of XP Pro anyway).

XP Home does not offer the ability natively to do simple things like password protect the Guest account. If you turn off the Guest account in control panel it is still really ON behind the scenes because XP Home uses it for File & Folder Sharing.

There are a lot of things you CAN do in XP Home if you know enough command line syntax or registry hacks, but by default they set it up to be "dummy-proof" and to err on the side of simplicity and convenience over security.

XP Home only offers two user types- Computer Administrator and Limited. Things like Power User or customizing your own user types don't exist in XP Home. XP Home does not have the Remote Desktop function. Windows XP Home can not use EFS. The list goes on and on. For details I recommend you look at Paul Thurrott's web site: XP Home vs. XP Pro

[thehorse13]

File-level access control

I remember seeing a setting in XP Home that allowed you to turn off simple permissions...

Windows Explorer > Tools > Folder Options > View : Scroll to the bottom and uncheck simple permissions. This gives you the security settings you're used to seeing on each file.

I don't have a copy of XP Home handy but I'm 95% sure this is the case.

[tonybradley]

I don't have a copy of XP Home handy but I'm 95% sure this is the case.

Alas, tis untrue. I run a copy of Windows XP Home in Virtual PC specifically so I can work with both and understand the differences for my book. I am very used to the XP Pro way of being and had to unlearn some stuff to understand the limitations of XP Home.

Here is confirmation from Microsoft about the fact: How to configure file sharing in Windows XP.

On that page Microsoft says flat out:

Windows XP Home Edition-based computers always have Simple File Sharing enabled.

[cacosapo]

TH, this is for turn off simple permition on XP PRO. You cant do it on Home. The only way to get access to sec tab is on safe mode on XP Home.