XP Professional Install Questions

I'm upgrading XP from Home SP2 to XP Professional. I received two versions
of XP Professional from my school -- XP Professional x64 and XP Professional
SP2. I first attempted to install the x64 version, but cancelled the install
when the setup program stated that a windows folder already existed and that
continuing the setup would result in all applications, user accounts, etc.
being deleted. I then restarted windows as normal and put in the other XP
install CD. This time, setup gave me the option of upgrading or doing a new
install. I chose to do an upgrade.

The setup program proceeded to complete the initialization process and then
an error occurred when trying to copy the files to the harddrive. The setup
program then continued to loop upon each system restart. No meaningful error
message was displayed and there was no error code to identify the specific
problem.

When I took out the install cd and tried to start windows, an error message
was displayed. "Cannot find c:\windows\system.sav" It was at this point that
I found out that setup had wiped out everything leaving me with no working
OS. I restored the computer using my backup CDs only to find that while I
had the applications on the start menu (Word, for example), none of the
applications actually worked.

I then restarted the computer with the XP Professional SP2 CD in the drive
and this time (because there did not seem to be any other option), I pressed
the key to have the setup program delete the existing windows folder. Just
as before, setup copied all files to the harddrive and then created an
internal setup error.

At this point, I again have no working OS. Here are my questions:

Q1. Why can I not upgrade and keep all applications installed and working

Q2. Why is there an internal setup error that occurs only after the existing
windows install seems to be wiped clean regardless of what answer is chosen.

Q3. The reason for upgrading was so that I can join a domain (an option not
available with the Home install). If XP Professional x64 is not a complete
operating system, why is it even released in an academic environment?

Q4. Is there any way of being able to get XP Professional to install without
having to go out an buy another copy of Windows?

Q5. Is it necessary to reformat the harddrive in order to remove any
instance of a previous version of windows so that the Professional Version
comes out.


.

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