Brought home Husbands computer from work to replace an older computer on our home network.  New computer has XP professional.  Everything was going well, even had an internet connection through our router, but it wasn't being recognized on our network - so I started the process to get it on our network - realized it was on a domain, changed it to our home network - then the fun begins...

Required a restart - did that, then couldn't logon - password wouldn't work - couldn't get in through admin either - then I totally screwed up... (I now know I should have gotten rid of all the passwords first!!)

I stupidly decided to install XP Home SP2 from the disk from our other computer - thinking I could use uninstall, system recovery or safe mode to go back to XP Pro - in a word.. can't ..it's like it's a BRAND new computer with NOTHING else installed on it - in safe mode the only operating system listed is XP Home - can't get an internet connection - can't restore any further back than when I installed XP Home - can't uninstall Home - it's like everything that was on the computer before is totally gone - now just one QUESTION....

Am I totally screwed or will a professional be able to undo what I did???By installing an OS over your previous installation i'm afraid all your data is gone...
Sorry.

Did they do any backups at work on their machines ? ? You might want to find out.

patio.   8-)You need a copy of XP for each computer, Home or Pro doesn't make a difference. (I am assuming this computer is never going back to the office. To get the domain back would require assistance from the IT department there.)

Once you format and reinstall the new XP on there you can set up your connection from there. Everything previously loaded will be long gone. This sounds like what you have done.

You don't need a professional to make this a full time home computer. To get back any previous data could be a problem.

I'm sure they backup everything at the office - this computer was going to be home for good - had no plans on taking it back - but if I can get everything back that way - I'll take it back - so even with the amount of stupidity I displayed .... will doing this work?  - one other thing I forgot to mention - it's giving me the 30 day countdown to register - if I don't will it revert back?? (wishful thinking)Unless the new installation is on a new partition which i doubt, the OS will just time out after 30 days. It will not revert back to it's previous state.

patio.   8-)

p.s. If the workplace did backups to CD or DVD you wouldn't neccessarily have to take it back in, just ask them for backup disks for that machine and what program they use for the backups.
You might have to purchase that program...This XP Home you have just installed.. is that already installed on another computer, using the same serial key? If so, after 30 days, your computer will force you to register with Microsoft, but they will detect you are already used this XP Home on another computer and tell you off - assuming this is the case. You cannot legally install a particular copy of XP on as many computers as you like (how would they make their money?) unless you have a multi-user licence.

Did you format the computer? I think you did. If so, you cannot recover lost data without spending money on data recovery. If you don't mind the lost data, we can go ahead and begin to setup this computer to start working again. The first thing we need to do is install graphics drivers, and other drivers. The internet connection probably does not work due to lack of drivers. Ask the office if they have any CDs containing the drivers you need. Also see if they know your motherboard make and model, and the graphics card model.

Then we can progress from there.I doubt they will release a backup disk to me, they took off work related stuff when we took home the computer - the backup disk will have all that - so I'm just hoping they will use the backup disk, take off what they did the first time and maybe take off the passwords and domain also so I can't screw it up again - thanks for your help - I'm going to call the IT guy on Monday - I'm sure he will roll his eyes and tell me what a stupid thing I did!! Quote

This XP Home you have just installed.. is that already installed on another computer, using the same serial key? If so, after 30 days, your computer will force you to register with Microsoft, but they will detect you are already used this XP Home on another computer and tell you off - assuming this is the case. You cannot legally install a particular copy of XP on as many computers as you like (how would they make their money?) unless you have a multi-user licence.

That sounds like an excellent plan.  

I'm sure there is some geeky friend that would be glad to do it for dinner.