Upgrade XP Pro -> MCE 2005 ???

[bgowland]

The title kinda says it all. Is it possible?

I work for a residential school where the staff all have connections in their accomodation and their machines are all part of an Active Directory domain. A member of staff just bought a new machine with MCE 2005 on it but it appears the option to join a domain isn't available in that version. What we're thinking of doing is wipe the machine, install XP Pro SP2, join domain then upgrade to MCE 2005. Anybody know if this will work?

I suppose I could always tell him to stick with XP Pro and use GB-PVR instead but that's not my brief.

Cheers,
Brian

[robplatt]

I dont think you'll be able to get away with joining the machine under xp, then doing an upgrade to mce and expecting it to still be connected to the domain. That just has 'eh i dont think so' written all over it. A search on gooooooogle gave this..

This will allow you to leave and join domains within Windows Media Center Edition 2005.

01 - Insert Windows XP CD.
02 - Start > Run > X:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons
03 - (replace X: with the appropiate drive letter)
04 - Acknowledge prompt by clicking 'Yes'.
05 - Skip updating process by clicking 'Cancel' or by pressing 'Esc'
06 - After installation, acknowledge success msg. by clicking 'Ok'
07 - Start > Shutdown > Restart
08 - At boot menu, select 'Microsoft Windows Recovery Console'
09 - Select proper installation to log onto (default: 1) and press 'Enter'
10 - (If prompted, enter Administrator password and press 'Enter')
11 - Type (without quotes) and press enter: 'cd system32\config'
12 - Type (without quotes) and press enter: 'copy SYSTEM C:\'
13 - Type (without quotes) and press enter: exit
14 - At boot menu, select 'Windows XP Media Center Edition'
15 - Start > Run > Type: 'regedit' and press enter
16 - Click on 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE'.
17 - File > Load Hive...
18 - Browse and select C:\SYSTEM
19 - Specify key name 'BANANA' and click OK
20 - Expand: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > BANANA > WPA > MedCtrUpg
21 - On the right-hand side, double-click IsLegacyMCE value
22 - Change selected value to 1 and click Ok. (THAT IS NOT AN L!)
23 - Click on BANANA subkey (under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE).
24 - File > Unload Hive. Confirm.
25 - Start > Shutdown > Restart
26 - At boot menu, select 'Microsoft Windows Recovery Console'
27 - Select proper installation to log onto (default: 1) and press 'Enter'
28 - (If prompted, enter Administrator password and press 'Enter')
29 - Type (without quotes) and press enter: 'cd \'
30 - Type (without quotes) and press enter: 'copy SYSTEM C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM'
31 - (Yes, you want to overwrite - Go ahead and do it)
32 - Type (without quotes) and press enter: 'del SYSTEM'
33 - Type (without quotes) and press enter: 'exit'
34 - At boot menu, select 'Windows XP Media Center Edition'
35 - Join domain.

[A_Brass]

Another way to join a domain in WinXP Home (I assume MCE). is with X-teq's X-Setup http://www.x-setup.net/

Its a tweak tool that has tons of hidden setup options that you can get to via the regular control panel options.

[bgowland]

Thanks guys. I've passed the suggestions on to our PC Support guys. If we really mess things up we've still got the Recovery disks to fall back on.

Cheers,
Brian

[mitcheloc]

Ahhh brilliant! I just bought my mum one of those HP HTPC's... and I was planning on joining it to the business's domain (the house is connected to the business via a wireless link!!!).

Thanks guys, Mitchel