NO GUARANTEES...but worth a read...
Let me review this... 'cause I'm learning too...and it's interesting
Ultimately, I'd suggest taking it to your local techie-fixit folks and pay them to correct things...less headaches and danger of losing content off the drive...they can image the appropriate stuff you want saved, reformat the hard drive and then you can have them reinstall an XP-Home version...buy the OEM from them. It will be much cheaper than buying the XP-Home off the shelf...here in Ontario, it cost me about $135 for the disk ...well worth it, when I had them build my last computer...
Sounds to me like you have three OS's on board, Media Center, XP-Home and XP-Pro, but what do I know...that would be a mess
1. you say you have XP-Home on board "somewhere" maybe the C:\Windows...
does your plea imply that you cannot "see" c:\Windows?
2. you say you have XP-Pro, ditto, but on H:\Windows? ...and you can only "see" it?
3. you don't say what kind of Computer you have...but you have a Toshiba install disk? What's up with that?
I'm gonna try to not sound too stupid here...
You know for sure that there is a complete c:\Windows folder with a complete set of files there? Can you access it from "Safe Mode?" Where did it come from? Where you using that "setup" previously, before you installed the XP-Pro?
4. does the uninstaller function off the control panel not allow for uninstalling the XP-Pro version, and allow you to revert back to the old XP-Home version? ...something like the Windows Media program...you can install V10 over V9, but, like me, if you don't like it, you can unload it and the system reverts back to V9.
5. finally, I wonder if you could find someone at syschat to direct you to the location in the directory that the boot setup goes to get its orders...and redirect the "setup sequence" to the c:\Windows location. I would leave what ever is noted there, save for replacing [ H:\ ] with [ C:\ ]
assuming the rest is the same. If not, that same person can tell you what command to write there.
Logically, it may be a different path, as the XP-Pro will look for different files maybe?
I went to google and typed in "locate windows setup files" and found some interesting stuff...now don't quote me here, and BACK UP YOUR REGISTRY BEFORE DOING ANYTHING IF YOU CAN...
PC World - Answer Line: Where Are the Windows Installation Files I Need?
"Run, type regedit, and press Enter. Select
MyComputer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\W indows\CurrentVersion\Setup in the left pane, and in the right pane, find the value named '
SourcePath'. The installation path is listed in the Data field.
Now when you're prompted to insert the Windows CD,
click Browse and enter in the 'Browse to' field the installation path you just found. In XP, click OK and then enter the installation path in the 'Copy files from' text box." The Specify Windows Installation File Location and the Specify Windows Service Pack Installation File Location Group Policy objects do not behave as described on the Explain tab
RESOLUTION
To resolve this problem, edit the registry to specify the location of the Windows installation files and the location of the Windows Service Pack installation files. To do this, follow these steps.
Warning If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.
1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. Locate the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Setup
3. Right-click SourcePath, and then click Modify.
4. In the Value data box, type the path of the Windows installation files, and then click OK.
5. Right-click ServicePackSourcePath, and then click Modify.
6. In the Value data box, type the path of the Windows Service Pack installation files, and then click OK.
7. Locate the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
8. Right-click SourcePath, and then click Modify.
9. In the Value data box, type the path of the Windows installation files, and then click OK.
"Setup cannot locate the Windows installation you want to upgrade" error message
Here's something else to consider...not directly related but it may point you in a direction that may be useful...
CAUSE
Windows 2000 Setup performs the checks listed below to locate the previous installation you are attempting to upgrade. These checks are performed after the first restart when you run the Upgrade Wizard or Winnt32.exe to perform the upgrade. If any of these checks does not succeed, the error message is displayed.
• Setup looks for a valid path to the registry files using the C:\Boot.ini file.
• Setup loads the System registry hive for each operating system entry found in the Boot.ini file and extracts the Setup\UniqueID:REG_SZ:C:WINNT\Unique_ID value.
• Setup compares the UniqueID entry in the System hive with the c:\$win_nt$.~bt\winnt.sif file's uniqueID entry under the [data] section. After a match is found, Setup continues with the next step for that Boot.ini installation.
• Setup loads the Software registry hive of the installation found, and checks for a valid ProductID (PID).
• Setup checks for a %SystemRoot%\System32 folder. The Ntoskrnl.exe and Ntdll.dll files must be present.
• Setup checks for a %SystemRoot%\System32\Drivers folder.
RESOLUTION
You can troubleshoot each of the items listed above by looking at each requirement and making sure it is met.
1. Open the Boot.ini file with Notepad (or boot to Recovery Console) and make sure a valid ARC path is defined that points to the previous installation. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
155222 (
How to Determine the ARC Path) How to determine the ARC path
2. Use Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe) to view the unique ID setting in the following location, and compare it to the UniqueID entry in the c:\$win_nt$.~bt\winnt.sif file:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\Setup\uniqueid
3. Use Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe) to view the ProductID setting in the following location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion ProductID
This must contain a valid PID in the form of AAAAA-BBB-CCCCCCC-DDDDD.
4. Check the file permissions on the directory structure if you are using the NTFS file system. Make sure that SYSTEM has full control.
5. Rename $win_nt$.`bt to any different name, and then rename $winnt_$.`ls to any different name.
6. Create a "dummy" directory structure on a separate drive or partition (for example, D:\Wintest\System32...) and copy the required files to the new directories. Then, using Ntbackup.exe, create an emergency repair disk (ERD) and choose the option to also back up the registry files to the repair folder. Using a copy of the registry files in the current %SystemRoot%\Repair\Regback folder, populate the "dummy" ...\Config folder with the system and software files. Finally, create a C:\Boot.ini file entry to represent the "dummy" directory structure. Restart the computer. If Setup recognizes the "dummy" structure as a valid installation to continue the upgrade, you can assume that all the requirements are met, but that you need to troubleshoot the original directory structure for problems.
Good luck ...let us know how it turned out...