Windows XP Home vs. Professional: What's the difference?
Updated for the RTM release of Windows XP
With the inclusion of a new consumer-oriented version of Windows XP, there has been some
confusion surrounding the differences between this product, Windows XP Home Edition, and its
more upscale sibling, Windows XP Professional Edition. During a visit to Redmond in February
where Windows XP Beta 2 and the new Whistler ("Luna") user interface was first unveiled, and in
various meetings since then, I've been able to discuss this new Windows version with Microsoft
executives and product managers. Beyond the obvious--Microsoft is targeting Home Edition at
consumers and Professional at business users and power users--Group Vice President Jim Allchin
said that the company was working hard to further differentiate the products. "With XP, the home
version is what it is," Allchin said. "But where we're going, we've named them appropriately. In
the future, this will make more sense. We will do more value add in Pro in the future."
"Divide them into managed and unmanaged environments," added John Frederiksen, the General
Manager of the PC Experience Solution Group, noting that some smaller businesses would
probably install Home Edition regardless of the target marketing. "Some small businesses have
administrators, some don’t. Home Edition is not a managed OS. It's optimized for that consumer
market. A lot of the OEM PCs marketed to consumers are bought by small businesses. In terms of
naming, we wanted to continue the Professional name. For the consumer product, we tested the
name Windows Me again, the year names, like Windows 2002, and a lot of other stuff. But Home
Edition tested the best. The feedback said that Home Edition suggested it was customized for the
home, which it was. We feel like the name reflects its purpose."
Windows XP Home Edition Overview
Windows XP Home Edition includes a number of enhancements over Windows 2000 Professional.
These include:
Improved software (application) and hardware compatibility
Simplified security
Simplified log-on featuring new "welcome" screen
Fast user switching
A new user interface featuring context-sensitive, task-oriented Web views
Enhanced support for digital media (movies, pictures, music)
DirectX 8.1 multimedia libraries for gaming
Professional Edition: Superset of Home Edition
At its most basic level, XP Professional is a business- and power-user oriented superset of Home
Edition. Because this orientation, it includes features that wouldn't be appropriate, or would be
too complex, for the typical home user. The most obvious difference is security, which is vastly
simplified in Home Edition. Each interactive user in XP Home is assumed to be a member of the
Owners local group, which is the Windows XP equivalent of the Windows 2000 Administrator
account: This means that anyone who logs on to a Home Edition machine has full control.
Likewise, the Backup Operators, Power Users, and Replicator groups from Windows 2000/XP Pro
are missing from Home Edition, and a new group, called Restricted Users, is added. Hidden
administrative shares (C$, etc.) are also unavailable in Home Edition.
"Professional Edition is a strict superset of Home Edition," confirmed Chris Jones, Vice President of
the Windows Client Group. "Everything you can do in Home Edition, you can do in Pro. So we do
think there are home users who will buy Pro." Jones' distinction is a good one: With Windows XP,
the Professional Edition is finally a superset of all the desktop clients that came before (Windows
Me and Windows 2000 Professional) as well as of its new sibling. So when discussing the
differences between the editions, it's best to simply describe those features in Pro that you can't
get in Home Edition.
Pro features that aren't in Home Edition
The following features are not present in Windows XP Home Edition.
Power user
Remote Desktop - All versions of Windows XP--including Home Edition--support Remote
Assistance, which is an assisted support technology that allows a help desk or system
administrator to remotely connect to a client desktop for troubleshooting purposes. But
Only Pro supports the new Remote Desktop feature, which is a single-session version of
Terminal Services with two obvious uses: Mobile professionals who need to remotely
access their corporate desktop, and remote administration of clients on a network. You can
access a Windows XP Remote Desktop from any OS that supports a Terminal Services
client (such as Windows 98 and, interestingly XP Home). XP Home can act as the client in
a Remote Desktop session; only Pro can be the server.
Multi-processor support - Windows XP Pro supports up to two microprocessors, while
Home Edition supports only one.
Backup and Automated System Recovery (ASR) - In a somewhat controversial move,
Microsoft has removed the Backup utility from Windows XP Home Edition. The reason for
this probably has to do with the integration of Microsoft's new Automated System
Recovery (ASR) tool into Backup. ASR will help recover a system from a catastrophic error,
such as one that renders the system unbootable. ASR-enabled backups are triggerable
from Setup, allowing you to return your system to its previous state, even if the hard drive
dies and has to be replaced. Unlike consumer-oriented features such as System Restore,
ASR is not automatic: It must manually be enabled from within the Backup utility in
Windows XP Pro. In any event, there is no Backup utility in Home Edition at all, a major
feature gap.
Dynamic Disk Support - Windows XP Professional (like its Windows 2000 equivalent)
supports dynamic disks, but Home Edition does not (instead, HE supports only the
standard Simple Disk type). Dynamic disks are not usable with any OS other than
Windows 2000 or Windows XP Pro, and they cannot be used on portable computers.
Likewise, Home Edition does not include the Logical Disk Manager.
Fax - Home Edition has no integrated fax functionality out of the box, though it is an
option you can install from the XP Home CD.
Internet Information Services/Personal Web Server - Home Edition does not include the
IIS Web server 5.1 software found in Pro.
Security
Encrypting File System - Windows XP Professional supports the Encrypting File System
(EFS), which allows you encrypt individual files or folders for local security (EFS is not
enabled over a network). EFS-protected files and folders allows users to protect sensitive
documents from other users.
File-level access control - Any user with Administrator privileges can limit access to certain
network resources, such as servers, directories, and files, using access control lists. Only
Windows XP Professional supports file-level access control, mostly because this feature is
typically implemented through Group Policy Objects, which are also not available in Home
Edition.
"C2" certification - Microsoft will attempt to have Windows XP Professional certified with
the "C2" security designation, a largely irrelevant status, but one which will not be
afforded to Home Edition.
Management
Domain membership - Home Edition cannot be used to logon to an Active Directory
domain. For obvious reasons, the Domain Wizard is also missing in Home Edition.
Group Policy - Since Home Edition cannot be used to logon to an Active Directory domain,
Group Policy--whereby applications, network resources, and operating systems are
administered for domain users--is not supported either.
IntelliMirror - Microsoft lumps a wide range of semi-related change and configuration
management technologies under the IntelliMirror umbrella, and none of these features are
supported in the consumer oriented Home Edition. IntelliMirror capabilities include user
data management; centrally-managed software installation, repair, updating, and
removal; user settings management; and Remote Installation Services (RIS), which allows
administrators to remotely install the OS on client systems.
Roaming profiles - This feature allows users to logon to any computer in an Active
Directory network and automatically receive their customized settings. It is not available in
Home Edition, which cannot logon to an Active Directory domain.
Corporate deployment
Multi-language support - Only Windows XP Professional will ship in a Multi-Language
version or support multiple languages in a single install.
Sysprep support - Windows XP Pro will support the System Preparation (Sysprep) utility,
while Home Edition will not.
RIS support - See the IntelliMirror heading in the previous section; Home Edition does not
support RIS deployments.
64-bit Edition
Microsoft is shipping a 64-bit version of Windows XP for Intel Itanium systems that mirrors
the Professional Edition feature-set.
Networking features
The following networking features are not included in Home Edition:
The user interface for IPSecurity (IPSec)
SNMP
Simple TCP/IP services
SAP Agent
Client Service for NetWare
Network Monitor
Multiple Roaming feature
User interface features
Windows XP Home Edition has some different default settings that affect the user
interface. For example, Guest logon is on by default in Home, but off in Pro. The Address
bar in Explorer windows is on in Pro by default, but off in Home. During the beta period,
Microsoft had intended to use a business-oriented shell theme ("Professional") by default
in Pro and the "Luna" consumer theme in Home Edition. But feedback from corporate
users suggested that everyone liked the consumer-oriented Luna theme better, and
development of the Professional theme was cancelled. Other user interface features that
are present in Pro but not Home include:
Client-side caching
Administrative Tools option on the Start menu (a subset of the Admin tools are still
present in Home, however).
It's also worth mentioning that Home Edition will support upgrades from Windows 98, 98 SE, and
Millennium Edition (Me), but not from Windows 95, NT 4.0 Workstation, or Windows 2000
Professional. You can upgrade from Windows 98, 98 SE, Millennium Edition (Me), Windows NT 4.0
Workstation, or Windows 2000 Professional to Windows XP Professional. See my article on What
to Expect from Windows XP for more information.
Deciding which edition to buy is simple: Peruse the above list and decide whether you can live
without any of these features. If you can't, then you're going to want to get Professional.
Otherwise, save $100 and get Home Edition. Note that Microsoft is offering a less-expensive
Professional "Step-Up" upgrade for Home users that wish to move to XP Pro.
--Paul Thurrott
February 8, 2001