Windows 7 Home Premium vs. Professional

Does it make sense to pay extra for Windows 7 Professional or does Home Premium edition offer all the functionality one needs? The answer depends upon whether you need some special features that are not found in Windows 7 Home Premium.

Comparison chart

Windows 7 Home Premium versus Windows 7 Professional comparison chart

	Windows 7 Home Premium	Windows 7 Professional
Location-aware printing	No	Yes
Price	$119.99 for upgrade, $199.99 for a new installation	$199.99 for upgrade, $299.99 for a new installation
Domain Join wizard	Not included	Included
Windows XP Mode	Not supported	Supported
Remote Desktop Connection	Cannot use Remote Desktop Connection feature to connect to a PC that runs Windows 7 Home Premium.	Remote Desktop Connection works when trying to connect to a PC that runs Windows 7 Professional.
Backup and restore	Backups to a different drive or DVD only	Backup to a different drive, DVD or over the network

Windows XP Mode

Windows XP Mode lets you run older Windows XP software on your Windows 7 computer. It is available as a separate but free download but only works on Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise editions.

Networking and Domain Join

Both editions of Windows 7 allow you to create and join homegroups to share files between Windows 7 PCs on the same Wi-Fi network. However, if you plan to use your PC at the office or for telecommuting then you might need to connect to a domain (a collection of computers on a network). Windows 7 Professional is designed to join a domain quickly and more securely using a Domain Join wizard. The Home Premium edition does not have this feature, making the Professional edition better by yet another feature.

Backup and Restore

Both editions of Windows 7 feature automatic backups, with options to configure which files and folders get backed up and when the backups are scheduled. But with Windows 7 Home Premium, you can only back up to another drive or a DVD where as Windows 7 Professional allows you to back up over a network.

Remote Desktop Connection

Remote Desktop connects two computers over a network or the Internet. Once connected, you can see the remote computer’s desktop as if you were sitting right in front of it, and have access to all its programs and files.

The Remote Desktop Connection feature is included with all editions of Windows 7, but you can only connect to computers running the Professional, Ultimate, or Enterprise editions. This means you can use a computer running Windows 7 Home Premium to connect remotely to a computer running Windows 7 Professional but not vice versa.

Price

The retail price for Windows 7 Home Premium is $119.99 for an upgrade license and $199.99 for a new license. For Windows 7 Professional, the price is $199.99 for an upgrade and $299.99 for a new installation. The software can be purchased at a discounted price on retailers such as Amazon:

Location-aware printing

If you work in different locations that have different wireless networks and printers, you can use the location-aware printing feature in Windows 7 Professional. This feature, which is not available in Windows 7 Home Premium, lets you create preferred printer-network pairs so that Windows automatically selects the correct default printer for you based on which network you are on.

BitLocker encryption

BitLocker encrypts the entire drive that Windows and your data reside on. Once BitLocker is turned on, any file you save on that drive is encrypted automatically. Neither edition has this feature. It is only available for Windows 7 Ultimate and Enterprise editions.

Video Explaining the Differences

Network Share not working through Windows 7 home premium

I am have an issue with windows 7 home premium, whenever i am trying to connect any other OS like windows serevr 2003/XP from windows 7 home premium then getting a pormpt to put the network credientials, so after entring the same again it’s asking seems to be not accepting.

ex: when trying to connect like \\Server-A\ABCfolder then getting a prompt but when ever trying RDC is going through , i checked and verified the network sharing setting all seems to be fine.

Here i would like to update that WINDOWS 7 HOME PREMIUM IS ON WORKGROUP AND I AM TRYING TO CONNECT THE MAHCINE WHICH ARE IN DOMAIN.

Thanks for your replies. The server is stand alone in the same workgroup with the other PCs. Anyway that seems to be a problem of windows 7 home since ultimate and professional edition connect properly to win 2000 share using the same user and password which that I am using with win7 home ed. I guess that the windows 7 pc does not send the proper authentication info to the remote pc.

The solution: Registry editing for LAN manager authentication level (in Home edition this can be configured through registry)

How to do it:
1 . Open registry editor ( Start search — regedit)
2 . Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa
3. Create a new DWORD value with the following properties: NAME: LmCompatibilityLevel
VALUE: 1
4. Restart your PC and try the connection again.

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Windows 7 Home premium network problem, computers can access the internet but they can’t see each other on network

I was trying to set up a homegroup on my main computer but on the second computer I never got the option to join the homegroup. I’m pretty sure I set everything up properly but I can’t get the second computer to join.

I have a switch that my internet runs into and a cat cable going to each computer. Each computer can access the internet with no problems but neither shows up in the others network list. They have the same workgroup name, I just can’t figure it out. I use the Windows firewall.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Win7 when configured on peer-to-peer Network has three types of Sharing configurations.

HomeGroup Network = Works only between Win 7 computers. This type of configuration makes it very easy to Entry Level Users to start Network sharing.

Work Network = Basically similar to the previous methods of sharing that let you control what, how, and to whom folders would be shared with.

Public Sharing = Public Network (like Internet cafe) to reduce security risks.

For best results log to each computer’s System Screen and set all the computers to be on a Network with the same name while each computer has its own unique name.

Make sure that the Software Firewall on each computer allows free local traffic. If you use 3rd party Firewall On, Vista/XP Native Firewall should be Off, and the active Firewall has to adjusted to your Network IP numbers on what is some time called the Trusted Zone (consult your 3rd Party Firewall instructions

General example, http://www.ezlan.net/faq.html#trusted

Please Note that some 3rd party Software Firewalls keep blocking aspects of Local Traffic even it they are turned Off (disabled). If possible configure the Firewall correctly, or totally uninstall it to allow clean flow of local network traffic. If the 3rd party software is uninstalled or disables, make sure that Windows native Firewall is On .

If your network is comprised of Win 7 only and you want a simple Network, use this.

After configuring the Homegroup scroll down to the Permission/Security section.

Networking Win 7 with other version of Windows as Work Network.

In the Network Center, clicking on the Network type opens the window to the right.

Choose your type of Network. Notice the check mark at the bottom, and check/uncheck it according to your needs.

Windows Native Firewall setting for Sharing XP — http://support.microsoft.com/kb/875357

Windows XP patch for Sharing with Vista (Not need for XP-SP3) — http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922120

When finished with the setting of the system it is advisable to Reboot all the hardware including the Router and all computers involved.

If you have Permission and Security issues, check the following settings.

Point to the a Folder that meant to to be share. Right click and choose properties.

In the properties

Click on the Security tab shown in the pic bellow to the right) and check that the users and their permission (shown in the pic bellow center and left) are correctly configured. Then do the same to the Permission tab.

This screen shot is from Win 7, Vista’s menus are similar.

In both the Security panel, and the Permission panel you have to highlight each User/Group and examine that the Permission Controls are checked correctly.

When everything is OK, Reboot the Network (Router, and computer).

* Note . The Groups and Users shown in the screen-shoot are just an example. Your list will look the way your system is configured.

**Note . You have to establish specific users. Everyone means all of the users that already have an account and been established as users. It does not mean Everyone that feel that they would like to login.

***Note. Some of the processes described above are done Not for Windows sake but to compensate for different Routers and the way their firmware works and stores the info about the computers that are Networked.

Jack-MVP Windows Networking. WWW.EZLAN.NET

Jack MVP, Microsoft Windows Desktop Experience-Networking.

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