ginahoy said:
I will soon be upgrading from ME to XP (fresh install). As I
understand it, if I purchase the upgrade version of XP, the
installer will ask for the original OS disk to verify I'm upgrading
from an eligible operating system. However, the only disk I have is
a ME Upgrade disk (retail version), which I purchased to upgrade
from the original DELL OS. I no longer have the Dell disk.
I obviously prefer not to purchase full version of XP, but even
worse would be to fork out the money for the Upgrade version only
to discover the ME Upgrade disk doesn't qualify.
Shenan said:
If you are performing a clean installation using the Windows XP
Upgrade Edition CD - Yes... It will ask for the qualifying media
(that qualifies you for using the upgrade edition.) If you are not
performing a clean installation - you will not need the CD. You
will insert the CD and it will autorun (or you will open it) and
you will tell it to perform the upgrade.
I suggest reading this:
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpupgrad.htm
Thanks for your response and excellent link, Shenan. I'm not sure
if you answered my question or not... see below.
By "Yes..." did you mean, "Yes it will ask for qualifying media" (I
already knew that), or "Yes, the ME Upgrade CD qualifies."
So you will be performing a *clean* installation? Erasing the hard disk
drive completely and installing the OS from the upgrade edition of Windows
XP CD without any prior OS on the system?
Windows XP Newsgroups Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/newsgroupfaq.mspx
Q. Can I do a clean installation with the upgrade version?
A. Maybe. If you start with an empty hard drive, Windows XP will ask you to
insert your qualifying media at some point during setup, to ensure that you
are eligible for the upgrade. If you have a retail CD for Windows 98,
Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows NT 4.0, or
Windows 2000 (either Upgrade or Full version), you 'll be able to continue
through setup. If you use a Windows installation CD that came with your
computer (such as a "rescue CD"), it may or may not be accepted as
qualifying media.
Use the chart at Upgrading from Previous Versions of Windows
(
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/upgrading/matrix.mspx) to find out
if your current version of Windows can be upgraded in-place.
Essentially - I have not found anything specifically stating that you cannot
use the Upgrade version as 'qualifying media' for Windows XP (For Windows ME
anyway... The same cannot be said for other OSes...) However I have found
plenty that imply that the "upgrade" editions of Windows 98/98SE and ME
*should* work as qualifying media without anything later coming back and
saying "nope, that did not work" - so my bet is that it is safe for you to
do this. (In other words - it should work fine - but save your receipt.
heh)
My suggestion for a clean install methodology to follow:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html