Does an oem version qualify for Upgrade?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jelle
  • Start date Start date
J

Jelle

Or do you need to have a retail say Win2k to get through the Vista
upgrade test i expect there will be at the begin of the install process?
 
One must actually have an installed OEM or Retail version of Windows 2000
or Windows XP in order to perform an upgrade with an upgrade version of Windows Vista.

Please feel free to run the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/upgradeadvisor/default.mspx

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

Or do you need to have a retail say Win2k to get through the Vista
upgrade test i expect there will be at the begin of the install process?
 
Hi,

An OEM version qualifies, but it must be installed and running (and in the
case of XP, activated and validated) in order to upgrade. There no longer is
any option to insert a qualifying media disk as proof during a clean install
of an upgrade version. An upgrade now *must* be started from within an
existing, qualifying operating system.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
There is no test if you mean the opportunity to insert shiny media from a
previous version of Windows. You run an upgrade from the desktop of the
legacy OS for all x86 editions of Windows.
 
One must actually have an installed OEM or Retail version of Windows 2000
or Windows XP in order to perform an upgrade with an upgrade version of Windows Vista.

Please feel free to run the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/upgradeadvisor/default.mspx
Click to expand...


Don't forget that by "OEM", these people actually mean "OEMs" sold by
major manufacturers, such as HP, Dell, Gateway, etc.

Many OEMs, such as Dell's, are actually full installation disks for
XP. In Dell's case, their installation does not need activation by
users. I know this for a fact, having recently purchased a Dell
Dimension E520, which came with Media Center Edition 2005.

I have no idea how my OS was Activated. It was either a "bios-locked"
disk, or a "special Volume License" of some kind. All I know is that
my Dell OS does not need to be activated.

Some OEMs (called "FULL", "FULL DSP", or "Generic") must be activated
after installation.

However, in all these cases, XP MUST be previously installed on the HD
one proposes to install the Vista Upgrade on.

We can no longer use the old method of simply popping in a previous XP
installation disk. While the Vista Upgrade disk can do either a
"clean" or "in-place upgrade installation", it now must be started
from the Windows Desktop. No more "phony DOS" in Vista, apparently,
as there was in XP.

Donald L McDaniel
(e-mail address removed)

(Change the "invalid", and you will be able to "net" me.)
---------------------------------------------------------
 
Hi Donald,

Preinstalled OEM systems use a volume install key specific to the company,
not the one that is stuck on the side of the machine. This volume key used
to install their image does not require activation. Should you someday do a
clean install with the supplied media disk using the Product Key on the
label, you will find that not only does it need to be activated, but that
you will only be able to activate over the phone - the internet based
version will not work for you.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
What happens if you have an Upgrade version of Vista and you no longer have
an existing OS on the disk (through formatting, new disk, aliens, or
whatever)? Do you have to install the old OS first and then immediately
install Vista over it?
 
If you no longer have a qualifying Windows XP or Windows 2000
installed, then unless you install one of these older versions of Windows,
the Windows Vista "upgrade" disk will be of no use.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

What happens if you have an Upgrade version of Vista and you no longer have
an existing OS on the disk (through formatting, new disk, aliens, or
whatever)? Do you have to install the old OS first and then immediately
install Vista over it?
 
After installing Vista and activating and before the aliens strike, make a
full backup you can restore and save the extra hassle.
 
What happens if you have an Upgrade version of Vista and you no longer
have an existing OS on the disk (through formatting, new disk, aliens, or
whatever)? Do you have to install the old OS first and then immediately
install Vista over it?
Click to expand...

Yes that's what has been stated. The upgrade in Vista is different. It
requires the OS be installed and activated.
 
Ugh. I can already hear the wailing and gnashing of teeth being directed
at, and subsequently, originating in, Tech Support (I think I can squeeze a
few more commas into that phrase) :

- "But, Mr. Microsoft, since the upgrade didn't ask me for an old CD
during my first install, I just assumed I didn't need it. So, I threw my
old disks away" (or, more likely, sold them on EBay).
- "What do you mean I should have "Create[d] a Windows Complete PC
Backup and Restore image of your [my] entire computer, which can be [could
have been] used to recover from a hardware failure?"
-- 1) "What's a backup?"
-- 2) "I don't have an external drive and my DVD drive is only a
reader. I sure wasn't about to sit there for an hour or so feeding dozens
of CDs into my system to make a backup." (BTW: I just ran across the
essentials of that possible response on a message board).
-- 3) "The dog ate my backup."
-- 4) "Isn't that option only available in the non-Home versions of
Vista?"
- "What do you mean I should have Imaged my system?"
-- "What's an Image?"
-- "I thought none of the Imaging packages out there were compatible
with Vista."
- "You're telling me I have to go through a 45 minute XP install just to
turn around and do another 30 minute Vista install on top of it?"

The mere thought of all of these calls makes my head hurt.
 
We have been getting "My dog ate my cd, how do I get another one?" for years
in the newsgroups.

David A. Lessnau said:
Ugh. I can already hear the wailing and gnashing of teeth being directed
at, and subsequently, originating in, Tech Support (I think I can squeeze
a few more commas into that phrase) :

- "But, Mr. Microsoft, since the upgrade didn't ask me for an old CD
during my first install, I just assumed I didn't need it. So, I threw my
old disks away" (or, more likely, sold them on EBay).
- "What do you mean I should have "Create[d] a Windows Complete PC
Backup and Restore image of your [my] entire computer, which can be [could
have been] used to recover from a hardware failure?"
-- 1) "What's a backup?"
-- 2) "I don't have an external drive and my DVD drive is only a
reader. I sure wasn't about to sit there for an hour or so feeding dozens
of CDs into my system to make a backup." (BTW: I just ran across the
essentials of that possible response on a message board).
-- 3) "The dog ate my backup."
-- 4) "Isn't that option only available in the non-Home versions of
Vista?"
- "What do you mean I should have Imaged my system?"
-- "What's an Image?"
-- "I thought none of the Imaging packages out there were
compatible with Vista."
- "You're telling me I have to go through a 45 minute XP install just
to turn around and do another 30 minute Vista install on top of it?"

The mere thought of all of these calls makes my head hurt.


Carey Frisch said:
If you no longer have a qualifying Windows XP or Windows 2000
installed, then unless you install one of these older versions of
Windows,
the Windows Vista "upgrade" disk will be of no use.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

What happens if you have an Upgrade version of Vista and you no longer
have
an existing OS on the disk (through formatting, new disk, aliens, or
whatever)? Do you have to install the old OS first and then immediately
install Vista over it?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Not necessarily. It depends upon the system.
I had to reinstall XP on my Dell (and I had the reinstallation DVD to do it
with.
Also had to install a few drivers buthad those too.
It was automatically activated and when I did a test to insure it was
genuine it passed.
 
My dog ate my Parrot which ate the Cat which scratched the CD. When the dog
figured out the Cat scratched the CD, he went wild.....
 
Carey Frisch [MVP] spake thusly on 1/14/2007 11:58 AM:
One must actually have an installed OEM or Retail version of Windows 2000
or Windows XP in order to perform an upgrade with an upgrade version of Windows Vista.
Click to expand...

Does one have the option during the install to wipe the old installation
(in my case, XP) before installing Vista? I really want a "clean install"
and not an upgrade. I tried it with RC2 and it was a mess. A clean
install (as usual) was MUCH smoother.

We have one of these lovely el-chepo setups from HP. No XP CD, not even
a restore disk. You make your own from an image on the 2nd partition or
your order (and pay for) one from HP. But either way, no actual Windows
disk.

Once upon a time this was not the norm. Do Windows CDs cost them THAT much?
 
You don't say whether you are talking about an upgrade or full version, but
the string is about upgrade so for that, you will need XP installed,
activated, and maybe authenticated. You cannot do a clean install. The
Vista term is custom install and what you will end up with in your case is a
bit perfect image of Vista laid down and you will have some of your XP
installation in another file. After the install you can delete the .old
file from XP.
I, too, had a disaster with the upgrade process and will not be using it
personally. I will copy all data I want to another drive, custom install
and then let Windows find the drivers it can. I will then install my
programs and install any missing drivers that I can find and reset my
settings.
 
No. At least not with an x86 dvd. When you start Setup from the desktop
the legacy OS is running, of course, and therefore you cannot format the
legacy system drive. Windows has never allowed you to plow under the
running OS system volume. Since the legacy system volume is also the target
for the installation you cannot reformat prior to installing Vista.

However, this should not be necessary since Vista is not installed by the
old file-copying methodology used by XP and earlier. It is laid down as an
image in which all bytes in the blocks used are predetermined. Therefore
there are no old OS code snippets left to pollute the new OS. That means
all installations of Vista are clean installations of the OS. Everything
else is rolled up into windows.old which you can delete afterwards.

An x64 dvd works differently. If you boot with an x64 dvd when you enter an
upgrade edition product key you are not instructed to run from the legacy
desktop. Setup searches for a qualifying OS and then continues. Since the
legacy OS is only referenced (right after entering the UE pk) and is not
running I don't see why you would not be free to format the legacy system
volume prior to continuing on with installation once the verification of the
legacy OS has been done.

So the answer to your question depends on whether you are using an UE pk to
install x86 Vista or x64 Vista.
 
John Barnes spake thusly on 1/16/2007 4:42 PM:
You don't say whether you are talking about an upgrade or full version,
but the string is about upgrade so for that, you will need XP installed,
Click to expand...

I thought it was pretty obvious. Upgrade.
activated, and maybe authenticated. You cannot do a clean install. The
Vista term is custom install and what you will end up with in your case
is a bit perfect image of Vista laid down and you will have some of your
XP installation in another file. After the install you can delete the
.old file from XP.
Click to expand...

So EVERYTHING from my old XP install will be in that .old file/folder?
All the software, settings, drivers, documents, pictures....?

Anything less would be unacceptable.
I, too, had a disaster with the upgrade process and will not be using it
personally. I will copy all data I want to another drive, custom
install and then let Windows find the drivers it can. I will then
install my programs and install any missing drivers that I can find and
reset my settings.
Click to expand...

That's what I normally do. But then I have to ask.....

Let's say a year down the road I want to do my annual "spring cleaning".
I wipe everything and start over. Am I going to be forced to install
two operating systems to get one?
 
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