The #2 *Question* remains

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dr. Heywood Floyd
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Dr. Heywood Floyd

Along with waiting for the answer to the question of whether the Vista
upgrade dvd is bootable (bootable AND installable, through completion,
without having to back out and install a prior OS first and start the
install from there), we still have the question of whether we will be
able to install Vista on any drive/partition while leaving a previous OS
in place on the primary (usually "C") drive.

I'm fairly satisfied that I know the answer to the former question. My
bet is the dvd will boot, start the install and then stop if a
qualifying OS is not already installed. Thus requiring the install
process to begin, anew, from within said prior OS.

I have my everyday, working OS (XP Pro) installed on the ("C") partition
of my primary drive. On the other partition on that drive ("E") I have
another iteration of XP Pro that I use for testing purposes.

My question #2 is - Will I be able to install Vista upgrade on the "E"
drive while leaving the XP untouched on the "C"? I won't mind having a
new, clean, and minimal version of XP installed on "E" first as long as
the Vista upgrade wipes it and formats before it begins it's (Vista)
install.
 
If having Windows 2000 qualifies for the upgrade price, then I don't see why
I would have to install Windows 2000 onto my computer just so I can install
Windows Vista onto my computer.
As far as I can remember, Windows 2000 does not require activating, so it
would seem senseless for this requirement.
 
In answer to the second question. If you use the same license for the XP
install on C: as the minimal install on E: then you are breaking the terms
of the license. Once an OS (or any program) is used to qualify an upgrade
then the original license becomes part of the upgrade license and can no
longer be used on it's own. This is the case with all companies' software
upgrades that I am aware of. Unless you already have two XP licenses you
would be better off (less cost) to purchase a full Vista license rather than
a second XP license and an upgrade Vista license.

Even if your scenario didn't work during the Vista upgrade process I don't
see why you couldn't install or restore images of other OS' after the Vista
upgrade has done it's thing. I don't see this as a big problem. It could be
easily worked around.
 
"My question #2 is - Will I be able to install Vista upgrade on the "E"
drive while leaving the XP untouched on the "C"? I won't mind having a
new, clean, and minimal version of XP installed on "E" first as long as
the Vista upgrade wipes it and formats before it begins it's (Vista)
install.

Short answer is yes. Technically, what you propose has to work.

The devil is always in the details. While it will work even if you used the
shiny media you used for C: to install XP again into E:, as you are well
aware, you would not be in compliance with the XP EULA neither while XP is
on both C: and E: nor after you run the Vista upgrade on E: and wipe out XP
there. I understand that is not your primary question but note it here for
others.

Upgrade Setup will most likely validate E: and if E: has not been activated
I think that Vista Upgrade Setup will instruct you to exit Setup, activate
E:, and then rerun Setup. Darrell Gortner can probably confirm this.

I have been thinking more about whether or not a Custom installation is
possible in your scenario and I think it has to be. I don't think running
an Upgrade Edition Setup precludes being able to do a traditional clean
install on the partition being upgraded. Otherwise it would not be possible
to run Upgrade Setup on a running OS (which Darrell says is mandatory) and
still upgrade Win 2000 or XP Pro x64 to Vista, for which, according to the
upgrade matrix an upgrade is allowed but a clean installation is required.
Since the version of Windows running during installation is WinPE and
neither the legacy OS nor the new Vista OS I guess this is how it works.
 
Thanks for the reply.

I'm not concerned about the EULA since I have two copies of full install
XP pro and two copies of the upgrade disks. Both iterations, "C" and
"E", are activated. I have more than enough licenses to cover what I'm
doing.

If I can't have a duel-boot setup with XP pro on "C" and Vista Home
Premium (I see no reason for using Business of Ultimate on this
system)on "E" until such time as I'm satisfied with Vista I won't use
Vista.

My question here (#2) is being asked to help make a purchase decision.
If I can't install Vista, and test it, while leaving my XP untouched, I
can't/won't purchase/install Vista.

I have no intent here of bashing MSFT. I'll just mention that the
reason I have a second iteration of XP installed here is for testing.
After testing IE7 and all the new Windows Live Items I don't like the
way MSFT is going. IE7 is a disaster. I can find no reason for using
most of the Live items. Of the two I could use they exclude themselves
because of features/options that are not able to be disabled/tweaked.
Example - Live OneCare. It's Tuneup can't be disabled and it defrags
EVERY drive on your computer (whether you want it to or whether the
drive even needs it) on a schedule and there is no way to prevent that
short of not using WLOC.
 
No where did I suggest that you cannot dual boot. In your scenario the
Vista bootloader would be written to C:, which should be fine.

You might consider waiting to see if there is a Vista trial available.
There could be one for x64 but not for x86 as there has been for XP. Of
course the trial could not be made permanent with an Upgrade pk, but you
could check everthing else out.
 
Check that, I am not so sure I know where the bootloader would go. Chad
will clarify.
 
My concern is time!

You would have to install windows xp (maybe activate it) then install vista.

stevek
 
I would prefer to use my Windows 2000 as 'canon fodder' for a Vista install and not sacrifice XP.

My concern is time!

You would have to install windows xp (maybe activate it) then install vista.

stevek
 
this is unlikely to be the case. It is more likely that Vista will ask for
verification of some sort after you put in the upgrade key. See my post in
the thread titled "Don't throw away that Win98 disc!"

Rich
 
lol
stevek
I would prefer to use my Windows 2000 as 'canon fodder' for a Vista install and not sacrifice XP.

My concern is time!

You would have to install windows xp (maybe activate it) then install vista.

stevek
 
Dr. Heywood Floyd said:
After testing IE7 and all the new Windows Live Items I don't like the way
MSFT is going. IE7 is a disaster.
Click to expand...

IE 7 is a wonderful upgrade. I already have it on every machine I
own/control - about 15 machines. No problems at all.

Mike
 
Since no upgrade disks are available, just how did you divine that
information?
 
Since W2k has not reached End Of Support it had to be handled. It would be
pointless to have two different schemes just because W2k doesn't require
activation, so the system (really designed for upgrading XP) accomdates it.
WGA validation on W2k is not as robust as on XP but it is there.
 
What do you mean XP Pro doesn't qualify for upgrade pricing? Where are you
reading that? It is sure in the upgrade matrix on GetReady. It qualifies
for upgrade to Vista Business or Ultimate.

Even XP Pro x64 qualifies for upgrade pricing. You just can't do an
upgrade-in-place installation. It has to be a custom (clean) installation
of Vista x64.

The others are right. You dropped into the middle of the thread without
understanding the discussion. No problem, but you did.
 
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