Upgrade to XP with Group Policy

  • Thread starter Thread starter Clayton
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Clayton

Hi there...
According to KB Article #314953 you can upgrade Win 2000
to Win XP Pro using Group Policy...?
As you might have guessed, it will not work as instructed.
Let me explain...
I am running Win 2000 Active Directory.
I want to upgrade Win 2000 Pro clients to Win XP Pro with
Group Policy.
When following (to the T) the instructions provided by
Article 314953 I get nothing...?
I have forced Group Policy refresh and have rebooted the
PC in question several times.
Now then, I decided to try this from the Computer Config
area of the GP and the only option I have is to assign, so
I proceeded and then refreshed the Group Policy and
rebooted the PC...it then displays the screen "Installing
Managed Software Windows XP" ...it sets at this screen for
as long as I let it..(I stopped this after 1-1/2 hours of
waiting) After stopping the so called install I rebooted
the PC and waa laa....Win 2000 Pro....no XP?
I have copied all of the I386 files as instructed, I have
created the share as instructed and I am doing the install
logging in as a Domain Admin....HELP?
The PC in question is running Win2000 Pro sp4.
The files are located on a Win2003 server.
Am I missing anything?
 
Clayton said:
Hi there...
According to KB Article #314953 you can upgrade Win 2000
to Win XP Pro using Group Policy...?
As you might have guessed, it will not work as instructed.
Let me explain...
I am running Win 2000 Active Directory.
I want to upgrade Win 2000 Pro clients to Win XP Pro with
Group Policy.
When following (to the T) the instructions provided by
Article 314953 I get nothing...?
I have forced Group Policy refresh and have rebooted the
PC in question several times.
Click to expand...

Did you then login to the PC and go to Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel?
The package is published, not assigned, and requires a user to kick the
installation off from the Add/Remove programs applet.

Now then, I decided to try this from the Computer Config
area of the GP and the only option I have is to assign, so
I proceeded and then refreshed the Group Policy and
rebooted the PC...it then displays the screen "Installing
Managed Software Windows XP" ...it sets at this screen for
as long as I let it..(I stopped this after 1-1/2 hours of
waiting)
Click to expand...

You can't do the upgrade this way as it's waiting for licence keys, regional
settings and all sorts of other stuff. As there is no user interface
available to ask for this information it stalls.
 
Andy
I have done as you have said...
I changed to the correct policy as the KB article has said.
Removed the policy from the Computer Config and told the
option to remove it from the client PC..
Rebooted the PC...once it came up I saw that it was
uninstalling the XP install.
Rebooted once more and looked into the Add/Remove programs
and there is no choice showing for the XP install.
Nothing under "Change or Remove" and nothing under "Add
New".
I can browse out to the network and select the install
manually but I could do this without using Group Policy?
So..what am I supposed to see?
It would only make sense that I should see this under
the "Add New" area...correct?
Thanks
 
Clayton said:
Andy
I have done as you have said...
I changed to the correct policy as the KB article has said.
Removed the policy from the Computer Config and told the
option to remove it from the client PC..
Rebooted the PC...once it came up I saw that it was
uninstalling the XP install.
Rebooted once more and looked into the Add/Remove programs
and there is no choice showing for the XP install.
Nothing under "Change or Remove" and nothing under "Add
New".
I can browse out to the network and select the install
manually but I could do this without using Group Policy?
So..what am I supposed to see?
It would only make sense that I should see this under
the "Add New" area...correct?
Thanks
Click to expand...

It should be under Add New Programs in "Add programs from your network"
 
Andy...
I would have to agree, but it starts to search then comes
back as claims there are no network apps to install?
 
Andy...
I would have to agree, but it starts to search then comes
back as claims there are no network apps to install?
Click to expand...

Do the users have the correct permissions (Read and Apply Group Policy) to
this GPO? Are other GPO's working for these users on the same computer?

It should all be working fine but it sounds to me like this is a problem with
the client PC or Active Directory rather than a problem with the specific
package being discussed.
 
Andy
The user in question is a Domain Admin
Domain Admins have full control?
I will try this from another Win200 PC to see what the
outcome is.
Every package I have added in the past still works
presently.
Thanks
 
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