upgrading from Windows ME to XP

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ric
  • Start date Start date
R

Ric

I have ME on a Dell PC that gives me endless headaches with the memory
leakage and crashing problems which it appears even Microsoft cannot fix.

I'm resigned to paying out yet again to upgrade to XP. As you can imagine, I
badly resent this forced upgrade, and am reluctant to shell out a load more
money to Microsoft as I feel badly cheated by the ME experience . On the
www.amazon.co.uk site there are a couple of "used" Windows XP upgrade disks
for about forty UKP. My questions are this - how can it be that a "used" XP
disc will work, given the antipiracy measure in XP? I don't think a
reputable site like Amazon is llikely to be selling pirated software - so is
this upgrade likely to be usable? Secondly if I buy an "upgrade" will it
allow me to make a clean install (ie formatting entire drive)? I really
don't want any traces of ME lying around.

If anybody from microsoft is reading this post, tell your boss that you
should offer free upgrades to XP for everybody you sold ME too.
 
Greetings --

It's quite possible for people to legitimately sell retail
versions, either full or upgrade, of WinXP that they no longer use,
provided they've removed it from any computer on which it was
installed and provide the buyer the CD, the CoA, the Product Key, and
all other documentation.

It's quite possible to perform a clean installation using an
Upgrade CD. You'll be offered the opportunity to delete, create, and
format partitions as part of the installation process.

Simply boot from the WinXP Upgrade CD. The Upgrade CD checks to
see if a qualifying OS is installed, and, if it finds none, it asks
you to insert the installation media (CD) of that OS. Unfortunately,
an OEM "Recovery/Restore" CD will not work for this purpose; you must
have a true installation CD, complete with the "\Win98" folder and
*.cab files, or the "\i386" folder of WinNT/2K.

Alternatively, or especially if all you have is an OEM Recovery CD
for the earlier OS, you can even start the upgrade from within the
current Win98/Me/NT/2K installation, and still elect to perform a
clean installation, to include formatting the drive. In this case,
there's no further request for the qualifying OS's installation CD,
because the installation routing "remembers" that you started from
within the qualifying OS. This process is more time-consuming, but
you get the same results: a clean installation of WinXP.

HOW TO Prepare to Upgrade Win98 or WinMe
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q316639


Bruce Chambers

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