Upgrading ME to XP -- any FAQs or sites I should check out first?

  • Thread starter Thread starter ggull
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ggull

I'll be upgrading my Windows Me machine to XP Pro Real Soon Any Day Now.
But I seem to hear a bunch of horror stories.

Are there any sources (FAQs or websites or ...) that could help give me the
warm fuzzies about this life altering change, and could help prevent my own
desperate what-the-heck-do-I-do-now posts?

(I'm only upgrading because some software I want to use demands XP. And
only using XP Pro, instead of Home Edition, because I got it on sale for
virtually the same price.)
 
ggull said:
I'll be upgrading my Windows Me machine to XP Pro Real Soon Any Day
Now. But I seem to hear a bunch of horror stories.

Are there any sources (FAQs or websites or ...) that could help give
me the warm fuzzies about this life altering change, and could help
prevent my own desperate what-the-heck-do-I-do-now posts?

(I'm only upgrading because some software I want to use demands XP.
And only using XP Pro, instead of Home Edition, because I got it on
sale for virtually the same price.)
Click to expand...


Have you made sure that your PC's hardware components are capable
of supporting WinXP? This information will be found at the PC's
manufacturer's web site, and on Microsoft's Windows Catalog:
(http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hcl/default.mspx) Additionally, run
Microsoft WinXP Upgrade Advisor to see if you have any incompatible
hardware components or applications.

You should, before proceeding, take a few minutes to ensure that
there are WinXP device drivers available for all of the machine's
components. There may not be, if the PC was specifically designed for
Win98/Me. Also bear in mind that PCs designed for, sold and run fine
with Win9x/Me very often do not meet WinXP's much more stringent
hardware quality requirements. This is particularly true of many
models in Compaq's consumer-class Presario product line or HP's
consumer-class Pavilion product line. WinXP, like WinNT and Win2K
before it, is quite sensitive to borderline defective or substandard
hardware (particularly motherboards, RAM and hard drives) that will
still support Win9x.

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

Upgrading to Windows XP
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpupgrad.htm

--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having
both at once. - RAH
 
Here is the official ME to XP link:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/upgrading/default.mspx

The only change I would make is to read this as Pro rather than Home. You
are fortunate to have gotten Pro. You will have a lot more things you can
do.

In any case:

Download as many XP drivers for your machine as you can before you do the
upgrade. Download them from the manufacturers' websites. If you are
upgrading a laptop be sure to read the manufacturer's website to ensure that
the manufacturer has drivers AND laptop utilities for XP.

Save the downloads to a folder that you will remember so that after the
upgrade you can point XP to the driver folder if XP needs a driver to
install one of your devices. In most cases, the XP cd will have appropriate
drivers, but anything can happen.

I have read postings from time to time that recommend against upgrading on
top of ME. I agree. The one time I upgraded a computer from ME to XP I had
so many problems that I started over and did a clean install of XP. This
may not be an option if you do not have a cd from an earlier version of
Windows (for example, you only have your computer manufacturer's Restore
cd's and no Windows cd's).

If you decide to do a clean install, my suggestion is that you use the Files
and Settings Transfer Wizard on the XP cd to save your files and settings
onto an external hard drive and then do a clean install. If your computer
has a second internal hard drive, that will work also. Also, put the
downloaded XP drivers on a cd instead of in a folder.

A clean install runs better than an upgrade, especially if you are going to
use the NTFS file system (highly recommended, especially for hard drives
larger than 30GB). XP will convert a FAT32 partition to NTFS after an
upgrade, but the system will run slower than if you do a clean install.

If you do decide to do a clean install, make sure that you have your program
cd's lined up because you will need to reinstall all programs. Afterwards
you can run the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard again to restore the
files (data) and settings to your "new" system.
 
ggull said:
I'll be upgrading my Windows Me machine to XP Pro Real Soon Any Day Now.
But I seem to hear a bunch of horror stories.

Are there any sources (FAQs or websites or ...) that could help give me
the
warm fuzzies about this life altering change, and could help prevent my
own
desperate what-the-heck-do-I-do-now posts?

(I'm only upgrading because some software I want to use demands XP. And
only using XP Pro, instead of Home Edition, because I got it on sale for
virtually the same price.)
Click to expand...

Upgrading from Me to XP can go very well for some and can really be a
disaster for others. You should make absolutely certain that you have made a
backup of your important data first. This can not be over emphasised. While
most well thought out upgrades are problem free no major upgrade like this
can be 100% perfect so BACKUP. In my opinion it is preferable to make a full
system image of your Me setup using a product like Acronis TrueImage or
Norton Ghost (or other imaging program). That way if things really go wrong
you can quickly revert back to your Me setup to either try again or live
with.

There are a number of first things to do before upgrading.
1)You need to ensure that you have XP drivers for your hardware. If you
install this little freeware app it will tell you a lot about your hardware
and direct you to downloads
http://www.lavalys.com/products/overview.php?pid=1&lang=en Make certain that
you have drivers for your motherboard, network card or modem. You may need
to get on line ASAP after the upgrade.

2) Windows XP has an Upgrade Advisor on the CD. You should run that before
upgrading and heed the report it generates. You can download the Advisor
from here but it is very large so be forewarned
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/upgrading/advisor.mspx

3) I suggest that if you have a high speed connection you should download
SP2 and copy to CD. You can get the full version of it here
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...be-3b8e-4f30-8245-9e368d3cdb5a&displaylang=en

4) Run anti-spyware programs like CWShredder, Ad-Aware or SpyBot Search &
Destroy etc and do a virus scan. http://aumha.org/win5/a/parasite.htm

5) Prior to running the upgrade you must do some serious disk cleanup and
maintenance work. The first thing to do is to uninstall some programs that
will cause problems for you later if not uninstalled first. You can later
reinstall them if they are supported in XP. a) You must uninstall all CD
Writing software - (Easy CD Creator, Direct CD, Nero, InCD etc) Look for
upgrades before reinstalling in XP. b) Uninstall any third party disk
management tools like Norton SystemWorks, GoBack, System Mechanic or the
like. These can be reinstalled after the upgrade. c) Uninstall any Antivirus
software and any Firewall software you have installed. These can be
reinstalled after the upgrade. d) Reset any tweaking programs you've used
like Tweakui to their defaults and then remove the application e) Ensure
that you have the installation files or CDs handy for your currently
installed apps. Many programs make the transition fine but others will need
to be reinstalled again after the upgrade. f) Do a decent cleanup, dump temp
files, empty the recycle bin, if you are upgrading Windows Me turn off
System Restore as your current SR Points won't survive the upgrade (In Me
you do that through System Properties->Performance Tab->File settings
button->Advanced Tab.) g) Run defrag. The above should render your system in
decent shape for an upgrade

6) Unplug unnecessary peripherals like scanners, printers, cameras and the
like.

7) Reboot to the desktop and pop the XP CD into the drive. Select
Install->Upgrade [recommended] and let the games begin.

8) When the install completes you will be asked if you want to Activate.
Choose Not at this time. You really need to finish the setup and ensure that
your hardware is supported before Activating.

9) You don't want to go online until you've enabled the Firewall. In fact
you may wish to temporarily disconnect your internet by pulling the cable.
Do this to avoid contracting the Blaster or Sasser Worm virus.

10) Install SP2 from the download you saved and finally install your
Antivirus software.

Good Luck.
More info here Upgrade info http://www.aumha.org/a/xpupgrad.htm Clean
Install info http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm Windows
Product Activation http://www.aumha.org/a/wpa.htm Service Pack 2 info
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=windowsxpsp2
 
Thanks to all for the specific and practical (get those drivers *before* I
upgrade) advice. Actually, it turns out I'm going out of town in a few
days, so won't have a chance to do the upgrade until I get back. I'll stash
these nugs away for then. With any luck, y'all won't hear from me :-).

ggull said:
I'll be upgrading my Windows Me machine to XP Pro Real Soon Any Day Now.
But I seem to hear a bunch of horror stories.
Click to expand...
........
 
Hmmm ... "positive" reinforcement? Novel concept :-)
OK, I'll try, but it's kind of like ESP experiments -- "distribution of head
tosses within random expectation" doesn't really spice up the resume.
 
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