Windows XP Upgrade Disk

  • Thread starter Thread starter SandyO
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SandyO

I purchased Win XP upgrade 2 years ago for a desktop pc that no longer
works. I would like to use the upgrade on my Win98SE laptop. Can I do this?
I know I will have to register the XP so how will this work. How do I let
Mic know what I am doing.
Thanks
SandyO
 
SandyO said:
I purchased Win XP upgrade 2 years ago for a desktop pc that no longer
works. I would like to use the upgrade on my Win98SE laptop. Can I do this?
I know I will have to register the XP so how will this work. How do I let
Mic know what I am doing.
Thanks
SandyO
Click to expand...


Assuming a retail license (OEM licenses are not legitimately
transferable), simply remove WinXP from the computer it is currently on
and then install it on the new computer. If it's been more than 120
days since you last activated that specific Product Key, the you'll most
likely be able to activate via the Internet without problem. If it's
been less, you might have to make a 5 minute phone call.

Here are the facts pertaining to activation:

Piracy Basics - Microsoft Product Activation
http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/basics/activation/

Windows Product Activation (WPA)
http://www.aumha.org/a/wpa.htm

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
 
Thank you Bruce,
My laptop is Pent III 500mhrz 256 meg ram 12 gig hd. It has OEM Win98se and
I think I would like to upgrade to XP. I bought the XP upgrade for another
computer 2 1/2 years ago, but that computer hasn't even been turned on for
nearly 2 years.

I guess I will be ok then.
Thanks
SandyO
SandyO said:
I purchased Win XP upgrade 2 years ago for a desktop pc that no longer
works. I would like to use the upgrade on my Win98SE laptop. Can I do this?
I know I will have to register the XP so how will this work. How do I let
Mic know what I am doing.
Thanks
SandyO
Click to expand...


Assuming a retail license (OEM licenses are not legitimately
transferable), simply remove WinXP from the computer it is currently on
and then install it on the new computer. If it's been more than 120
days since you last activated that specific Product Key, the you'll most
likely be able to activate via the Internet without problem. If it's
been less, you might have to make a 5 minute phone call.

Here are the facts pertaining to activation:

Piracy Basics - Microsoft Product Activation
http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/basics/activation/

Windows Product Activation (WPA)
http://www.aumha.org/a/wpa.htm

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
 
SandyO said:
I purchased Win XP upgrade 2 years ago for a desktop pc that no longer
works. I would like to use the upgrade on my Win98SE laptop. Can I do
this? I know I will have to register the XP so how will this work. How
do I let Mic know what I am doing.
Thanks
SandyO
Click to expand...

If this is a retail copy of the upgrade, you'll have no problem. You
would simply do the upgrade and activate Windows over the Internet. If
the Internet activation didn't work, you'll get a phone number to call
and you'll be able to activate that way. It isn't onerous.

However, I must caution you to do your homework about the laptop's
capabilities first. Laptops have very proprietary hardware and software
from the laptop mftr. You should go to the laptop mftr.'s tech support
site and see if there are drivers and software for XP for your specific
laptop model. If there are none, then just forget about upgrading to
XP.

Also, examine your laptop's hardware specifications carefully. There is
a good chance that a laptop that happily ran Win98 will not be powerful
enough for XP. Although XP can be run on older, slower machines, my
personal cutoff point would be a PIII 600. If the hard drive is smaller
than 6GB, this isn't going to be a good choice, and XP needs at least
256MB of memory (RAM) to work well; 512MB is preferable.

You can run the XP Upgrade Advisor which is on the XP cd, or download it
from here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/upgrading/advisor.asp

Malke
 
Thank you Bruce,
My laptop is Pent III 500mhrz 256 meg ram 12 gig hd. It has OEM Win98se and
I think I would like to upgrade to XP. I bought the XP upgrade for another
computer 2 1/2 years ago, but that computer hasn't even been turned on for
nearly 2 years.

I guess I will be ok then.
Thanks
SandyO
Click to expand...

Sandy, suggest browsing the internet to see if you can find anyone else
that has successfully updated the same brand/model to XP (google groups
search or user forums at the manufacturer's site). Sometimes with laptops
you get into very specialized drivers.

Aside: I updated a little Compaq with a slower processor and ended up with
results acceptable for light work. Since that's all the laptop was used
for, we left XP on it.

On the other hand, if you have the original disks for the laptop - give it
a go. If it bombs or you're not happy with the results, you can always
reinstall Win98.
 
SandyO said:
Thank you Bruce,
My laptop is Pent III 500mhrz 256 meg ram 12 gig hd. It has OEM Win98se and
I think I would like to upgrade to XP. I bought the XP upgrade for another
computer 2 1/2 years ago, but that computer hasn't even been turned on for
nearly 2 years.

I guess I will be ok then.
Thanks
SandyO
Click to expand...


Acceptable performance is, of course, a matter of personal opinion
and depends entirely upon what *you* expect to do with your computer. If
all you want to do is play WinXP's built-in games, send and receive
simple emails, browse the Internet (while avoiding the more "ornamental"
web sites) etc., such a machine will easily meet your needs. If,
however, you plan to take advantage of WinXP's multimedia capabilities,
play graphic-intensive games, or do advanced word or data processing,
such a machine would probably be woefully inadequate.

"Glacial" is the term that comes to my mind, I'm afraid, even if
your computer has a 500 MHz CPU with 256 Mb of RAM. If you turn off all
of WinXP GUI eye-candy, it will still be slow, but it might usable for
simple word processing, email, web-browsing, etc. It won't be any good
for graphics-intensive applications, and most newer games. (During the
public preview period, I tested WinXP on a 500 MHz machine with 256 Mb
of RAM, and it was much slower than I like.)

To help improve WinXP's performance on older machines:

1) Right-click the Task Bar > Properties > Start Menu, ensure "Classic
Start menu" is selected.

2) Right-click an empty spot on the Desktop > Properties > Themes >
select "Windows Classic."

3) Right-click My Computer > Properties > Performance > Settings >
Visual Effects, ensure "Adjust for best performance" is selected.


--

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
 
To add to Bruce's remarks, if you can purchase additional memory for this
laptop, do so.

I just had to do a Repair Install of WinXP SP2 on a client's PII-400 with
512MB Ram a few weeks ago after he trashed his OS. He has loads of junk on
this machine and it took >4 hours to do a Repair Install! I ended up leaving
and coming back hours later as my butt got numb from sitting there watching
"paint peel"!

Start up the install and go out to nice long dinner or shopping while it
agonizes over the installation rather than you sitting there agonizing with
it! <G>
 
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