I want to upgrade two PCs – one running WinME and the other running Win2K – to XP Pro, and I want to do it by re-formatting the hard drive before installing the new OS. Can I do this with the WinXP upgrade package? Or do I have to shell out an extra $200 for two copies of the full XP Pro package?
If anyone is curious, the hardware should not present any issues. Both machines were purchased within 3 months before XP’s release, and were pretty much the fastest things available at the time.
Unfortunately, with Microsoft’s product key activation system, you’ll have to license two copies of the OS to install on two separate machines. If you only have one product key, you can only activate one machine.
You can do a clean install with the upgrade version if you have the installation CD from a qualified previous version (like Windows 98 or ME), for example).
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Thanks. I am aware that I have to buy two copies of XP in any case; the question is whether I need the upgrade or full packages (which cost $100 extra, each).
But, now I just have to get this clear: Since the PCs, as they pretty much all do now, came with Windows pre-installed, the only CDs I have say things like “Operating Systems Reinstallation.” Will the upgrade package recognize these as “originals?”
That’s a good question to which I don’t know the answer. I don’t think so, since these are usually just disk image files. Hopefully someone who’d tried this will be along shortly.
Yes, they will work. I usually buy Dell and i do a full format and reinstall of the OS before doing anything with the machine. Just personal preferance. I have done this with win98, win2k, and winXP.
Homercles, I don’t believe that was the question being asked. Earthling, as a rule, those recovery CDs will not be recognized as original Windows install CDs. Recovery CDs are bootable CDs that carry an image of what was originally installed on the hard drive at first boot and a program that copies that image to the hard drive. Usually proprietary, and usually useless for anything but the built-in recovery.
Moreover, if you are going to do a clean install from a WinXP install CD, be aware that the upgrade CDs are not bootable. You must have a working system that can read the CDs when you boot. My suggestion on that front is to copy the contents of the root ( X:\ ) and the i386 ( X:\i386 ) folders of the CD ( X: ) to a folder on your hard drive (like C:\WinSetup); of course, if you do this with a working Windows system and then format the hard drive you will obviously lose the newly-created \WinSetup.
My suggestion is to boot your computer to Command Prompt, deltree \Program Files, and run setup from \WinSetup. When I installed the XP Upgrade, I had the option to do it to a new folder without overwriting the previous version of WinME. I did so and later deltree’d WinME’s folder.