# Windows 2000 Upgrade Question!?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-2000-upgrade-question/73810>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 26, 2001, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-2000-upgrade-question/73810 "2001-07-26T01:10:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df788c/32.png) [@chief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chief)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2001, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-2000-upgrade-question/73810/1 "2001-07-26T01:10:37Z")

</div>

I am planning to upgrade to windows 2000 from 98, and I have the upgrade cd.  
Can I install it after i format the drive, how does that work?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Squee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@Squee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squee)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2001, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-2000-upgrade-question/73810/2 "2001-07-26T01:15:17Z")

</div>

Sounds to me since it is an upgrade CD, you will have to install it on top of your current Windows 98 OS. It is not the full version or stand-alone copy of Windows 2000, so if you format the drive you cannot install it.

Perhaps I should not have chimed in, since I have never installed an upgrade, only the full, stand-alone version.

Good luck.

-Alex

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sewalk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@sewalk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sewalk)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2001, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-2000-upgrade-question/73810/3 "2001-07-26T02:46:39Z")

</div>

One caveat: Make sure that Windows98 is an accepted OS for the upgrade. My WindowsNT Workstation 4.0 Upgrade CD required my WindowsNT Workstation 3.51 CD to to verify qualification and complete the installation.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2001, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-2000-upgrade-question/73810/4 "2001-07-26T03:30:50Z")

</div>

Well, Ive upgraded a metric crapload of win98 machines to o2k, so it will upgrade. If you are installing on a empty harddrive it should just ask you to insert your win98 cd at some point in the install to prove you own it. At least thats the way microsoft traditionally does it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2001, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-2000-upgrade-question/73810/5 "2001-07-26T03:32:31Z")

</div>

So long as you have win98 installed, you shouldn’t have any problems of the type you’re worried about upgrading to win2k. Or at least I didn’t; YMMV.