Hi,

I subscribe to the Action Pack and have licences for Vista Business.
However these licenses are for upgrades and not clean installs, so I
get an error message when trying to do a clean install.

The reason I am doing a clean install is because the upgrade from my
XP installation led to so many problems in Vista, it was worse than
useless - IE7 and other programs would crash before they even opened
in a window, external USB U3 drives were not recognised along with
other performance issues. Everything had to be 'run as administrator'
and even that was horrendously slow - on a dual core PC too!

Trying to contact Microsoft Support, I was told I would be charged £40
plus VAT, something which I am loathe to do, seeing as the upgrade is
faulty and a clean install would resovle all these issues and save
people time all round.

Can anyone suggest something to get around this? Is my only option a
clean install of XP (which means yet another call to Microsoft to get
it activated) before doing the upgrade? Does a clean install of XP
follwed by an upgrade mean I am going to get the same problems again?

Many thanks,

Dan

"TransAction Translators" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
Hi,

I subscribe to the Action Pack and have licences for Vista Business.
However these licenses are for upgrades and not clean installs, so I
get an error message when trying to do a clean install.

The reason I am doing a clean install is because the upgrade from my
XP installation led to so many problems in Vista, it was worse than
useless - IE7 and other programs would crash before they even opened
in a window, external USB U3 drives were not recognised along with
other performance issues. Everything had to be 'run as administrator'
and even that was horrendously slow - on a dual core PC too!

Trying to contact Microsoft Support, I was told I would be charged £40
plus VAT, something which I am loathe to do, seeing as the upgrade is
faulty and a clean install would resovle all these issues and save
people time all round.

Can anyone suggest something to get around this? Is my only option a
clean install of XP (which means yet another call to Microsoft to get
it activated) before doing the upgrade? Does a clean install of XP
follwed by an upgrade mean I am going to get the same problems again?

Many thanks,

Dan

Hi, Dan
One way to do the clean install from an upgrade disk is to install it twice.
You reformat your hard drive, and on the first install, you don't supply a
product key, so you have a fully functional 30-day trial. On the second
install, it uses the first install as the qualifying upgrade product and
installs normally (you supply the product key). groups.google, in
microsoft.public.windows.vista to get more details.

http://www.onecomputerguy.com/vista_...l_no_productid

-Paul Randall

On 12 Jul, 15:35, "Paul Randall" <paulr...@cableone.net> wrote:
> installs normally (you supply the product key). groups.google, in
> microsoft.public.windows.vista to get more details.
>
> http://www.onecomputerguy.com/vista_...l_no_productid

Thank you Paul! I will give it a go and come back if there is any
problem.

Best regards,

Dan

You'll need to purchase a "Full Version" of Windows Vista
if you wish to perform an absolute "clean install" without
first installing Windows XP. Otherwise, if you followed
the "tip" Paul Randall suggested, you will not be able to
activate Windows Vista because the product activation servers
will not be able to find the Windows XP license which qualifies
one to use the upgrade version of Windows Vista.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User

---------------------------------------------------------------------------*-----

"TransAction Translators" wrote:

Thank you Paul! I will give it a go and come back if there is any
problem.

Best regards,

Dan

"Carey Frisch [MVP]" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:3230AAEE-6B32-4200-A18D-(E-Mail Removed)...
> You'll need to purchase a "Full Version" of Windows Vista
> if you wish to perform an absolute "clean install" without
> first installing Windows XP. Otherwise, if you followed
> the "tip" Paul Randall suggested, you will not be able to
> activate Windows Vista because the product activation servers
> will not be able to find the Windows XP license which qualifies
> one to use the upgrade version of Windows Vista.
>
> --
> Carey Frisch
> Microsoft MVP
> Windows - Shell/User
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------*-----
>
> "TransAction Translators" wrote:
>
> Thank you Paul! I will give it a go and come back if there is any
> problem.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Dan

I hope Dan reports back whether it succeeded or failed. Here's where I got
my info:
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase...rade_clean.asp
I have not tried it.

-Paul Randall

"Carey Frisch [MVP]" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:3230AAEE-6B32-4200-A18D-(E-Mail Removed)...
> You'll need to purchase a "Full Version" of Windows Vista
> if you wish to perform an absolute "clean install" without
> first installing Windows XP. Otherwise, if you followed
> the "tip" Paul Randall suggested, you will not be able to
> activate Windows Vista because the product activation servers
> will not be able to find the Windows XP license which qualifies
> one to use the upgrade version of Windows Vista.

Garbage.
It works just fine and activates as designed.

>
> --
> Carey Frisch
> Microsoft MVP
> Windows - Shell/User
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------*-----
>
> "TransAction Translators" wrote:
>
> Thank you Paul! I will give it a go and come back if there is any
> problem.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Dan
>
>

In article <eQnqMS$(E-Mail Removed)>,
(E-Mail Removed) says...
> "Carey Frisch [MVP]" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:3230AAEE-6B32-4200-A18D-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > You'll need to purchase a "Full Version" of Windows Vista
> > if you wish to perform an absolute "clean install" without
> > first installing Windows XP. Otherwise, if you followed
> > the "tip" Paul Randall suggested, you will not be able to
> > activate Windows Vista because the product activation servers
> > will not be able to find the Windows XP license which qualifies
> > one to use the upgrade version of Windows Vista.
>
> Garbage.
> It works just fine and activates as designed.

I took a blank hard drive in a new machine, using my Vista Business
Upgrade, install it without giving it my key, then reinstalled it as a
upgrade to itself and gave it my key and it worked fine - clean install
using the AP version of VB Upgrade. I've done this on several test
machines and it's always activated.

--

Leythos
- Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum.
- Calling an illegal alien an "undocumented worker" is like calling a
drug dealer an "unlicensed pharmacist"
(E-Mail Removed) (remove 999 for proper email address)