Greetings --
It's quite possible to perform a clean installation using the
Upgrade CD, provided you have the true installation CD for the earlier
OS.
Simply boot from the WinXP Upgrade CD. You'll be offered the
opportunity to delete, create, and format partitions as part of the
installation process. The Upgrade CD checks to see if a qualifying OS
is installed, and, if it finds none, it asks you to insert the
installation media (CD) of that OS. Unfortunately, an OEM
"Recovery/Restore" CD will not work for this purpose; you must have a
true installation CD, complete with the "\Win98" folder and *.cab
files, or the "\i386" folder of WinNT/2K.
Alternatively, or especially if all you have is an OEM Recovery CD
for the earlier OS, you can even start the upgrade from within the
current Win98/Me/NT/2K installation, and still elect to perform a
clean installation, to include formatting the drive. In this case,
there's no further request for the qualifying OS's installation CD,
because the installation routing "remembers" that you started from
within the qualifying OS. This process is more time-consuming, but
you get the same results: a clean installation of WinXP.
Bruce Chambers
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"Karen" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:1463001c444ce$27bf0b80$(E-Mail Removed)...
>I purchased an upgrade version of XP Home Edition and
> would like to do a clean install on my computer. My
> current OS is Windows ME which was installed when I
> purchased my computer from Gateway. Which is by the way,
> also where I purchased my XP upgrade. I was told by
> Gateway that a clean install would be no problem but I had
> some problems when I tried and contacted Micrsoft where I
> was told that a clean install was not possible because I
> do not have the consumer version (disc) for ME. (All I
> have is my "System Restoration Kit" discs and also the
> WorksSuite 2000 discs which came w/my computer.
>
> I really did not want to do an upgrade as I've heard
> several horror stories about problems down the line. And
> because XP is suppose to be a much more reliable system.
>
> Can anyone advise me on this? What would you do if you
> were me??
>
> Thanks, Karen