Clarification on WinXP Home Edition Upgrade to Pro options

[Guest]

From what I've read -- including posts by several MS MVPs -- only the Windows
XP Pro Retail or Upgrade can upgrade from Home Edition to Pro. However, I
just put in an OEM XP Pro CD in my Home Edition laptop and after autoplay
launched, I was presented with an option to "Upgrade (Recommended)". I did
not follow through (it's not for this machine) but it seems to me that what
I've read is wrong: OEM *can* do upgrades, not just clean installs.

 

[Bob I]

That could be one of the "switch over" OEM CD's. When you buy a computer
when the new OS is coming out and you get the old OS and a "voucher"
for the new os. Eventually you get the new OS "OEM" CD and I suspect
that is one of those.

 

[Guest]

These are brand-new shrink wrapped from a reputable retailer in town so I
don't think they would've shipped us something like that. Doing a bit more
digging, on the CD's I386 folder, the setupp.ini file says:

Pid=76487OEM

From what I've read, this is correct for a SP2 OEM CD (an upgrade CD would
have Pid=76488000).

Is it possible that MS decided with SP2 to allow the OEM CD to upgrade vs.
clean install only? Thoroughly confused.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

From what I've read -- including posts by several MS MVPs -- only
the Windows XP Pro Retail or Upgrade can upgrade from Home Edition
to Pro. However, I just put in an OEM XP Pro CD in my Home Edition
laptop and after autoplay launched, I was presented with an option
to "Upgrade (Recommended)". I did not follow through (it's not for
this machine) but it seems to me that what I've read is wrong: OEM
*can* do upgrades, not just clean installs.

What you likely have is a CD from an OEM *for* upgrading - not the true
generic OEM we refer to as 'not being able to do upgrades'. Many times the
OEM resellers will offer a coupon for a free upgrade, etc - and then you can
cash it in. This may be what you have.

Also - while it is true a pure generic unmodified OEM CD of Windows XP
cannot perform an upgarde, this is not to say it cannot be hacked so it can
perform an upgrade.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

From what I've read -- including posts by several MS MVPs -- only
the Windows XP Pro Retail or Upgrade can upgrade from Home Edition
to Pro. However, I just put in an OEM XP Pro CD in my Home Edition
laptop and after autoplay launched, I was presented with an option
to "Upgrade (Recommended)". I did not follow through (it's not for
this machine) but it seems to me that what I've read is wrong: OEM
*can* do upgrades, not just clean installs.

What you likely have is a CD from an OEM *for* upgrading - not the
true generic OEM we refer to as 'not being able to do upgrades'. Many
times the OEM resellers will offer a coupon for a free
upgrade, etc - and then you can cash it in. This may be what you
have.
Also - while it is true a pure generic unmodified OEM CD of Windows
XP cannot perform an upgarde, this is not to say it cannot be
hacked so it can perform an upgrade.

See:
http://www.petri.co.il/use_oem_version_to_upgrade_xp.htm

Notice - you may have a retail CD that accepts OEM keys.

 

[Guest]

What you likely have is a CD from an OEM *for* upgrading - not the true
generic OEM we refer to as 'not being able to do upgrades'. Many times the
OEM resellers will offer a coupon for a free upgrade, etc - and then you can
cash it in. This may be what you have.

Also - while it is true a pure generic unmodified OEM CD of Windows XP
cannot perform an upgarde, this is not to say it cannot be hacked so it can
perform an upgrade.

Ok that might be the case then. Is there any way to confirm via
media/packaging? It looks like a regular OEM packaged media to me.

 

[Bob I]

You would have to ask the retailer. A "true" OEM CD from MS, isn't going
to do an upgrade.