Differences between Retail and Upgrade?

[jt3]

What, explicitly, are the differences between the retail and upgrade
versions of XP Pro? Both in terms of capabilities, and transferability to a
new machine? Further, what is necessary to qualify for the upgrade? Any
links would be welcome. Currently have an OEM version.

Thank you,
Joe

 

[Detlev Dreyer]

What, explicitly, are the differences between the retail and upgrade
versions of XP Pro? Both in terms of capabilities, and transferability
to a new machine? Further, what is necessary to qualify for the upgrade?

"Upgrade Advice, Known Issues, and Answers"
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/upgrading/before.mspx

--> "Upgrade Version Questions"

 

[Gordon]

What, explicitly, are the differences between the retail and upgrade
versions of XP Pro? Both in terms of capabilities, and transferability to
a
new machine? Further, what is necessary to qualify for the upgrade? Any
links would be welcome. Currently have an OEM version.

Thank you,
Joe

You're a bit confused. there are OEM versions and then there are Retail
versions of which you can either buy a Full Retail version or an Upgrade
Retail version. The Full retail version means that on install you don't have
to provide proof of a qualifying OS for upgrade. The Upgrade version you do.
The difference between OEM and Retail (which you probably meant) is that the
Retail version can be moved from one computer to another, whereas the OEM
version is forever tied to the first machine it is installed on.

HTH

 

[Ken Blake]

What, explicitly, are the differences between the retail and upgrade
versions of XP Pro? Both in terms of capabilities,

They are identical.

and transferability to a new machine?

They are identical. Either can be transferred as desired.

Both the Full and Upgrade versions can do either a clean installation or an
upgrade installation. The only difference between the two is that to do a
clean installation with the Upgrade version requires that, as proof of
ownership, you insert a previous qualifying version's CD when prompted to do
so.

Further, what is necessary to
qualify for the upgrade?

Windows 98, 98SE, or Me. You can also use a Windows 95 CD as proof of
ownership, but you can not upgrade over the top of Windows 95. If you are
upgrading to Windows XP Professional (but not XP Home), Windows 2000 also
qualifies.

Note that the above essentially means that a Windows XP Upgrade version plus
a copy of Windows 98 is essentially as good as a copy of the Full version.
Since that combination is much cheaper than the Full version (a used copy of
Windows 98 can be bought very inexpensively on eBay), that's what I
recommend. Also note that that combination of the Upgrade plus 98 is usually
only slightly more expensive than an OEM copy, and comes without the OEM
copy's restrictions, it's a better deal than an OEM copy too.

 

[jt3]

Thank you, everyone, for your replies.

In particular, Ken, will an OEM version of 98 suffice for the purpose?

I had thought that the upgrade and retail versions *should* be essentially
the same, but had seen a post wherein someone 'authoritatively' stated that
the upgrade version was limited. Probably they meant to write OEM instead
of upgrade. I seem to recall that there were some *slight* differences
between the upgrade and retail disks on 98se, but I could easily be wrong on
that.

My primary interest is in obtaining the portability of the retail version.
I have had so much grief with bad caps on the motherboard, then in the power
supply, that I want to be prepared for the next round of bad news when I
replace the parts, etc.

Thanks,
Joe

 

[Ken Blake]

Thank you, everyone, for your replies.

You're welcome. Glad to help.

In particular, Ken, will an OEM version of 98 suffice for the purpose?

To qualify for use of an XP Upgrade? Yes.

Are you planning on doing a clean installation or an upgrade installation?

 

[cornedbeef007-groups]

jt3 wrote:




To qualify for use of an XP Upgrade? Yes.

Ken,

I would have thought that the OEM version of 98 was tied to the
original machine it was installed on, and to use it as the qualifying
product for the upgrade would mean upgrading the Win98 hardware to
WinXP.

Have I got the wrong idea here?

Barryg

 

[Ken Blake]

Ken,

I would have thought that the OEM version of 98 was tied to the
original machine it was installed on, and to use it as the qualifying
product for the upgrade would mean upgrading the Win98 hardware to
WinXP.

Have I got the wrong idea here?

No, you're right. *If* the OEM copy had been previously installed (it might
not) it would be tied to that hardware, and that hardware might (or might
not) need upgrading to be usable with Windows XP.

I don't think I said anything different, but your clarification is helpful.

 

[jt3]

It would be a clean install.

However, as the poster below notes, the matter may be more complicated. The
computer with W98se (happens to be the one I'm using right now) uses a W98se
upgrade, which was based upon a 95 oem. I had not been told that wasn't
legitimate at the time, but perhaps I should have realized it.

The machine I actually want to upgrade is a different one, based on a
GigaByte K8NSPro motherboard which suffered from bad caps from the first
boot, and had to be RMAed after much grief trying to run down what was wrong
with it (and additional aggro with activation because of all that). Last
week, the Antec PSU quit, I suspect, from same reason (still warranted, so
haven't looked). But it has an XP OEM which I was sold with the board
(again, not aware of non-transferability at time), and what I had hoped to
do was upgrade that copy both for transferability and to have less
difficulty with activation (though that may be really reaching), but it
sounds (below) as if you're saying that's not legitimate, either.

I expect the replacement caps on the mbd to do little better than the
originals, and will need to upgrade the machine before long. May be the
worst investment I ever made, and that would be saying something.

Joe