windows Vista can you do a clean install with an upgrade disk?

[Alfred Kaufmann]

It would not be too bad if I can leave XP Pro on one partition and then
upgrade to Vista 64 bit on another partition. That way if I can't get all
the 64bit Vista drivers for my hardware I can still use XP Pro.

Al

 

[David Wilkinson]

It would not be too bad if I can leave XP Pro on one partition and then
upgrade to Vista 64 bit on another partition. That way if I can't get all
the 64bit Vista drivers for my hardware I can still use XP Pro.

Al:

Upgrading XP to Vista invalidates the XP license. This was always true
for upgrades. And with Activation/WGA etc. I would imagine that it can
be enforced.

David Wilkinson

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Unfortunately that is not an upgrade. That is a new installation of Windows
(Vista) because you are still using the XP license on the other partition.
You would need a full edition license to stay in compliance. How the
upgrade edition would even accomplish such an installation remains the
mystery to me too.

 

[Brian W]

It has been posted on here recently than an Upgrade DVD is bootable. You can
boot to do repairs etc but not to install the OS

 

[John Barnes]

It has been posted by a Microsoft employee that it would be bootable for
repair purposes but the install would not be available except from the
qualifying OS

 

[Guest]

I know this in an old thread, but if what you say is true, how can you
reinstall if you have problem? I would hate to think that everytime I need
to reinstall I have to start by putting the old system on the computer...and
then would the old one still even be valid? There is something about the
scenario presented that just doesn't seem right. I hope MS will make this
clearer before we all attempt to do the Vista upgrade.

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

If you are using an upgrade Vista, it will be necessary for the qualifying
operating system to be installed prior to starting the upgrade.
If you are starting with a new hard drive, it will be necessary to install
the qualifying operating system, and activate if applicable.
Then you can start the upgrade from within Windows.

 

[Guest]

So then there is no way around having to reinstall two operating systems
anytime you need to reinstall Vista? Will the old OS definitely by able to
be activated after once being upgraded to Vista? If not, the Vista upgrade
would be a short lived product hardly worth purchasing, as it would be
defunct the first time one had a problem serious enough to require a
reinstall.

 

[mayor]

Another 'choice' by MS that results in yet another reason not to buy Vista.

--
Leo
If at first you do succeed, try not to look astonished.

 

[mayor]

Perhaps one way to avoid this problem would be to restore from an image
created by Acronis True Image or Ghost.

--
Leo
If at first you do succeed, try not to look astonished.

 

[Guest]

Thanks, that's always my last resort thing to do, but I was hoping to be able
to avoid that; and while I try to image fairly often, it isn't that often and
always means I'll have some reinsalling to do. It's also nice to just be
able to go back to a clean system now and then.

 

[Bill Halvorsen]

Hard to believe MS really is doing this, it's going to cause a lot of hurt
feelings. One positive thing I have to say is that while I'm on XP now
because of just a couple small problems w/drivers, I did an "upgrade" of my
XP installation and WOW it went very well - amazingly well; this was on
5744. It sure would have made for better customer feelings if the "insert
qualified CD/DVD" routine could have been used for the upcoming release.

I don't like the direction this is going - difficult upgrade path for those
who have qualifying CD's but want to start from a clean slate (yes, I know,
I said the upgrade from XP went very well and it does, but still...) and the
"storebought" machines having their OS preinstalled - yuck. Is it even
possible to buy a storebought computer now without MICROSOFT WINDOWS? I'm
out of it but thought at one time the DOJ wasn't real keen on this and I
know from having a Sony Vaio that I couldn't stand not having the OS on
disc. It is for that reason I bought a full version of XP and jettisoned
the built-in XP Media Center that Sony had preinstalled. Every time there
was a problem, Sony "support" would just say "reinstall from your backup
partition or discs." That line gets old. That seems to be the depth of
support from at least one OEM, and I am not exactly a newbie (used Microsoft
DOS and Windows since DOS 5.0). Activation, Validation, Digital Rights
Managment. Bleh.

I appreciate seeing this clarified, however, before I buy (or won't buy)
Vista.

Bill Halvorsen

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

I think their focus isn't on owning the media any more. That apparently did
not work for them. I think the focus is on an activated and verified
genuine copy of Windows and the only way to do that with XP is to have it
running.

 

[John Barnes]

Then make an image soon after installing, say with updates and drivers added
but no other software.

 

[Guest]

I'm with you on this...I've just bought my first computer (Gateway) that
didn't come with a genuine windows disk but instead a restore disk (that
doesn't even do a decent job of restoring, I found out.) From what the
salesman said, I thought I was getting the full windows XP media and wouldn't
have bought the computer if I'd known, but now it's too late.

And I think making the upgrade path easy for customers would be a priority.
Instead, I'm afraid to even install Vista for fear some essential driver or
hardware won't work and I'll have trouble going back to XP. I had originally
planned to dual boot, to allow use of unsupported hardware when necessary,
but it appears that will not be possible with the upgrade disk I'll be
receiving (new computer/free upgrade to Vista). I've been through almost
all the versions of Windows and can't understand MS getting so mean
spirited...it's not as if they are having any problems pulling in money! I
will, of course, image, but even a restore from an image failed me because of
the change in the MBR imposed by Vista and I had to do a full reinstall from
that poor restore disk. (No bootable disk to do a fixmbr from) It didn't
even install essential drivers so I had to do that as a separate process!

And I imagine it is too late for any last minute changes by Microsoft on the
Vista upgrade policies.

 

[mayor]

Exactly. I make and retain and image of my system as soon as I take it out
of the box and get it turned on.

--
Leo
If at first you do succeed, try not to look astonished.

 

[mayor]

In this instance Microsoft's focus and mine are worlds apart. As with all
things, my focus is primary.

 

[John Barnes]

Next time you can download and run VistaBootPro to restore your boot
process. Also, I don't know what image you use, but Ghost has an option to
check when you reload to restore the MBR. The boot record is what points to
the Vista boot file.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the information. Actually, I did use Vista Boot Pro, so I don't
know what happened. I used the option to remove your Vista boot record so
that you could go back to XP, but when I rebooted, I got the "missing
hal.dll" message and nothing I could do would work, as my sata hard drive
made booting from almost everything impossible. I then used an image to
reinstall XP, hoping that would help, but of course that didn't change the
MBR, so I still couldn't boot. I THINK my image program will do an MBR
restore (to a basic one), so maybe that would have worked had I thought of
it.

I can't figure out why the operating systems can't make using SATA drives as
easy as IDE. Even XP could include an upgrade/ SP that would allow easier
installation of XP with SATA drives. And SATA's are all they are using on
new computers. I"m wondering why Vista doesn't seamlessly recognize the SATA
drive, as they have been in use for some time now.

 

[David Wilkinson]

I think their focus isn't on owning the media any more. That apparently
did not work for them. I think the focus is on an activated and
verified genuine copy of Windows and the only way to do that with XP is
to have it running.

Colin:

As we have discussed many times, it is not the disk that matters, it is
the PK. Using the XP activation database MS could check that XP had been
installed on the machine with that PK, and allow the upgrade. Installing
and activating XP proves nothing, other than that you have a valid PK
for the machine.

As it is, IMHO, the upgrade is next to worthless.

David Wilkinson