Can't produce qualifying media for XP Upgrade...

[Greyhound]

I'm trying to do my homework before jumping into an XP clean
re-install.

Original machine was preloaded by manufacturer with W98. I guess it
probably came with some kind of "restore" CD, but damned if I can find
it.

I successfully upgraded the W98 machine to XP Home using an XP Home
Upgrade CD.

A year later, the system's pretty crufty and I want to do a clean
re-install.

From what I've read, I'm going to have a problem when the installer
asks me to produce qualifying media.

I have a few possibilities that, from the various accounts I've read,
MIGHT work:

1. I have a W98 Upgrade CD. I get the feeling this one's out.
2. I have a Windows NT 4.0 Workstation OEM CD (says "for distribution
with a new computer only"). Not sure about this one.
3. I could borrow a friend's XP Home Edition OEM CD ("for distribution
with a new computer only") and try installing with that and my key.
Any ideas if this would work?
4. I could borrow a different friend's "Full OEM" (bought to install
on a computer he built) CD and try that one.
5. I could try to use a tip I came across in several places on the net
saying to simply copy the system32\wpa.dbl file off then back onto the
machine after install. But I have a feeling this won't help since I
won't get past the "qualifying media check" step.

I'm still looking around for a friend with a W98 full installation CD,
but so far everyone has a recovery CD or an upgrade CD.

Any advice greatly appreciated!

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

Your first thought was the correct one.

1. The Win98 Upgrade CD _will_ work as a qualifying OS installation
CD for an upgrade to WinXP.

2. Won't work. WinNT can only be upgraded to WinXP Pro, not WinXP
Home.

3. Won't work. Product Keys are bound to the specific type and
language of CD/license (OEM, Volume, retail, full, or Upgrade) with
which they are purchased. For example, a WinXP Home OEM Product Key
won't work for any retail version of WinXP Home, or for any version of
WinXP Pro, and vice versa. An upgrade's Product Key cannot be used
with a full version CD, and vice versa. An OEM Product Key will not
work to install a retail product. An Italian Product Key will not
work with an English CD. Bottom line: Product Keys and CDs cannot be
mixed & matched. You have to have the specific type of installation
CD for which that license and Product Key was designed.

4. Won't work. See # 3 above.

5. Won't work. The "tip" is nonsense, and you're right; you'd have
to be able to install the OS before you can try faking the
activation..


Bruce Chambers
--
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[J. S. Pack]

I'm trying to do my homework before jumping into an XP clean
re-install.

Original machine was preloaded by manufacturer with W98. I guess it
probably came with some kind of "restore" CD, but damned if I can find
it.

I successfully upgraded the W98 machine to XP Home using an XP Home
Upgrade CD.

A year later, the system's pretty crufty and I want to do a clean
re-install.

From what I've read, I'm going to have a problem when the installer
asks me to produce qualifying media.

I have a few possibilities that, from the various accounts I've read,
MIGHT work:

1. I have a W98 Upgrade CD. I get the feeling this one's out.
2. I have a Windows NT 4.0 Workstation OEM CD (says "for distribution
with a new computer only"). Not sure about this one.
3. I could borrow a friend's XP Home Edition OEM CD ("for distribution
with a new computer only") and try installing with that and my key.
Any ideas if this would work?
4. I could borrow a different friend's "Full OEM" (bought to install
on a computer he built) CD and try that one.
5. I could try to use a tip I came across in several places on the net
saying to simply copy the system32\wpa.dbl file off then back onto the
machine after install. But I have a feeling this won't help since I
won't get past the "qualifying media check" step.

I'm still looking around for a friend with a W98 full installation CD,
but so far everyone has a recovery CD or an upgrade CD.

Any advice greatly appreciated!

I seriously doubt you need to reinstall anything. I never have. I've merely
upgraded from Win 3.1 thru Win95 thru Win98 to WinXP. My WinXP has been
running more than a couple years now with a ton of apps having been
installed and uninstalled, heavy duty stuff, too; and it still runs like
top.

Don't pay attention to all those enema fetishists in the newsgroups who
advocate routine reinstalling. It's rarely ever necessary and is almost
always a big waste of time. You'll have to backup beforehand, naturally,
because a reinstall can wipe out your docs & settings, though it of course
it *shouldn't*. A reinstall may not go smoothly, either, though of course
it *should*. You may get hung up for some mysterious reason and . . . well,
then you're looking at a clean install and then . . . oh, the PITA.

No, what your system probably needs is just some maintenance. Clean up your
disk w/ a general cleanup utility like http://www.ccleaner.com,
get rid of all the spyware, viruses, and useless apps starting up and
running in the background, disable system restore and hibernation, use
XPlite (freeware version) to get rid of additional bloat, and defrag the
HD.

See http://home.earthlink.net/~rikhardk/index.htm and do all the
optimization steps there. He mentions blackviper's site, which has free
..reg files to turn off all those unneeded services running in the
background.

After you turn off system restore, use ERUNT on a schedule for registry
backups: http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt

After your first reg backup, go into System | Devices, turn on View Hidden
Devices and get rid of a lot of the ghost devices that may be left over
from the old Win98 drivers. Reboot.

Clean out the registry w/ a regcleaner and then optimize it w/ the
optimizer that comes w/ ERUNT.

Bet you'll be in such great shape then that you'll forget all about that
unnecessary reinstall. Please report back on your results.

 

[Alex Nichol]

A year later, the system's pretty crufty and I want to do a clean
re-install.

From what I've read, I'm going to have a problem when the installer
asks me to produce qualifying media.

I have a few possibilities that, from the various accounts I've read,
MIGHT work:

1. I have a W98 Upgrade CD. I get the feeling this one's out.

That will work fine; show it to the XP setup when it asks where Windows
is; when then a blue screen asks for a CD put the XP one back. For
procedure: boot the XP CD direct. Enter Setup, and after the license
agreement take New Install. When it asks you to confirm where, hit ESC;
select and delete the current partition and make a new RAW one to be
formatted at the next stage

The important point is the delete. Without that it will just go ahead
and make a new install over the top of the old one

It is just after that it will ask for the qualifying CD

 

[Greyhound]

Thanks so much for the great information and prompt responses. I
really appreciate it!

john