Clean upgrades of OEM OS installs that lack original media

[Kerry Brown]

OK, that is ridiculous. I guess they won't be selling many retail upgrades.

--
Kerry
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
www.vistahelp.ca

Kerry,
This is the post that led me to my post

Hello John,
I don't think so I haven't tried that scenario, you will not be able
to remove the underlying OS from the volume(either the boot or the
system volume), clean install would need to be to another volume. If
the boot and system partitions were different you may be able to
remove the boot partition( the one that contains \windows), but you
wouldn't be able to remove the "system" partition ( the one
containing the boot files) since the Windows Vista temp files are
located on that volume and you can't remove the temp files out from
under setup. Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the process but from what I have read in
this thread and elsewhere you can do a clean install from an
upgrade. The upgrade has to be started from a working, eligible OS
but during the upgrade you can erase this OS and do a clean install.
I agree that previously not having to start the install from an
eligible OS was very nice if you were doing a re-install from an
upgrade disk at a future date. For the original install as long as
you can erase the old OS during the install I don't see that much of
a problem. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

--
Kerry
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
www.vistahelp.ca

I am an MVP also, and I too am surprised about the lack of outrage
about the new requirements. I think it will raise to a din when the
upgrades go public. It is hard to tell what percentage of upgraders
during the pre-RTM perion were successful. Those consumers that can
successfully upgrade their XP version will not care. Those of us
who either prefer to clean install or who are forced into it due to
a failed upgrade are going to be screaming when we have to install
to another partition and those who don't want to dual boot are
going to have to go thru contortions to get the os and the boot
files unscrambled and set up the way most consumers want theirs (C
as system and Vista drive) usually no other partitions unless they
have a recovery partiton. I assume that having to do the upgrade
from an installed and probably
activated qualifying os is being done to cut down on the passing
around of the qualifying CD and using it to install multiple upgrade
copies. I really wonder if the public relations nightmare and the
cost of the service calls they are going to have to field when
customers can't get thru the upgrade quagmire will compensate for
the extra revenue from full versions (which is shared with the
retailer, and can't amount to that much). Hope their help desk is
well staffed or that they have an extraordinarily good manual to
explain the process.
Darrell Gorter[MSFT] wrote:
Hello,
There is no option to insert a DVD for verification. There is no
option to insert a product key.
Setup has to start from with-in the downlevel OS.
Thanks,

Darrell:

I am an MVP, and I try to maintain a positive attitude, but taking
off your Microsoft hat for a moment, don't you think that these new
rules have made upgrade versions an extremely bad proposition?

The initially announced new terms of the full Vista retail license
(only one change of hardware) created such a level of protest that
it was modified to allow unlimited transfer to new machines (like
XP). I am really surprised that this change in the upgrade rules
has not created the same level of protest.

David Wilkinson