Do I have the correct version of XP?

[Jim E]

I've been considering articles either dual-boot of Vist and XP or removing
Vista and installing XP alone. On the eve of the June 30 deadline, I bought
a copy of XP with SP2. I'm using a 7 month-old system with Vista Home Premium
and am not satisfied with it. That version of Vista is not eligible for the
down-grade offered by the manufacturer so I bought a package labled Microsoft
Windows XP Home Edition that includes SP2. The box also says "For PCs with
Windows 95 or earlier, or PCs without Windows." The number 0804 Part NO.
X10-87162 is shown and the authenticity label includes the no NO9-00984.

I am concerned about whether this is the version I need. The statement "For
PCs with Windows 95 or earlier or for PCs with out Windows" seems very
limiting and, for example, would exclude W98 or W2000. Can you tell me if
this is the version I need? Thanks for your help.

 

[Tom [Pepper] Willett]

It simply means it's a full copy, not an upgrade.

: PCs with Windows 95 or earlier or for PCs with out Windows" seems very
: limiting and, for example, would exclude W98 or W2000. Can you tell me if
: this is the version I need? Thanks for your help.
:

 

[JS]

Not a problem.
What could be is: are there XP drivers for your PC.
By that I mean drivers for your Sound Card or Chip, Video, Network Card,
motherboard, etc.
Check you PC manufacture's web site for your particular model.

JS

 

[Ron Badour]

You bought a full retail version of XP--it will install on a drive without a
system or it will upgrade a drive containing W95 or newer. If you do not
want to dual boot with Vista, you will need to remove it from the drive and
then install XP clean. Like one of the posters said, be sure to look for XP
drivers for your hardware before doing anything.

 

[ira_numan]

You bought a full retail version of XP--it will install on a drive without a
system or it will upgrade a drive containing W95 or newer. If you do not
want to dual boot with Vista, you will need to remove it from the drive and
then install XP clean. Like one of the posters said, be sure to look for XP
drivers for your hardware before doing anything.

How would I go about killing WMCE and installing this product? MCE does not
support 3rd-party sound devices such as a driver for a midi interface? I need
to be led by the hand as I'm the one for whom they wrote all those "for
dummies" books!> --

 

[Big_Al]

How would I go about killing WMCE and installing this product? MCE does not
support 3rd-party sound devices such as a driver for a midi interface? I need
to be led by the hand as I'm the one for whom they wrote all those "for
dummies" books!> --

Actually those for dummies books are written by very intelligent people.
They give facts in a very plain straight forward method for people
who just don't want a bunch of run around.

Just joshing you, I know what you meant to imply

 

[Ron Badour]

Ira,

Where does WMCE come into play--you did not mention this in your initial
post.

I have limited experience with Vista (and hope to keep it that way for a
while); accordingly, I am not sure of the exact steps that are required.
You can try using the XP disk and see if you can boot from it. Your CDRom
drive will have to be the first boot device in the boot order which is in
the BIOS. To get into your BIOS (setup), watch the boot screen to see which
key is required to be depressed for setup (mine is F2). Once you are in,
there are navigation instructions on the various screens. Once the CDRom is
the first boot device, save the setting (by the way, don't change anything
else unless you know exactly what you are doing) and exit. Have your XP
disk in the drive and watch the screen for instructions. What you will want
to do is format the drive (presumably C that contains Vista and then
install XP in its place. Should this not work, please post back if you can
and let us know what happened. If you cannot post back, try formatting the
drive with the Vista disk but do not reinstall Vista--insert the XP disk
instead. I am doing some guessing here as I do not know what kind of
"safeguards" are built into Vista.

 

[ira_numan]

Ira,

Where does WMCE come into play--you did not mention this in your initial
post.

Ron:
Oh, sorry.
M-Audio, the manufacturer of my midi interface, in its FAQs has that WMCE
will not support 3rd party sound devices. I have an M-Audio Midisport Uno
midi usb interface and my computer will not accept the driver to run said
device. I wanted to kill my current OS and install xp home or pro. A friend
suggested to double operate with xp mce and with xp home or pro. Sounds
alright to me but I don't know how to do any of the things I described above-
killing wmce or double operating systems. I do understand that i should back
up files I wish to save and "format my hdd" to erace it. But other than
burning files to disc I'm the dummy they wrote the dummy books for...
Thanks,
eric aka ira_numan
ps forgive the time warp but we had a funeral to attend out of town.....

 

[Ron Badour]

I am still somewhat confused. You said you were using Vista on your PC and
that you bought XP Home Edition. Why does MCE even enter into the situation
if you don't have it?

You need to decide which way you want to go--a dual boot of Vista & XP or
wipe Vista and install XP. There are pros and cons for both and the
procedures are totally different. If you decide on a dual boot, I would
recommend that you buy a boot manager program such as BootIt Next Generation
which is available from: http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html and
it does partitioning, makes a compressed image, does many other partitioning
chores and is a boot manager. It is not quite as easy to use as Partition
Magic but it is half the cost and has more features. Unlike the crippled
PMagic demo, BING is a *full function* demo you can try for FREE for 30
days. The web site has a lot of support articles.

If you decide that you want a single system, make sure there are XP drivers
for your hardware and download them before doing anything else,

 

[ira_numan]

I am still somewhat confused. You said you were using Vista on your PC and
that you bought XP Home Edition. Why does MCE even enter into the situation
if you don't have it?

I don't have Vista. I have XP MCE. It won't support the driver for my midi
interface. I'm gonna try the dual boot thing, as soon as I learn how. Thanks
for the link.