Do you really need XP activated to upgrade?

[Gary R.]

I have Vista Home Premium which I've been testing out to see what machine I
want to put it on (XP is working fine on my several home machines and so
there's no rush...I just install on a spare drive and don't activate, giving
me some time to test it out with hardware, applications etc., and also to
learn my way around the OS. Once I find that it works with everything, and
see how it performs, I'll decide where to put it permanently.

I put together a new machine and installed XP pro full (not OEM) from a
discarded machine to test the hardware out, but didn't activate as there was
no need to at that point (older 40 GB drive). Curious as to how it would
do, I thought I'd try Vista on it, but balked at having to activate the XP,
as it's only a test setup. I could have done the Vista-Vista upgrade
process, but that takes a lot of time, so I just stuck in the Vista DVD and
started the upgrade process from the unactivated XP pro.

I expected to get stopped somewhere along the way, but didn't, and it
completed the install and is running fine. I used the serial number but
chose not to automtically activate Vista, of course.

Everything I've read says you must upgrade from an ACTIVATED copy of XP (or
2k), but if so, when it is it going to require that? All is done except the
activation of Vista, and I did use the correct serial number for what I
installed...will it not activate because the XP wasn't? I don't necessarily
want to just try it, as it's on a hard drive that I won't want to use on the
final setup, should I choose to put the Vista on that machine.

So the question is basically rhetorical, but from what I can see, XP does
not need to be activated to upgrade as many have insisted. Anybody done
this and got stopped at activation time? Thanks.

Gary

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I have Vista Home Premium which I've been testing out to see what machine I
want to put it on (XP is working fine on my several home machines and so
there's no rush...I just install on a spare drive and don't activate, giving
me some time to test it out with hardware, applications etc., and also to
learn my way around the OS. Once I find that it works with everything, and
see how it performs, I'll decide where to put it permanently.

I put together a new machine and installed XP pro full (not OEM) from a
discarded machine to test the hardware out, but didn't activate as there was
no need to at that point (older 40 GB drive). Curious as to how it would
do, I thought I'd try Vista on it, but balked at having to activate the XP,
as it's only a test setup. I could have done the Vista-Vista upgrade
process, but that takes a lot of time, so I just stuck in the Vista DVD and
started the upgrade process from the unactivated XP pro.

I expected to get stopped somewhere along the way, but didn't, and it
completed the install and is running fine. I used the serial number but
chose not to automtically activate Vista, of course.

Everything I've read says you must upgrade from an ACTIVATED copy of XP (or
2k), but if so, when it is it going to require that? All is done except the
activation of Vista, and I did use the correct serial number for what I
installed...will it not activate because the XP wasn't? I don't necessarily
want to just try it, as it's on a hard drive that I won't want to use on the
final setup, should I choose to put the Vista on that machine.

So the question is basically rhetorical, but from what I can see, XP does
not need to be activated to upgrade as many have insisted. Anybody done
this and got stopped at activation time? Thanks.

Gary

What you haven't mentioned is the specific type of license for Vista
Home Premium you have. If it's a full retail license, it would be
perfectly capable of performing an in-place upgrade, but wouldn't have
needed the underlying OS to have been validated. Only the Vista Upgrade
licenses require that the earlier, qualifying be installed and
validated, in order to verify your permissions to use the cheaper
upgrade license.


--

Bruce Chambers

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safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

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[JW]

I was able to easily install a Vista Home Premium Upgrade on a non activated
version of XP Home.
I just installed an original release version of XP Home on a new HDD and
then immediately installed the Vista upgrade.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I was able to easily install a Vista Home Premium Upgrade on a non
activated version of XP Home.
I just installed an original release version of XP Home on a new HDD and
then immediately installed the Vista upgrade.

Was this a retail version of WinXP Home, or a BIOS-locked OEM version
that wouldn't have required additional activation when installed on the
original hardware? If the former, it looks like something might be
broken in Microsoft's upgrade protection mechanism, then.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

 

[Gary R.]

What you haven't mentioned is the specific type of license for Vista Home
Premium you have. If it's a full retail license, it would be perfectly
capable of performing an in-place upgrade, but wouldn't have needed the
underlying OS to have been validated. Only the Vista Upgrade licenses
require that the earlier, qualifying be installed and validated, in order
to verify your permissions to use the cheaper upgrade license.

Yes, I neglected to mention that it's a retail upgrade version of Vista Home
Premium. The XP pro that was installed first is a retail full version, but
it was not activated.

It doesn't seem like much of an issue...you can upgrade from Win2k which
doesn't have activation at all. But I was puzzled that it didn't warn me at
some point, or stop the installation since I'd heard XP had to be activated
to upgrade. I suppose it still could be the case if Vista won't activate,
but that would downright rude to design it like that. In fact, as one who
does test installations on different systems quite often (especially with a
new OS), it would be a real annoyance having to activate a test installation
of XP so you could install Vista over it. I generally don't activate until
everything is installed and working well, to avoid unnecessary phone
activation later if you have to reinstall.

Gary

 

[JW]

It was a retail version of XP Home upgrade to my previous Win98 OS.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

It was a retail version of XP Home upgrade to my previous Win98 OS.

Then I would have to conclude that Vista's upgrade process isn't
working quite as advertised.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell