Downgrading

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We all know that one will be able to upgrade their Vista version (Home
Basic to Home Pro etc.) but how about downgrading? Will I be able to
downgrade from Ultimate if I had upgraded my Home Pro? Will I be able to
install a Home Pro if I have a Ultimate Key?

 

[Tom Ziegmann]

If you have a key for the Ultimate edition, you will only be able to install
Ultimate, as the key is what determines what edition gets installed. If you
use Windows Anytime Upgrade to go from Home Premium to Ultimate, the only
way to downgrade is to reinstall Windows with the original Home Premium key
that you received when you purchased windows.

Tom Ziegmann
Microsoft Certified Professional
Windows Vista / Server Longhorn Technical Beta Tester
Windows Server 2003 SP2 Technical Beta Tester

 

[David Wilkinson]

If you have a key for the Ultimate edition, you will only be able to
install Ultimate, as the key is what determines what edition gets
installed. If you use Windows Anytime Upgrade to go from Home Premium to
Ultimate, the only way to downgrade is to reinstall Windows with the
original Home Premium key that you received when you purchased windows.

Tom Ziegmann
Microsoft Certified Professional
Windows Vista / Server Longhorn Technical Beta Tester
Windows Server 2003 SP2 Technical Beta Tester

Tom:

Maybe this was not the OP's question, but when the commercial version is
released, a lot of people are going to buy (say) Home Premium (because
Ultimate is too expensive), and want to install it on top of their
existing beta/RC1 Ultimate installation.

I don't know if upgrading beta/RC1 to the released version will even be
possible. But if it is, this "downgrading" issue will certainly come up.

Personally, I have never upgraded an OS, and I don't think I ever would.
I always do clean installs.

David Wilkinson

 

[Tom Ziegmann]

If you mean that when you upgrade to the next edition you can uninstall back
down to the lower edition..that is not possible.

 

[Will Schuitman]

Interesting comment however you can still do a clean install with an upgrade
version during the install process setup will ask for your old install disk
for validation
That brings me to my next question
from what previous versions of windows can vista upgrade from ?
ME ? 2000 pro ? I assume probably Xp home and pro

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

The x86 editions of XP. Windows 2000 SP4 does not appear to be supported as
an in-place upgrade candidate and MS has said nothing about whether cd's
from Win9x/ME/2000 will qualify for the upgrade pricing. Win95 cd's
qualified for XP upgrade pricing and Win95 was already past EOS when XP
released so maybe the older cd's will work. The problem is MS has not
released Upgrade edition betas to TechBeta so no one has had a chance to
experiment and see.

 

[Will Schuitman]

Thanks for that info it would be interesting to know the outcome of that
I guess if I buy an upgrade edition it would be handy if I could use my old
win98 cd as upgrade validation on a clean install, (probably impossible to
upgrade over an installed win98 os) That would free up my XP cd so I could
sell it while it's still worth something

 

[John Barnes]

I don't remember the page, but nothing before XP was eligible for the
upgrade to Vista. There was a complete matrix posted as to what would be
eligible for upgrade to what and which would require clean installs, and
which would do in-place upgrades.

 

[John Barnes]

http://www.microsoft.com:80/windowsvista/getready/upgradeinfo.mspx

 

[Mark D. VandenBerg]

We all know that one will be able to upgrade their Vista version (Home
Basic to Home Pro etc.) but how about downgrading? Will I be able to
downgrade from Ultimate if I had upgraded my Home Pro? Will I be able to
install a Home Pro if I have a Ultimate Key?

I am curious why someone would want to downgrade a version of Vista to a
lesser one. I am sure there are reasons such as lack of hard drive volume,
graphics card ability or insufficient RAM, but those concerns should be
addressed before a version of Vista is installed, not after.

It would be interesting to see Microsoft's response to your question, and if
they would be willing to refund the difference in price, for instance.

 

[Mario Rosario]

My guess is that you should be able to upgrade, downgrade, sidegrade or
anygrade, depending on what you have purchased. In the Control Panel you
have the ability to install or uninstall program features or new software
using the Add or Remove Program. This is already built in, in the UNIXes
this is known as packages. I'm sure Microsoft have this feature.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

The issue here is what qualifies as eligible for upgrade pricing. It is a
licensing issue. It is not clear to me that Win9x licenses will not be
allowed as qualifying for Vista upgrade pricing. Past practice says that
Win9x/ME/2000 cd's will likely be accepted by Vista Upgrade Setup as being
products qualifying for the upgrade price.

Example: If you are still running Win95 can you take advantage of XP
Upgrade edition pricing? Yes. Yet when you insert the XP Upgrade cd while
running Win95, Setup tells you "Upgrade is not an option." However, if you
boot with the XP Upgrade cd, Setup will stop and ask you for a qualifying
product. When you insert the Win95 cd. Setup will accept it and proceed
with installation. So what is being upgraded here?

Not the Win95 bits; you have to do a clean install. It is the Win95 license
that is being upgraded to an XP license.

So the question is, are Win9x/ME/2000 licenses upgradable to Vista? Until
we see the Upgrade editions we won't know for sure. Unless, of course, MS
comes right out and says that Vista Upgrade editions will not accept these
cd's at the time of verification.

Certainly the Matrix does not address that. It is about upgrading the bits
or having to do a clean install of the bits.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

I have already heard the answer to this one in one of the beta chats on
Anytime Upgrade in TechBeta and the answer is no. The only way to revert
once an Anytime Upgrade license is used is to restore from a backup to a
point before the upgrade or do a clean reinstall from the Vista dvd.

I suspect that MS may come to regret adopting Anytime Upgrade in its present
form. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[Mark D. VandenBerg]

How likely is this scenario to even come-up? I am having a hard time
envisioning someone wanting to go from Home Premium to Home basic after
upgrading.

 

[John Barnes]

Did you bother to read :

For versions of Windows earlier than Windows 2000, upgrade copies are not
available. These earlier versions of Windows require you to install a full
copy of Windows Vista.

 

[John Barnes]

If you read the details you will note the following, which answers your
question about 98

For versions of Windows earlier than Windows 2000, upgrade copies are not
available. These earlier versions of Windows require you to install a full
copy of Windows Vista.

 

[Little Brother]

It depends.

Here's a scenario. Someone buys a computer, a laptop maybe, with say,
Windows Vista Business pre-installed .. they put on their favourite 3rd
party software and then experience difficulties. They phone the 3rd party
manufacturer only to find that they "only support Vista Home" and not
Business nor Ultimate nor any of the others. It is conceivable that the
person is more interested in receiving support than the extra features that
Business edition has over Home. So they will want to move from Windows
Business to Windows Home. Can they do so without a complete reinstall?
There's no such path on XP .. but will Vista support such a thing?

Such a scenario will happen and people will want to do just that. Likely
though when Vista RTMs, is that there is no such path and these people are
out. No big deal, but it is an inconvenince for them. Let's have a group cry
'n hug over the matter.

 

[David Wilkinson]

If you mean that when you upgrade to the next edition you can uninstall
back down to the lower edition..that is not possible.

Tom:

From what you say, it would not be possible. But I think you
misunderstood my point.

There are many people in the CPP who, rightly or wrongly, will (come
January) have been using Vista as their one and only operating system
for several months. Because the public beta was only for Ultimate, that
is what they have. Now they purchase Home Premium, and are going to want
to convert their Vista beta, not do a clean install. But this is a
downgrade, which you say is not possible.

So CPP members will only be able to convert their Vista beta to the
commercial release if they buy Ultimate? Perhaps this is the real
purpose of the CPP program . Or will conversion of beta to the
commercial release not be possible at all?

But presumably, it will be possible to upgrade XP Pro to Vista Home
Premium. That is also a form of downgrade, no?

David Wilkinson

 

[Mark D. VandenBerg]

I understand your theory. However, the OP also mentioned reversing an
upgrade. That's the part I don't see materializing, going from Home Basic
to Home Premium and then wanting to go back to Home Basic.

Also, in your example (and I could be wrong), my understanding is that:

Vista Business>Vista Enterprise>Vista Ultimate

Vista Home Basic>Vista Home Premium>Vista Ultimate

will be the upgrade paths. Moving from Vista Business to Vista Home Basic
may not be feasible.

 

[David Wilkinson]

Tom:

From what you say, it would not be possible. But I think you
misunderstood my point.

There are many people in the CPP who, rightly or wrongly, will (come
January) have been using Vista as their one and only operating system
for several months. Because the public beta was only for Ultimate, that
is what they have. Now they purchase Home Premium, and are going to want
to convert their Vista beta, not do a clean install. But this is a
downgrade, which you say is not possible.

So CPP members will only be able to convert their Vista beta to the
commercial release if they buy Ultimate? Perhaps this is the real
purpose of the CPP program . Or will conversion of beta to the
commercial release not be possible at all?

But presumably, it will be possible to upgrade XP Pro to Vista Home
Premium. That is also a form of downgrade, no?

David Wilkinson

OK, now I see the matrix. Conversion of XP Pro to Home or Home Premium
is not possible. You van buy an upgrade copy, but you must clean install.

But the Vista-beta to Vista-release conversion question remains. Upgrade
and conversion are orthogonal concepts.

David Wilkinson


David Wilkinson