Although I recommend a clean install over an upgrade to avoid potential
problems with "old leftovers" coming back to haunt the user at a later time,
here's some steps to take to do your upgrade:
- First make sure that your system HW and SW will work with WinXP. You
should find "check system compatibility" come up on your "Welcome to
Microsoft Windows XP screen. Run that and abide by the results, upgrading
whatever drivers, BIOS or remove SW that is incompatible (to be upgraded
later) prior to doing your upgrade.
- Best way to do the install is to set your BIOS to boot 1st from CD, insert
the WinXP CD in the drive and reboot. You should get a screen that gives
you an option to install over an existing Windows installation and take that
option.
The above assumes that you have a Retail WinXP Upgrade CD, as an OEM WinXP
CD will NOT install over an existing prior OS (but your error statement
would indicate that there is a prior OS installed and that it thus can not
continue the installation.
