Is the a way to force XP upgrade when booting from the CD

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anthony Ewell
  • Start date Start date
A

Anthony Ewell

Hi All,

When a prior version of Windows is installed on
a computer but will not boot, is there a way to
tell the XP installation CD (Full and Upgrade CD's)
that I want to do an "upgrade install?"

I have noticed that I must be in a operating
Windows desktop and insert the CD to get the
option of doing an upgrade. But, if I boot of the
CD I am told the install is going to overwrite everything.
YUK!

Many thanks,
--Tony
aewell@gbis@com
 
Hi

Have you got an OEM XP CD? If so, it will only perform a 'clean' install,
wiping out all data on the hard disk/partition. If you have a Full Retail
XP CD you will get an option to upgrade a previous version.

--

Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups


| Hi All,
|
| When a prior version of Windows is installed on
| a computer but will not boot, is there a way to
| tell the XP installation CD (Full and Upgrade CD's)
| that I want to do an "upgrade install?"
|
| I have noticed that I must be in a operating
| Windows desktop and insert the CD to get the
| option of doing an upgrade. But, if I boot of the
| CD I am told the install is going to overwrite everything.
| YUK!
|
| Many thanks,
| --Tony
| aewell@gbis@com
|
| --
| -------------------------
| I Fish. Therefore, I am.
| -------------------------
|
 
Greetings Will,

No,
I have also found Tony is right,

even with a NON-OEM XP (which allows upgrade)
the upgrade option does NOT seem to be available when booting from the CD,
only when auto-running the CD from a booted OS.

But there IS the Repair option (well, two of them.)

Quentin
 
Hi,

It is with the retail version. Booting
from the CD give no upgrade option that I
can find. I was hoping someone knew of
a workaround.

How would repair work when the OS on the
system is a prior version of Windows?

--Tony
 
Anthony Ewell said:
Hi,

It is with the retail version. Booting
from the CD give no upgrade option that I
can find. I was hoping someone knew of
a workaround.

How would repair work when the OS on the
system is a prior version of Windows?
Click to expand...

When you boot with the XP CD choose the option to "Setup Windows XP"
You will receive further options later on in the process that include
the option to upgrade your existing Windows to Windows XP.

Note:

If your hard drive is using a BIOS overlay program (EZDrive, MaxBlast,
Disk Manager, etc) and you boot with the CD then the BIOS overlay will
not be loaded and the XP Setup routine will not repeat will not detect
your existing installed Windows and therefore you will need to use a
different procedure.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."
 
Ron said:
When you boot with the XP CD choose the option to "Setup Windows XP"
You will receive further options later on in the process that include
the option to upgrade your existing Windows to Windows XP.

Note:

If your hard drive is using a BIOS overlay program (EZDrive, MaxBlast,
Disk Manager, etc) and you boot with the CD then the BIOS overlay will
not be loaded and the XP Setup routine will not repeat will not detect
your existing installed Windows and therefore you will need to use a
different procedure.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
Click to expand...


Hi Ron,

I am not finding it. I get to where it warns me that it
will erase my old windows directory and my "Documents and Settings"
directory (erasing "my documents" as well -- awfully rude of them).
Once, on a machine I did not care about, I let it go
through and it did exactly what it said it would. It erased
everything. Never gave me an upgrade option either.

I was hoping there was some find of "f" key or other hidden
switch I could pull that would run the upgrade option.

It also occurs to me, if the computer had a corrupted
prior Windows version already on it, that M$ (Microsoft) may
have done this on purpose. The upgrade option may require an
intact, fully functional registry to work. M$ may have decided
that if you had to boot from the CD, that your prior installation
was too far gone to recover.

I could always install in a separate directory, but I'd was
hoping not to have to reinstall ALL my programs AGAIN -- just
the few that wouldn't upgrade properly.

It is still kind of RUDE to erase your "my documents" directory.

--Tony
 
Hi Ron,

I am not finding it. I get to where it warns me that it
will erase my old windows directory and my "Documents and Settings"
directory (erasing "my documents" as well -- awfully rude of them).
Once, on a machine I did not care about, I let it go
through and it did exactly what it said it would. It erased
everything. Never gave me an upgrade option either.

I was hoping there was some find of "f" key or other hidden
switch I could pull that would run the upgrade option.

It also occurs to me, if the computer had a corrupted
prior Windows version already on it, that M$ (Microsoft) may
have done this on purpose. The upgrade option may require an
intact, fully functional registry to work. M$ may have decided
that if you had to boot from the CD, that your prior installation
was too far gone to recover.

I could always install in a separate directory, but I'd was
hoping not to have to reinstall ALL my programs AGAIN -- just
the few that wouldn't upgrade properly.

It is still kind of RUDE to erase your "my documents" directory.

--Tony
Click to expand...

A retail upgrade version of Windows XP (came in a blue (Pro) or green
(Home) Microsoft box) should definitely give you the upgrade option
when you boot from the CD. Unless there is some reason why the
Windows Installer cannot find the previous version of Windows (such as
the BIOS overlay situation I mentioned in my first post).

A retail full install version of Windows XP (same blue or green
Microsoft boxes except these say for PC without Windows or with
Windows 95) should do exactly the same.

An OEM version of Windows (sometime referred to as a full install
version) will not do an upgrade install. OEM versions are
specifically intended for installation on new computers and new
computers do not have older versions of Windows to be upgraded.

I cannot see why you are having this problem if, as you say, you have
an upgrade version of Windows XP.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."
 
Anthony Ewell said:
Hi All,

When a prior version of Windows is installed on
a computer but will not boot, is there a way to
tell the XP installation CD (Full and Upgrade CD's)
that I want to do an "upgrade install?"

I have noticed that I must be in a operating
Windows desktop and insert the CD to get the
option of doing an upgrade. But, if I boot of the
CD I am told the install is going to overwrite everything.
YUK!

Many thanks,
--Tony
aewell@gbis@com
Click to expand...

Hi, Tony

The upgrade version of XP will not upgrade an OEM installed version of
Windows. It will only upgrade a previous non XP retail version of Windows.
Says so right on the box. If you try the repair option from a retail version
of XP upon an OEM version of XP then it will install but then lock you out
from using it until a call to Microsoft for an activation code (which they
will not give you if you are trying to upgrade an OEM version of Windows),
which really sucks since that mistake causes loss of the previous operating
system.
 
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