Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP2 DSP CD

[Ian D Samson]

This isn't really a Windows 2000 Pro support call, so the engineers
can't charge me R249+VAT just to ask a question about Windows XP
Professional DSP - whatever DSP means.

At the end of March 2008, I will be needing to purchase 2 Windows XP
Professional CDs to upgrade firstly my Windows 2000 Professional SP4
computer, and secondly my Windows XP Home computer, so that we are all
on the same page.

What I need to know is what my software supplier cannot tell me. That
is, if I purchase two Windows XP Professional CDs, will I have to
reformat the hard drives in both machines? Since Windows 2000 Pro SP4
is already NTFS and Windows XP Home is also NTFS, surely installing XP
Professional over 2KProSP4 and XP Home will only update the system
files? Since the main drive in my W2K Pro SP4 machine is a 300GB disk,
I am very hesitant to have to reformat it just to accommodate some
quirk of XP Pro.

Advice please.

 

[David B.]

If you purchase OEM licenses, you will have to format as OEM's will not
perform an upgrade. If you purchase retail full or upgrade then you can
perform an upgrade and hope everything goes well.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

This isn't really a Windows 2000 Pro support call, so the engineers
can't charge me R249+VAT just to ask a question about Windows XP
Professional DSP - whatever DSP means.

At the end of March 2008, I will be needing to purchase 2 Windows XP
Professional CDs to upgrade firstly my Windows 2000 Professional SP4
computer, and secondly my Windows XP Home computer, so that we are all
on the same page.

What I need to know is what my software supplier cannot tell me. That
is, if I purchase two Windows XP Professional CDs, will I have to
reformat the hard drives in both machines? Since Windows 2000 Pro SP4
is already NTFS and Windows XP Home is also NTFS, surely installing XP
Professional over 2KProSP4 and XP Home will only update the system
files? Since the main drive in my W2K Pro SP4 machine is a 300GB disk,
I am very hesitant to have to reformat it just to accommodate some
quirk of XP Pro.

Advice please.

If you buy Retail versions, either Upgrade (which will be cheaper) or Full
Install (the most expensive packaging), you can do this.

OEM versions, which are cheaper than both Retail Upgrade and Full versions,
will only install from clean drives and will not do upgrades. And it
appears that DSP versions are an OEM packaging.

So the answer would appear to be that Retail versions can do the upgrade,
but the one you're looking at can not.


The XP Home to Pro upgrade should be smoothest, but in both cases, run the
Upgrade Advisor found on the CD *first*, and pay attention to what it says
re incompatible hardware and software. If incompatible software is
mentioned (especially antivirus or drivers) remove it from the system first.

Back up both systems first, and verify the backups.

You can also make the upgrade smoother by detaching all hardware that isn't
critical to the system, such as scanners, cameras, printers, etc.

HTH
-pk