Reinstall/Upgrade Question Please

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bob Newman
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Bob Newman

I am a registered owner of XP Pro Upgrade. My computer originally came
with WinME and I upgraded from that with no problem. I am now going to
reformat the drive and reinstall. Is there a way I can avoid having to
first restore ME and than running the upgrade again from there? I was told
there was a way I would be able to use the upgrade immediately to avoid all
the extra time involved. Is this so? If so, how?

Thanks in advance... Bob
 
Boot to the XP CD Have your Me disk available it will prompt you to put it
in follow through the prompts
 
Hi Bob,

This is an excellent article on clean-installing Windows XP:

XP Clean install
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

Specially, take note of point number 9 under "Steps to clean install XP" in your case.

--

Anando
Microsoft MVP- Windows Shell/User
http://www.microsoft.com/mvp
http://www.mvps.org

In memory of Alex Nichol
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/meetexperts/nichol.mspx

Folder customizations
http://newdelhi.sancharnet.in/minku

Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/protect
 
Bob said:
I am a registered owner of XP Pro Upgrade. My computer originally came
with WinME and I upgraded from that with no problem. I am now going to
reformat the drive and reinstall. Is there a way I can avoid having to
first restore ME and than running the upgrade again from there? I was told
there was a way I would be able to use the upgrade immediately to avoid all
the extra time involved. Is this so? If so, how?

Thanks in advance... Bob
Click to expand...


It's quite possible to perform a clean installation using the Upgrade
CD, provided you have the true installation CD for the earlier OS.

Simply boot from the WinXP Upgrade CD. You'll be offered the
opportunity to delete, create, and format partitions as part of the
installation process. The Upgrade CD checks to see if a qualifying OS
is installed, and, if it finds none, it asks you to insert the
installation media (CD) of that OS. Unfortunately, an OEM
"Recovery/Restore" CD will not work for this purpose; you must have a
true installation CD, complete with the "\Win98" folder and *.cab
files, or the "\i386" folder of WinNT/2K.

Alternatively, or especially if all you have is an OEM Recovery CD
for the earlier OS, you can even start the upgrade from within the
current Win98/Me/NT/2K installation, and still elect to perform a
clean installation, to include formatting the drive. In this case,
there's no further request for the qualifying OS's installation CD,
because the installation routing "remembers" that you started from
within the qualifying OS. This process is more time-consuming, but
you get the same results: a clean installation of WinXP.


--

Bruce Chambers

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In
Bob Newman said:
I am a registered owner of XP Pro Upgrade. My computer
originally
came with WinME and I upgraded from that with no problem. I am
now
going to reformat the drive and reinstall. Is there a way I
can
avoid having to first restore ME and than running the upgrade
again
from there? I was told there was a way I would be able to use
the
upgrade immediately to avoid all the extra time involved. Is
this
so? If so, how?
Click to expand...


Yes.
The requirement to use an upgrade version is to *own* a previous
qualifying version's installation CD (with an OEM restore CD, see
below), not to have it installed. When setup doesn't find a
previous qualifying version installed, it will prompt you to
insert its CD as proof of ownership. Just insert the previous
version's CD, and follow the prompts. Everything proceeds quite
normally and quite legitimately.

You can also do a clean installation if you have an OEM restore
CD of a previous qualifying version. It's more complicated, but
it *can* be done. First restore from the Restore CD. Then run the
XP upgrade CD from within that restored system, and change from
Upgrade to New Install. When it asks where, press Esc to delete
the partition and start over.
 
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