UK ME to French XP Pro

[driver]

I am giving my old PC, which has UK version Win ME installed, to a
French friend. She wants to install a French language Win XP Pro on
it.
To do that, does she have to buy a French version of XP Pro or are the
Region & Language options in an UK version sufficient to enable her to
work in French and have all the Windows screens display in French?
If she has to buy the French version, can she buy an upgrade version
and do a clean install of XP, using the original UK Windows ME cd to
justify her use of the upgrade French version of XP?
I assume upgrading the English Win ME files to French XP would cause
chaos, so she has to do a clean install of XP, but question is can she
use the Upgrade version of Win XP rather than buy a full new version
of XP?
Thanks for any guidance.

 

[Thorsten Matzner]

I am giving my old PC, which has UK version Win ME installed, to a
French friend. She wants to install a French language Win XP Pro on
it.
To do that, does she have to buy a French version of XP Pro or are the
Region & Language options in an UK version sufficient to enable her to
work in French and have all the Windows screens display in French?
No.

If she has to buy the French version, can she buy an upgrade version
and do a clean install of XP, using the original UK Windows ME cd to
justify her use of the upgrade French version of XP?
Yes.

I assume upgrading the English Win ME files to French XP would cause
chaos, so she has to do a clean install of XP, but question is can she
use the Upgrade version of Win XP rather than buy a full new version
of XP?

Yes. Also see "Error Message "Setup Cannot Upgrade..." When You
Upgrade to Windows XP Professional"
(http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=319424).

 

[Bastet]

I am giving my old PC, which has UK version Win ME installed, to a
French friend. She wants to install a French language Win XP Pro on
it.
To do that, does she have to buy a French version of XP Pro or are the
Region & Language options in an UK version sufficient to enable her to
work in French and have all the Windows screens display in French?
If she has to buy the French version, can she buy an upgrade version
and do a clean install of XP, using the original UK Windows ME cd to
justify her use of the upgrade French version of XP?
I assume upgrading the English Win ME files to French XP would cause
chaos, so she has to do a clean install of XP, but question is can she
use the Upgrade version of Win XP rather than buy a full new version
of XP?
Thanks for any guidance.

No - the qualifying product and upgrade *MUST* be in the same language. If
she doesn't have a qualifying product in French then she must purchase the
full version. You cannot change the GUI using the control panel, the only
way to do that is by purchasing XP in the desired language.

 

[driver]

Yes. Also see "Error Message "Setup Cannot Upgrade..." When You
Upgrade to Windows XP Professional"
(http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=319424).

Thorsten, many thanks for your response but I do not understand the
relevance of the KB reference 319424. Neither the ME nor the XP Pro
versions would be evaluation disks or OEM disks. Have I missed
something?

 

[Thorsten Matzner]

Thorsten, many thanks for your response but I do not understand the
relevance of the KB reference 319424. Neither the ME nor the XP Pro
versions would be evaluation disks or OEM disks. Have I missed
something?

Sorry for the wrong link, Try "Windows 2000 and Windows XP Upgrade
Generates "Language" Error"
(http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=259779) instead.