Upgrade 98se to XPpro - new, but evidently not clean

[Guest]

Sorry, hit enter too soon....Anyway, I upgraded from 98se to XPpro....I began with the Upgrade option. I received an error saying it couldn't upgrade, so I chose the 'New' option. I did not instruct me with any 'preparations' like reformatting and/or cleaning my C drive. The install completed successfully. The contents on the C drive remained. The only querks were that MyDocuments didn't get moved over to the new location, and the programs that are installed on the drive are not in the "Programs" listings. However, I can still run the applications from the folders to which they were originally installed. I'm confused. How did this work, yet not work? What should I do to get things the way they should be? Thanks

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Apparently, you acquired an "OEM version" of Windows XP
which cannot upgrade over an existing Windows installation.
Since you apparently selected "New Installation", you now have
Windows XP installed on the same partition as your Windows
ME installation. This is not desirable since having two operating
systems installed on the same partition will lead to instability
problems. It would be best if you backed-up your critical files
and performed a "clean install" of Windows XP. Afterward, you'll
need to reinstall your programs and backed-up data files.

The Windows XP CD is bootable and contains all the tools necessary
to partition and format your drive. Follow this procedure and allow
Windows XP to partition and format your drive:

NOTE: It would be best to physically disconnect all your peripheral hardware
devices, except for you mouse and keyboard, before installing XP.

1. Open your BIOS and set your CD Drive as the first bootable device.

===> Accessing Motherboard BIOS
===> http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

2. Insert your Windows XP CD in the CD Drive and reboot your computer.
3. You'll see a message to boot to the CD....follow the instructions.
4. The setup menu will appear and you should elect to delete the existing
Windows partitions, then create a new partition, then format the primary
partition (preferably NTFS) and proceed to install Windows XP.

5. Clean Install Windows XP
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

[Courtesy of Michael Stevens, MS-MVP]

6. After Windows XP is installed, visit the Windows Update website
and download the available "Critical Updates".

7. After installing the critical updates, be sure and visit the support website
of the manufacturer of the computer to download and install any
available Windows XP compatible drivers, such as video adapter
and audio drivers.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-


| Sorry, hit enter too soon....Anyway, I upgraded from 98se to XPpro....I began with the Upgrade option. I
received an error saying it couldn't upgrade, so I chose the 'New' option. I did not instruct me with any
'preparations' like reformatting and/or cleaning my C drive. The install completed successfully. The contents
on the C drive remained. The only querks were that MyDocuments didn't get moved over to the new location, and
the programs that are installed on the drive are not in the "Programs" listings. However, I can still run the
applications from the folders to which they were originally installed. I'm confused. How did this work, yet
not work? What should I do to get things the way they should be? Thanks

 

[xfile]

Carey's suggestion is sound and you should follow for best practice.
But if you did not experience major problems, you can try this:

(1) In Windows XP, right click My Documents and change its shortcut path
from Documents and Settings\user (your login account) to the location where
you want to (i.e. C:\My Documents). If you have not created C:\My Documents,
do so before moving it. Windows do that for a good reason, because it is
designed to support multiple users so each one's My Documents is stored
under the user account.

(2) You can re-install applications within Windows and that will put them
registered to Windows and added to Programs.

(3) Remember to check your hardware drivers and m/b BIOS and try to update
them to XP version.

Clean installation is the best practice though.

Apparently, you acquired an "OEM version" of Windows XP
which cannot upgrade over an existing Windows installation.
Since you apparently selected "New Installation", you now have
Windows XP installed on the same partition as your Windows
ME installation. This is not desirable since having two operating
systems installed on the same partition will lead to instability
problems. It would be best if you backed-up your critical files
and performed a "clean install" of Windows XP. Afterward, you'll
need to reinstall your programs and backed-up data files.

The Windows XP CD is bootable and contains all the tools necessary
to partition and format your drive. Follow this procedure and allow
Windows XP to partition and format your drive:

NOTE: It would be best to physically disconnect all your peripheral hardware
devices, except for you mouse and keyboard, before installing XP.

1. Open your BIOS and set your CD Drive as the first bootable device.

===> Accessing Motherboard BIOS
===> http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

2. Insert your Windows XP CD in the CD Drive and reboot your computer.
3. You'll see a message to boot to the CD....follow the instructions.
4. The setup menu will appear and you should elect to delete the existing
Windows partitions, then create a new partition, then format the primary
partition (preferably NTFS) and proceed to install Windows XP.

5. Clean Install Windows XP
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

[Courtesy of Michael Stevens, MS-MVP]

6. After Windows XP is installed, visit the Windows Update website
and download the available "Critical Updates".

7. After installing the critical updates, be sure and visit the support website
of the manufacturer of the computer to download and install any
available Windows XP compatible drivers, such as video adapter
and audio drivers.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------
-


| Sorry, hit enter too soon....Anyway, I upgraded from 98se to XPpro....I

began with the Upgrade option. I

received an error saying it couldn't upgrade, so I chose the 'New' option. I did not instruct me with any
'preparations' like reformatting and/or cleaning my C drive. The install

completed successfully. The contents

on the C drive remained. The only querks were that MyDocuments didn't get

moved over to the new location, and

the programs that are installed on the drive are not in the "Programs"

listings. However, I can still run the

applications from the folders to which they were originally installed.

I'm confused. How did this work, yet