Upgrade from WinMe

  • Thread starter Thread starter Colin Westley
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Colin Westley

I have a pc which was originaly running Win95 and was then upgraded to
WinMe via a retail WinMe upgrade CD. Does this combination now allow
me to further upgrade to WinXP. Or do I have to buy the full XP
installation ?
 
You are allowed to upgrade to Window XP. When you start the XP installation
it will ask you for your copy of Windows ME/98/95, whatever it is that you
have. Place the CD in the drive and the program will just do some reading
from the CD to verify that you have a valid copy. If you have a valid copy,
XP will continue on with the installation routine.
 
In
Colin Westley said:
I have a pc which was originaly running Win95 and was then
upgraded to
WinMe via a retail WinMe upgrade CD. Does this combination now
allow
me to further upgrade to WinXP.

Yes.


Or do I have to buy the full XP
installation ?
Click to expand...


No, an Upgrade CD is fine.
 
Also, if you would like to reformat and do a clean install, you have the
option of doing a clean install from the upgrade CD, once you show Windows
the qualifying CD.
 
Thanks to everyone for the responses...
If I take the reformat route, which would be preferable for me, which
would be the qualifying CD? The original Win95 or the WinMe upgrade,
or indeed both?
 
In
Colin Westley said:
Thanks to everyone for the responses...
If I take the reformat route, which would be preferable for me,
which
would be the qualifying CD? The original Win95 or the WinMe
upgrade,
Click to expand...


It doesn't matter. Either will work.

or indeed both?
Click to expand...


No, that's not a choice.
 
Colin Westley said:
I have a pc which was originaly running Win95 and was then upgraded to
WinMe via a retail WinMe upgrade CD. Does this combination now allow
me to further upgrade to WinXP. Or do I have to buy the full XP
installation ?
Click to expand...

I would have serious concerns about a computer from the Windows 95 era
being adequate for running Windows XP. There are likely to be serious
shortcomings in terms of CPU speed, amount of RAM, and hard drive
space. The requirements for Windows XP are *vastly* higher than
Windows 95 in all of these aspects.

Post the hardware specs back here if you would like an opinion as to
the suitability of the hardware for running Windows XP.

Good luck


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

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm
 
In
Colin Westley said:
Thanks to everyone for the responses...
If I take the reformat route, which would be preferable for me, which
would be the qualifying CD? The original Win95 or the WinMe upgrade,
or indeed both?
Click to expand...

Always prep for a clean install but take the option to upgrade first. If you
remove all non-compatible hardware and software plus backing up all data not
available from other sources, the likely result of the upgrade will be a
success, and if for some obscure reason it isn't, you are prepared for the
clean install. If the upgrade is a success, you saved hours, days, weeks in
time and possible lost data forgotten in the backup. If the upgrade is not a
success, you lost the time it took to upgrade, plus the time deciding it
didn't work. 2-2 1/2 hours or more for procrastinators compared to the clean
install time needed to reach the same level.
--
Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm
 
Thanks for your concerns Ron, I do appreciate the point you are making
and on reflection my plan would probably be to upgrade the motherboard
and CPU to a spec that would accomodate XP and use the WinMe or Win95
route to enable a lower cost installation of XP.
 
Thanks for your concerns Ron, I do appreciate the point you are making
and on reflection my plan would probably be to upgrade the motherboard
and CPU to a spec that would accomodate XP and use the WinMe or Win95
route to enable a lower cost installation of XP.
Click to expand...

If you do your shopping on eBay or if you are content with used
components then you might be able to get away with just upgrading the
motherboard and CPU.

However if it is a Windows 95 era machine then in order to upgrade to
reasonably current specs you are likely to have to replace:
- motherboard
- CPU
- RAM
- Power Supply (especially for motherboards that support the Intel P4
class CPUs)
- Case, if the existing motherboard is the older AT style rather than
the newer ATX style. The power on/off switch and the rear panel
connectors for keyboard, mouse, USB, etc. are major differences
between the AT and ATX designs.

If you do need to replace all of these it is probably going to be
cheaper to buy a complete new computer and keep your existing one as a
second machine or sell it as an intact functioning computer.

Good luck


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

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm
 
Colin Westley said:
I have a pc which was originaly running Win95 and was then upgraded to
WinMe via a retail WinMe upgrade CD. Does this combination now allow
me to further upgrade to WinXP. Or do I have to buy the full XP
installation ?
Click to expand...

Yes you can use the XP Upgrade version.

As a side note I've installed XP and run it reasonably well an some very old
systems including a Compaq Deskpro 2000 which is a P-200 mmx with 128MB RAM
and 8GB hard drive. BIOS date was 1997 if I recall correctly. People might
find that it is a lot slower than they like but I found that I could readily
navigate the internet, e-mail, and run MS Office 2000 with no trouble at
all. Just turned off all of XP's eye candy and used FAT32 file system.
Obviously that Compaq isn't a gaming system and will be hard pressed to run
a USB camera on MSN but for basic purposes it worked well and was much more
stable than Windows 9x/Me.
 
Windows ME - you can't upgrade from Win 95.

Colin Westley said:
Thanks to everyone for the responses...
If I take the reformat route, which would be preferable for me, which
would be the qualifying CD? The original Win95 or the WinMe upgrade,
or indeed both?
Click to expand...
 
Andrew said:
No they won't. Windows 95 will not qualify as an upgrade product!-
Click to expand...

Since the OP is going the "reformat route," Win 95 is an option. Win 95
won't qualify for an upgrade install, however.
 
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