Upgrade ME to XP Home

[mark7dc]

Will XP Upgrade run smoothly over ME or should I do a clean install?
If I select New Installation, won't it write over all of the ME files?

 

[Chris Lanier]

Please read "Why clean install?"
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

 

[mark7dc]

Thanks. It looks like he'd make a good politician: "While a clean install is not always
necessary, slightly better stability and performance can be expected when XP is installed
to a clean hard drive or partition. The XP upgrade is a vast improvement over previous
Windows upgrades, and is usually the best choice when transitioning from a previous
Windows version to XP. I recommend the clean install approach as a last resort, not the
first option."

 

[Ron Martell]

Will XP Upgrade run smoothly over ME or should I do a clean install?
If I select New Installation, won't it write over all of the ME files?

Try the upgrade first and if that has problems then go for the clean
install.

Before doing the upgrade read former MVP Gary Woodruff's article on
upgrading to XP at http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpupgrad.htm

And if you do decide on the clean install option then you should use
the Files and Settings transfer wizard from XP to save your WindowsMe
data files and configuration settings to another hard drive partition,
a network drive, or a backup device (e.g. CDRW). Gary also has an
article on using FASTW which is at
http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/fast.htm


p.s. I personally have upgraded from WindowsMe to XP numerous times
without problems as I was running WindowsMe during the beta testing of
XP and I installed each new beta version as an upgrade of a copy of my
WindowsMe partition. My current system is XP Pro upgraded from XP
Home upgraded from WindowsMe (upgraded from 98SE upgraded from 98
upgraded from 95B upgraded from 95 upgraded from 3.11). It works just
fine with no errors and takes less than a minute to boot.

Good luck


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

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."

 

[mark7dc]

Thanks Ron.

Try the upgrade first and if that has problems then go for the clean
install.

Before doing the upgrade read former MVP Gary Woodruff's article on
upgrading to XP at http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpupgrad.htm

And if you do decide on the clean install option then you should use
the Files and Settings transfer wizard from XP to save your WindowsMe
data files and configuration settings to another hard drive partition,
a network drive, or a backup device (e.g. CDRW). Gary also has an
article on using FASTW which is at
http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/fast.htm


p.s. I personally have upgraded from WindowsMe to XP numerous times
without problems as I was running WindowsMe during the beta testing of
XP and I installed each new beta version as an upgrade of a copy of my
WindowsMe partition. My current system is XP Pro upgraded from XP
Home upgraded from WindowsMe (upgraded from 98SE upgraded from 98
upgraded from 95B upgraded from 95 upgraded from 3.11). It works just
fine with no errors and takes less than a minute to boot.

Good luck


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

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."

 

[Alex Nichol]

Will XP Upgrade run smoothly over ME or should I do a clean install?
If I select New Installation, won't it write over all of the ME files?

A clean install implies a formatting of the disk and restoring all
programs and data after.

An upgrade of ME to XP replaces almost all the system, retaining
installed software (mostly), and I would strongly advise doing it that
way in the first instance. If it doesn't work out, you can still do a
clean install - the converse is not true.

Make sure you have adequate hardware - especially RAM: the 'recommended'
128 MB for XP is *not* enough. Then do it by running the XP CD from the
ME, take Install and continue with Upgrade. You should remove any
Antivirus, system utility suites such as Norton, and CD burning software
first - install new XP compatible ones after. And Read Gary Woodruff's
article on upgrading to XP at http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpupgrad.htm