Upgrade to XP Pro

[Tosca]

Hi everyone

I have an old laptop with 98SE preinstalled and I have the recovery disc
that came with it. I have a second laptop with XP Pro preinstalled and I'm
very happy with XP Pro. I'd like to upgrade the old laptop to XP Pro (I
realise that there may be hardware conflicts but I am investigating this)
and I'd like to know if there is any sort of upgrade disc that I can use
having reinstalled 98SE. I've asked the manufacturer of the laptop and they
say that they only provide a disc that will restore it to the state it was
when I purchased it.

I suspect that I may have to buy a standard copy of the XP Pro disc and I'm
prepared to do that - unless there's a cheaper and legal way of upgrading
from 98SE. That is assuming that the laptop will run XP Pro without any
problems!

Thanks for your time.

 

[gls858]

Hi everyone

I have an old laptop with 98SE preinstalled and I have the recovery disc
that came with it. I have a second laptop with XP Pro preinstalled and I'm
very happy with XP Pro. I'd like to upgrade the old laptop to XP Pro (I
realise that there may be hardware conflicts but I am investigating this)
and I'd like to know if there is any sort of upgrade disc that I can use
having reinstalled 98SE. I've asked the manufacturer of the laptop and they
say that they only provide a disc that will restore it to the state it was
when I purchased it.

I suspect that I may have to buy a standard copy of the XP Pro disc and I'm
prepared to do that - unless there's a cheaper and legal way of upgrading
from 98SE. That is assuming that the laptop will run XP Pro without any
problems!

Thanks for your time.

My guess is that it would be cheaper to buy a copy
of 98SE from ebay. Then you could buy the upgrade
version of XP Pro and be legal. Just make sure
that the 98SE is a legal copy.

gls858

 

[Jake]

You could just restore win 98 from your restore disks you got along with the
laptop and purchase a win xp pro upgrade disk. That would be the cheapest
thing to do. But I would seriously reccommend you buy a full copy of win
xp. That would make for the most stable and trouble free install. Plus if
anything goes wrong you have a full operating system disc not just an
upgrade disk.

 

[Jake]

Oh and dont worry about hardware conflicts in xp. I have installed Xp on
old machines designed for win 98 and had them run very well. Win Xp
supports lots of hardware both old and new. But the best thing would be to
download the new drivers for your hardware when you get xp.

 

[Mike Hall]

If the laptop manufacturer does not offer XP support for your old laptop
model, you might be better off leaving it the way it is..

 

[gls858]

If the laptop manufacturer does not offer XP support for your old laptop
model, you might be better off leaving it the way it is..

Also remember that XP may run exremely slow on older equipment.
Check the minimum requirements. If you just meet the minimum
I doubt that you will be satisfied with the performance.

gls858

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Hi everyone

I have an old laptop with 98SE preinstalled and I have the recovery disc
that came with it. I have a second laptop with XP Pro preinstalled and I'm
very happy with XP Pro. I'd like to upgrade the old laptop to XP Pro (I
realise that there may be hardware conflicts but I am investigating this)
and I'd like to know if there is any sort of upgrade disc that I can use
having reinstalled 98SE. I've asked the manufacturer of the laptop and they
say that they only provide a disc that will restore it to the state it was
when I purchased it.

I suspect that I may have to buy a standard copy of the XP Pro disc and I'm
prepared to do that - unless there's a cheaper and legal way of upgrading
from 98SE. That is assuming that the laptop will run XP Pro without any
problems!

Thanks for your time.

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.

WinXP is designed to install and upgrade the existing operating
system while simultaneously preserving your applications and data, and
translating as many personalized settings as possible. The process is
designed to be, and normally is, quite painless. That said, things
can go wrong, in a small number of cases. If your data is at all
important to you, back it up before proceeding.

Have you made sure that your PC's hardware components are capable
of supporting WinXP? This information will be found at the PC's
manufacturer's web site, and on Microsoft's Windows Catalog:
(http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hcl/default.mspx) Additionally, run
Microsoft WinXP Upgrade Advisor to see if you have any incompatible
hardware components or applications.

You should, before proceeding, take a few minutes to ensure that
there are WinXP device drivers available for all of the machine's
components. There may not be, if the PC was specifically designed for
Win98/Me. Also bear in mind that PCs designed for, sold and run fine
with Win9x/Me very often do not meet WinXP's much more stringent
hardware quality requirements. This is particularly true of many
models in Compaq's consumer-class Presario product line or HP's
consumer-class Pavilion product line. WinXP, like WinNT and Win2K
before it, is quite sensitive to borderline defective or substandard
hardware (particularly motherboards, RAM and hard drives) that will
still support Win9x.

HOW TO Prepare to Upgrade Win98 or WinMe
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q316639

Upgrading to Windows XP
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpupgrad.htm

--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Oh and dont worry about hardware conflicts in xp. I have installed Xp on
old machines designed for win 98 and had them run very well. Win Xp
supports lots of hardware both old and new. But the best thing would be to
download the new drivers for your hardware when you get xp.

Then you've been very lucky.

PCs designed for, sold and run fine with Win9x/Me very often do not
meet WinXP's much more stringent hardware quality requirements. This is
particularly true of many models in Compaq's consumer-class Presario
product line or HP's consumer-class Pavilion product line. WinXP, like
WinNT and Win2K before it, is quite sensitive to borderline defective or
substandard hardware (particularly motherboards, RAM and hard drives)
that will still support Win9x.



--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH

 

[Chuck]

Since this is an "old Laptop" --
Laptops tend to have odd hardware configurations, and usually require
drivers specific to the model or series.
Make sure that you have XP compatable drivers available on other than the
hard disk.
Floppys may be more convenient than a CD, due to CD driver issues that may
occur.
Often storing the drivers in a seperat subdirectory or even a partition will
work, but this is taking a chance.

 

[Harry Ohrn]

If you have Windows 98 installed you should be able to do a clean install
using an Upgrade version on XP. Boot to the Windows 98 Desktop. Pop the XP
CD into the CD-Rom. Select Install. Change the install from
Upgrade[recommended] to New. Follow the on screen prompts and ensure you
install to C:\Windows. The install will see you have a qualifying product
and begin some of it's setup. It will reboot and the installation should
continue resulting in a clean install.

 

[Gene K]

I won't spend any time talking about making sure your old Laptop is
compatible with XP {how old is it?] since everyone else has covered that
very well. What I will say is that IF you buy an upgrade version of XP {$199
approx.) and install it over an OEM version of any Windows OS [which, from
your post, appears to be what you have], you will continue the OEM
restriction of the original Windows installation which basically locks it to
use on that old Laptop [you cannot move it if you buy a new Computer]. I
would suggest that you either buy a new computer OR buy the full retail
version of XP Pro [$250-$299 approx.] because it does not perpetuate the OEM
restriction [forever locked to one machine].
Gene

 

[Tosca]

Thank you for all of the comments. It's provoked quite a healthy exchange
and varied ideas. I'll ask a reputable computer maintenance company to
assess my old IBM laptop (3 - 4 years old) and, if they think that it will
run XP Pro satisfactorily, I'll upgrade. As I said, I do have a new laptop
with XP Pro and I wanted to have two so I could "play" with things more (as
an academic exercise) such as home networking, file sharing, RD etc. between
them. I know I could play with these features between 98SE and XP Pro but
98SE is bound to "die" soon as an OS and everyone will be using more recent
OSs.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I won't spend any time talking about making sure your old Laptop is
compatible with XP {how old is it?] since everyone else has covered that
very well. What I will say is that IF you buy an upgrade version of XP {$199
approx.) and install it over an OEM version of any Windows OS [which, from
your post, appears to be what you have], you will continue the OEM
restriction of the original Windows installation which basically locks it to
use on that old Laptop [you cannot move it if you buy a new Computer]. I
would suggest that you either buy a new computer OR buy the full retail
version of XP Pro [$250-$299 approx.] because it does not perpetuate the OEM
restriction [forever locked to one machine].
Gene

To clarify a bit:

While it's true that the original OEM Win98 license is forever bound to
that specific laptop, the OP would be permitted to remove and transfer
the retail WinXP Upgrade license, should he/she elect to do so at a
later date. Of course, the newer computer to which it's transfered
would have to have a license for an earlier, qualifying OS.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH

 

[Mike Hall]

Tosca

If you go to the IBM website and do a search for support on your model, and
you don't find any evidence of XP drivers and programs listed, there is a
really good chance that XP will not give you all of the functions that you
have now.. IBM make many changes and revisions of what appears to be fairly
stock stuff..

Your best bet is to run your XP CD in W98, and use option 4 to do a
compatibility check.. this will tell you what will NOT run as expected..
then look in the IBM website whatever you need.. if it is not there, you are
out of luck..

 

[Michael Stevens]

I won't spend any time talking about making sure your old Laptop is
compatible with XP {how old is it?] since everyone else has covered
that very well. What I will say is that IF you buy an upgrade version
of XP {$199 approx.) and install it over an OEM version of any
Windows OS [which, from your post, appears to be what you have], you
will continue the OEM restriction of the original Windows
installation which basically locks it to use on that old Laptop [you
cannot move it if you buy a new Computer]. I would suggest that you
either buy a new computer OR buy the full retail version of XP Pro
[$250-$299 approx.] because it does not perpetuate the OEM
restriction [forever locked to one machine]. Gene

Hi everyone

No it doesn't, the only part locked to the laptop is the original OEM
software. When the upgrade is moved to a new computer, the laptop will need
to be returned to the original configuration and this frees up the retail
license.

--
Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
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