Upgrading from ME to XP Home

[Guest]

I purchased the XP Home edition to use to upgrade my PC from ME. When it came
it said "for use on a new PC". Not sure why that was. When I ran setup.exe
"upgrade" was never presented as an option. I cancelled the install as I was
afraid I'd lose my files in the My Documents folder.

Does anyone know why upgrade would not be an option? I asked the company I
bought it from but got no help there and they won't take a return.

Thanks.

 

[John E. Jones]

First thing: you have an OEM version, that's why it says for "use on a new
PC". This does not matter for what you are trying to do. Next, set your
computer to boot from the CD-ROM, then do it. WinXP will load a basic kernel
and some drivers, you can back out of the setup until you select the drive
(partition) to place XP on. This will be a few screens after you press F8,
agreeing to the EULA. I believe XP will discover your ME install during the
drive scan which is right before you pick which drive to install to.


JJ

 

[beb]

What happens if you try to boot from the disk?

 

[Alias]

I purchased the XP Home edition to use to upgrade my PC from ME. When it came
it said "for use on a new PC". Not sure why that was. When I ran setup.exe
"upgrade" was never presented as an option. I cancelled the install as I was
afraid I'd lose my files in the My Documents folder.

Does anyone know why upgrade would not be an option? I asked the company I
bought it from but got no help there and they won't take a return.

Thanks.

The OEM version you have won't do an upgrade install, only a clean
install. IOW, it will format the HD before installing it and you will
lose *everything* on your computer.

Alias

 

[Guest]

Thanks John, I will do this. Will my non-windows files such as jpeg pictures
and other documents/software be left on the PC after the install?

Thanks.

 

[Alias]

Thanks John, I will do this. Will my non-windows files such as jpeg pictures
and other documents/software be left on the PC after the install?

Thanks.

No, with that version, you can only do a clean install, not an upgrade.
If you decide to do it, back up everything first. You will have to
reinstall your programs too.

Alias

 

[Gerry Cornell]

JJ

An OEM version, unless I am mistaken, cannot be an upgrade.

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Alias

Updating drivers will also be an issue. Lorraine needs to deal with this
issue before
installing the Windows XP SP2 update.

--

Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Lorraine

Before embarking on the installation of Windows XP may I ask what RAM
memory do you have?


--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Tim Slattery]

I purchased the XP Home edition to use to upgrade my PC from ME. When it came
it said "for use on a new PC". Not sure why that was.

It said that because you bought an OEM disk. That's why it was so
cheap.

When I ran setup.exe
"upgrade" was never presented as an option. I cancelled the install as I was
afraid I'd lose my files in the My Documents folder.

Yup. An OEM disk cannot do an upgrade, it can only install fresh. You
would indeed lose your files.

Does anyone know why upgrade would not be an option? I asked the company I
bought it from but got no help there and they won't take a return.

TO upgrade your system you need an upgrade disk or the full, retail
CD. If the company youi bought the OEM disk from won't exchange it,
then you're stuck.

 

[Bob Knowlden]

A clean install of XP will wipe the partition it is installed on, I believe.

One thing that you might consider is this:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306186/en-us

"How To Use the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard By Using the Windows XP
CD-ROM"

This could enable you to transfer files and some settings (email accounts,
for example). What I would do myself is collect the transfer information
into a file on the hard drive, and then burn that file to a CD (or DVD) to
be used later after XP is installed. (Or, if the machine's hard drive is
partitioned, write the file to a partition other than the one you'll be
installing XP onto.)

The wizard will not copy installed applications programs, though.

An upgrade version of XP might have been more convenient for you, but doing
a clean install of XP gives the best possible result. I hope that you have
installation media for all of the applications on the old machine, rather
than just PC manufacturer's restore disks.


Address scrambled. Replace nkbob with bobkn.

Thanks John, I will do this. Will my non-windows files such as jpeg
pictures
and other documents/software be left on the PC after the install?

Thanks.

(snip)

 

[Ron Martell]

I purchased the XP Home edition to use to upgrade my PC from ME. When it came
it said "for use on a new PC". Not sure why that was. When I ran setup.exe
"upgrade" was never presented as an option. I cancelled the install as I was
afraid I'd lose my files in the My Documents folder.

Does anyone know why upgrade would not be an option? I asked the company I
bought it from but got no help there and they won't take a return.

Thanks.

Others have explained about the OEM version not being able to do an
upgrade install.

What you can do is to use the Files And Settings Transfer Wizard from
the Windows XP CD to back up your data files and configuration
settings to another hard drive or to a removable backup devices such
as a CDRW or DVD writer.

After you have installed XP and reinstalled the application programs
you can run the FASTW again to import the saved data. This makes the
task a little less painful.

MVP Gary Woodruff has an article on using the FASTW at
http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/fast.htm

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada