Upgrading from RC1

[Guest]

I bought a laptop with XP Home edition and upgraded to RC1 recently. I had
previously used partitions and used Beta 2 Vista etc. However, decided to
just go for it and now my laptop runs really nicely on Vista Ultimate RC1.

After january 30th I intend to purchase a copy of Vista. Should I buy the
'upgrade' Home Premium? If I do will I have to reinstall my XP and then
upgrade the Vista, or can I upgrade from my 'XP upgrade to RC1'?

Any advice please?

I won't be buying a full copy as this is a waste of money, when i own the XP
licence.

Thanks

Billy

 

[pvdg42]

I bought a laptop with XP Home edition and upgraded to RC1 recently. I had
previously used partitions and used Beta 2 Vista etc. However, decided to
just go for it and now my laptop runs really nicely on Vista Ultimate RC1.

After january 30th I intend to purchase a copy of Vista. Should I buy the
'upgrade' Home Premium? If I do will I have to reinstall my XP and then
upgrade the Vista, or can I upgrade from my 'XP upgrade to RC1'?

Any advice please?

I won't be buying a full copy as this is a waste of money, when i own the
XP
licence.

Thanks

Billy

This has been discussed at length here, but in a nutshell:

1. Vista RC1 does not qualify you for upgrade pricing. You cannot upgrade
from the installed RC1 on your laptop to RTM.

2. You can upgrade from your existing XP, but to do so, you must reinstall
XP on your laptop so the Vista upgrade medium can detect it.

 

[Guest]

Thanks, but I thought that if I already ahd the XP on the laptop and used RC1
as an upgrade, the new Vista would recognise the old XP as authentic!
Anyway, looks like its clean install of XP then Vista.

Billy

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Yes, you will need to have XP installed and activated in order to use an
upgrade edition. You would be able to use the upgrade functionality of an
Ultimate full edition since RC1 is also an Ultimate edition.

 

[Guest]

I believe that if I bought a FULL Vista ratehr than an upgrade, this would
somehow keep my files and settings? is this correct?

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Yes. Since a full edition does not depend on the presence of a genuine copy
of Windows, you can use the upgrade functionality of a full edition to
perform an upgrade and retain your files, settings, and apps. If your XP is
a retail license you would retain the right to use it elsewhere. If XP came
preinstalled then you would not be able to use the XP on another computer
and you might as well buy the Vista upgrade edition.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Correct. No genuine Windows is required with a full edition of Vista.
However, since the upgrade option will be enabled (upgrades-in-place from
Ultimate RC1 to Ultimate rtm are supported) you can "upgrade the bits" and
will not have to restore your files and settings or reinstall your apps.
There is no guarantee that something on your system will not interfere and
cause you problems with the upgrade (you are using pre-release software,
after all) so save your files and settings with the Windows Easy Transfer
wizard anyway.

 

[Guest]

Correct. No genuine Windows is required with a full edition of Vista.
However, since the upgrade option will be enabled (upgrades-in-place from
Ultimate RC1 to Ultimate rtm are supported) you can "upgrade the bits" and
will not have to restore your files and settings or reinstall your apps.
There is no guarantee that something on your system will not interfere and
cause you problems with the upgrade (you are using pre-release software,
after all) so save your files and settings with the Windows Easy Transfer
wizard anyway.

 

[Guest]

Okay...getting a bit confused here....I have a licensed copy of windowsxp
pro...I installed RC1 over that copy....I want to purchase the Ultimate
upgrade and do a clean install...Will i have to reinstall my XP pro first and
then can i do a clean install with the Ulitimate uprade?.
Thanks for any help on this...
joe

 

[John Barnes]

Yes, you will have to reinstall and activate, and yes you should be able to
do a custom install (as clean as it gets with Vista upgrade).