Upgrading from Win 2000 to Win XP

[Gerard Sanchez]

Hi,


I have always been content with my Win 2000 but I noticed almost
everywhere I go, most computers are already using Win XP, an I am starting
to feel left out.
Anyhow, I have backed up my entire hard drive (Drime Image 7) and finally
had decided to give it a try--especially now that I can buy the OS at a
cheap price www.pricegrabber.com. (Big time user of Win Media Player 9, not
being able to upgrade to WM 10 was the one that pushed me over the hill)
My question, I guess, is what should a novice computer person look
for--I mean the pitfalls--in upgrading an operating system. Would it be
better that I unistall all my peripheral first, i.e. scanner and the like,
or should I just go gung-ho and run the upgrade without doing anything
beforehand?

Win 2000
2 Hard Drives (80 Gb each, set up for weekly backup from HD 1 into HD 2)
AMD Athlon XP 2800+
512 DDR RAM
1660 Epson Perfection Scanner


I'd appreciate any input on this?


Thank you.

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP\)]

Please see the following for a pretty good prep list for SP2:
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/spackins.htm

 

[Alex Nichol]

Anyhow, I have backed up my entire hard drive (Drime Image 7) and finally
had decided to give it a try--especially now that I can buy the OS at a
cheap price www.pricegrabber.com. (Big time user of Win Media Player 9, not
being able to upgrade to WM 10 was the one that pushed me over the hill)
My question, I guess, is what should a novice computer person look
for--I mean the pitfalls--in upgrading an operating system.

A couple of words of warning regarding the products that they are
offering. The XP Pro is an OEM edition. That will not do an upgrade;
you have to install clean after reformatting the disk. And (though this
may not matter) it carries no support from Microsoft and may not be
later transferred to a different machine.

The Home Upgrade versions offered will only upgrade 98/ME, not NT or Win
2000. To install you would need a 'proper' CD of one of those as
evidence. What you really need is a Pro Upgrade - which would be quite
a bit more expensive, and they do not appear to have.

For general advice on upgrading (though more angled at those coming from
9x) Read Gary Woodruff's articles on upgrading to XP at
http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpupgrad.htm and on Files and settings
Transfer at http://aumha.org/win5/a/fast.htm