Upgrading to Windows XP from 2000

[Darrell Burns]

The Microsoft site clearly states that I can upgrade from
Windows 2000 Professional to Windows XP Professional; but
when I try I get the error "Windows XP Setup does not
support upgrading from Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
to Microsoft Windows XP Professional." What's the deal?
Can I upgrade or not?

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

Did you try to save a few bucks by purchasing an OEM version of
WinXP? An OEM CD cannot be used to perform an upgrade of an earlier
OS, as it was designed to be installed _only_ upon an empty hard
drive.

Bruce Chambers
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You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
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[Steve C. Ray]

Your XP must be a retail boxed version to do the upgrade. The cheaper OEM
version will not do a upgrade.

 

[Guest]

I think I did buy an OEM version, but I didn't know that
there was a difference until now. I also splurged and
bought a new (factory sealed, this time) hard drive 250 GB
in case I needed to start from scratch. Can I use the OEM
version on a new hard drive? I realize I am opening a
whole new can o' worms with this question, but I have been
trying to figure this out for days now. Thank you, Bruce,
for your quick reply!!!

 

[Malke]

The Microsoft site clearly states that I can upgrade from
Windows 2000 Professional to Windows XP Professional; but
when I try I get the error "Windows XP Setup does not
support upgrading from Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
to Microsoft Windows XP Professional." What's the deal?
Can I upgrade or not?

According to this Upgrade Matrix page, you can use Win2k as qualifying
media for XP:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/upgrading/matrix.mspx

Perhaps you are trying to simply install XP over Win2k instead of doing
a clean install. You can't do this; you need to boot with the XP cd,
choose Install, delete partitions, create partitions, format, and
install. All data on the drive will be erased during partition deletion
and format, so have current backups.

Malke

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

You should have no trouble using the OEM CD to perform a clean
installation on the new hard drive.

Simply boot from the WinXP installation CD. You'll be offered the
opportunity to delete, create, and format partitions as part of the
installation process. (You may need to re-arrange the order of boot
devices in the PC's BIOS to boot from the CD.)

HOW TO Install Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;316941

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm

How to Enable 48-bit Logical Block Addressing Support for ATAPI Disk
Drives in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=303013

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

 

[Barry Watzman]

Some discs -- especially OEM CDs -- can only do a full install to a
partition that does not currently contain any OS at all. Those CDs
cannot do an upgrade of any kind, from anything to anything.

 

[Barry Watzman]

Bruce,

OEM CDs can do an install to a blank partition on a hard drive that
contains another OS (but not in the same partition). I recently used a
new OEM CD on a computer that I'd built for a customer who wanted 98/XP
dual boot, and the OEM CD worked fine to install XP on the D: blank
partition, when 98SE existed on C:. It installed fine, and it correctly
configured dual boot.

I wonder if they would also install Windows to C: on a FAT32 hard drive
that was almost blank, but that had a minimal MS-DOS Boot on C:, setting
up MS-DOS and Windows XP dual boot. I didn't try that, unfortunately.

 

[Alex Nichol]

The Microsoft site clearly states that I can upgrade from
Windows 2000 Professional to Windows XP Professional; but
when I try I get the error "Windows XP Setup does not
support upgrading from Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
to Microsoft Windows XP Professional."

You need a full or upgrade *retail* - not OEM - CD of XP Pro , and you
then run it *from* the Win2000, entering Install and continuing with
upgrade, *not* as I suspect you are doing by booting the CD

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

Oh, I know that. I just used the general term "disk" when I
should have used the more technically accurate word "partition."
Sloppiness on my part, but most users don't really understand the
difference between the two, so I sometimes use the word most likely to
be understood.

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