Vista and Dell Reinstall CD

[Marcus]

Hello Chaps,

Thinking of buying Windows Vista when it comes out next year, the upgrade
version will probably be much cheaper than the full version, I would imagine
that when installing an upgrade version it will ask for an old version
Windows disk to verify that the install is an upgrade. My Question is will a
Dell reinstall CD qualify as a full product, the CD is labelled "Operating
System, Reinstallation CD, Microsoft Windows XP Professional", when I insert
the CD on my homebuilt system it runs the start of the XP installation
program ( I know I wouldn't be able to use it as my PC does not have a dell
motherboard) so it seems like an XP disk, do you think this would work or am
I going to have to pay hundreds more and buy the full version.

The alterative would be to buy a new copy of XP with a free Vista upgrade
voucher inside, I can get Xp MCE Oem for £95 which would give me a free
upgrade to Vista Home Premium when it comes out.

I am going to Newyork next Feb, if I bought a copy of Xp with voucher or
even Vista it's self would it would OK in the UK ??, It is only about £55 in
USA (New Egg)

Thanks

Marcus

 

[RussellS]

Hello Chaps,

Thinking of buying Windows Vista when it comes out next year, the upgrade
version will probably be much cheaper than the full version, I would
imagine that when installing an upgrade version it will ask for an old
version Windows disk to verify that the install is an upgrade. My Question
is will a Dell reinstall CD qualify as a full product, the CD is labelled
"Operating System, Reinstallation CD, Microsoft Windows XP Professional",
when I insert the CD on my homebuilt system it runs the start of the XP
installation program ( I know I wouldn't be able to use it as my PC does
not have a dell motherboard) so it seems like an XP disk, do you think
this would work or am I going to have to pay hundreds more and buy the
full version.

The alterative would be to buy a new copy of XP with a free Vista upgrade
voucher inside, I can get Xp MCE Oem for £95 which would give me a free
upgrade to Vista Home Premium when it comes out.

I am going to Newyork next Feb, if I bought a copy of Xp with voucher or
even Vista it's self would it would OK in the UK ??, It is only about £55
in USA (New Egg)

Thanks

Marcus

-----------------------------------------------------------
Hi Marcus,

Actually, Microsoft is changing things a bit for the upcoming Vista upgrade
versions. With XP and prior, you could boot with the upgrade version
installation disc(s), then when prompted, temporarily insert the previous OS
installation disc to verify eligibility. The Vista upgrade DVD will now
require that a qualifying OS is already installed on the drive, and the
upgrade can only be run from within Windows. It can, however, perform a
clean installation upon it's first reboot, having saved your previous OS
settings, if desired, to a newly created directory, then
formatting/installing the version of Vista that you have the product key
for. The full version DVDs will be bootable and you can install cleanly
onto a blank drive, but the upgrade DVDs will require a qualifying OS
already installed on the drive. The Dell version of your previous OS is
eligible to use the upgrade version.

-Russell
http://tastycomputers.com

 

[Marcus]

-----------------------------------------------------------
Hi Marcus,

Actually, Microsoft is changing things a bit for the upcoming Vista
upgrade versions. With XP and prior, you could boot with the upgrade
version installation disc(s), then when prompted, temporarily insert the
previous OS installation disc to verify eligibility. The Vista upgrade
DVD will now require that a qualifying OS is already installed on the
drive, and the upgrade can only be run from within Windows. It can,
however, perform a clean installation upon it's first reboot, having saved
your previous OS settings, if desired, to a newly created directory, then
formatting/installing the version of Vista that you have the product key
for. The full version DVDs will be bootable and you can install cleanly
onto a blank drive, but the upgrade DVDs will require a qualifying OS
already installed on the drive. The Dell version of your previous OS is
eligible to use the upgrade version.

-Russell
http://tastycomputers.com

Hello Russell,

Thanks for the reply, what would happen if I didn't have a hard drive with
Windows Xp already on it, say I was doing a new build with a blank hard
drive or my hard drive failed ?

What do you think to me buying a copy of Win Xp Media Centre edition OEM
with a free upgrade voucher to Win Vista Home Premium in the USA and
installing in the UK ?

Marcus

 

[Dave]

Hi Marcus,

Actually, Microsoft is changing things a bit for the upcoming Vista
upgrade versions. With XP and prior, you could boot with the upgrade
version installation disc(s), then when prompted, temporarily insert the
previous OS installation disc to verify eligibility. The Vista upgrade
DVD will now require that a qualifying OS is already installed on the
drive, and the upgrade can only be run from within Windows.

That sucks donkey dick

It can, however, perform a clean installation upon it's first reboot,
having saved your previous OS settings, if desired, to a newly created
directory, then formatting/installing the version of Vista that you have
the product key for.

What if you have two hard drives? Can you run XP off of one to perform an
"upgrade" installation of Vista onto the other one which has been freshly
formatted? -Dave

 

[Marcus]

That sucks donkey dick


What if you have two hard drives? Can you run XP off of one to perform an
"upgrade" installation of Vista onto the other one which has been freshly
formatted? -Dave

It is complete crap, this means for us PC builders we will have to install
an old version of XP to upgrade to Vista, perhaps I won't bother and stick
to XP

 

[Major Ninth]

No, it just means you have to buy the FULL version. The upgrade version is
for people that are currently using XP on thier system. It is not intended
for fresh system builds.

-john

 

[Dave]

No, it just means you have to buy the FULL version. The upgrade version is
for people that are currently using XP on thier system. It is not intended
for fresh system builds.

-john

Great in theory. In actual practice, only a total fricking moron would
install a microsoft OS on anything but a freshly formatted hard drive, even
if you are upgrading. So essentially, there IS no upgrade version of
Microsoft Vista. At least, none that can be used for the purpose
ntended. -Dave

 

[Eddie]

Hello Russell,

Thanks for the reply, what would happen if I didn't have a hard drive with
Windows Xp already on it, say I was doing a new build with a blank hard
drive or my hard drive failed ?

What do you think to me buying a copy of Win Xp Media Centre edition OEM
with a free upgrade voucher to Win Vista Home Premium in the USA and
installing in the UK ?

Marcus

That's maybe OK in the first instance but what happens when your vista
system crashes and you have to rebuild? Do you have to install XP first?
That would be ridiculous!!!

Eddie

 

[RussellS]

Answers Inline:

No, it just means you have to buy the FULL version. The upgrade version is
for people that are currently using XP on thier system. It is not intended
for fresh system builds.

-john

Correct. End users will be able to choose between buying an upgrade retail
version DVD or a full retail version DVD through retail channels. System
builders use OEM full versions in most cases, which do not have this install
stipulation. Typically, the OEM full version of an OS is the same price of
a retail upgrade version, but is limited by the license agreement to be used
on that particular PC only.
I don't currently have access to a retail upgrade Vista DVD, so can't say
with absolute certainty, but I believe that after the first reboot, you
should be able to specify the location of the Vista OS installation.

PC builders normally use OEM versions, which are not upgrade versions and do
not have the afore-mentioned upgrade scenario. If you are using a retail
upgrade Vista DVD as opposed to an OEM full version or retail full version,
you will have to have XP installed on a hard drive, so that the Vista
upgrade can begin from within Windows. The upgrade version DVD of Vista
will allow a "clean" install, however, after the first reboot.

-Russell
http://tastycomputers.com

 

[RussellS]

Great in theory. In actual practice, only a total fricking moron would
install a microsoft OS on anything but a freshly formatted hard drive,
even if you are upgrading. So essentially, there IS no upgrade version of
Microsoft Vista. At least, none that can be used for the purpose
tended. -Dave

---------------------------------------------------------------
The upgrade DVD of Vista allows for a clean installation on a freshly
formatted hard drive, as it will partition and format the destination drive
after the first reboot, getting rid of the previous OS, but optionally
saving settings and other program files, if selected, in a newly created
folder that will be in the Windows subdirectory on the new Vista
installation. The Vista upgrade from a previous OS will not perform an
in-place upgrade, like past upgrade versions, so you will always have a
clean OS installation without previous OS remnants. It just has changed as
far as how the installation routine begins; it requires to be initiated
within Windows.

-Russell
http://tastycomputers.com

 

[RAID!!!]

It just has changed as
far as how the installation routine begins; it requires to be initiated
within Windows.

And I bet the only reason they did this was because they figured it would
force more people to opt for the more expensive full version - bastages.

 

[Bob F]

So, if you buy the full version, can you do an upgrade with it?

Bob

 

[Major Ninth]

actually, in that case, it would be either a fresh install or a dual boot

-john