Vista Upgrade - Windows 95 to 98 to XP

G

Guest

I have been purchasing upgrades since Windows 95 and would like to know how
Vista will validate.

I want to reformat my drive and complete a fresh install of Vista.

Thanks,

Don
 
S

Scott

I have been purchasing upgrades since Windows 95 and would like to know how
Vista will validate.

I want to reformat my drive and complete a fresh install of Vista.

I'd suggest a search of this newsgroup. The topic has come up *many*
times.

Also, this site has some good information.:

http://tinyurl.com/2rfwr

--
Scott http://angrykeyboarder.com

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
NOTICE: In-Newsgroup (and therefore off-topic) comments on my sig will
be cheerfully ignored, so don't waste our time.
 
M

Mike Brannigan

DonM said:
I have been purchasing upgrades since Windows 95 and would like to know how
Vista will validate.

I want to reformat my drive and complete a fresh install of Vista.

Thanks,

Don

In a nutshell - the upgrade is started from inside your running activated
genuine Windows XP install on the PC.
 
R

Rick Rogers

How about my Win3.1 floppies?

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

Richard G. Harper said:
Neither Windows 95 nor Windows 98 qualify as a eligible product to upgrade
to Vista.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
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DonM said:
I have been purchasing upgrades since Windows 95 and would like to know
how
Vista will validate.

I want to reformat my drive and complete a fresh install of Vista.

Thanks,

Don
 
R

Rick Rogers

The upgrade has to be started from within an existing, qualifying OS, Don.
The upgrade disk is truly that, for an upgrade. Unlike previous upgrade
disks, they don't do clean installs by showing them a qualifying media disk
during setup. They only allow for a custom install as an alternative, which
basically allows for an install to a new folder. A clean install to a
formatted disk requires a full version disk.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
L

Lakesidezx

I've been buying upgrades since about 95 as well.

Basically when I want to do a fresh install and a reformat of my HDD, then I
just insert the XP cd and it will tell me that no OS has been found that can
be updated and tell me to insert the disk. I then insert the 95 or 98 disk
and XP installs.

With Vista I believe that XP needs to actually be installed on the computer,
so you'll need to install XP first, then run the vista update from within
XP. Whether or not it will update XP to vista or do a fresh install or
allow you to choose which to do I really don't know, since I had XP Pro and
bought home premie of vista I had to do a fresh install which turned out
okay

If Im wrong, I'd love to hear it so that I know for 6 months time when I
want to reinstall my OS again.
 
C

Conor

DonM said:
I have been purchasing upgrades since Windows 95 and would like to know how
Vista will validate.

I want to reformat my drive and complete a fresh install of Vista.
You're supposed to run it from within an installed WinXP.

HOWEVER, you can format, install without entering a CD Key then
reinstall with the CD Key.
 
M

mbg

You're supposed to run it from within an installed WinXP.

HOWEVER, you can format, install without entering a CD Key then
reinstall with the CD Key.

You can also run it from Windows 2000, I assume, since Windows 2000 is a
qualifying upgrade product.

mbg.
 
B

BSchnur

How about my Win3.1 floppies?3.1 -- what a child, I have 3.0 disks someplace. Heck, I STILL have a
Compaq DOS 1.2 disk -- used to start up my first home computer --
Compaq portable, two 5.25 disk drives, 256M, NO hard drive.
 
B

BSchnur

You can also run it from Windows 2000, I assume, since Windows 2000 is a
qualifying upgrade product.
Nope -- it won't let you upgrade in place from Windows 2K.
 
D

DevilsPGD

In message <[email protected]> BSchnur
Nope -- it won't let you upgrade in place from Windows 2K.

You can launch the installer from Windows 2000, you just have to do a
custom/clean install, not an "upgrade" install (where Windows moves your
apps/data)
 
B

BSchnur

I've still got some Windows 2.5 stuff somewhere...

Right, time for some serious housecleaning.
 
B

BSchnur

You can launch the installer from Windows 2000, you just have to do a
custom/clean install, not an "upgrade" install (where Windows moves your
apps/data)

Understood -- didn't mean to imply that Vista Upgrade version was not
the EULA allowed version to get for upgrades from Win2K, just that it
won't do an in place. Then again, I hate in place upgrades...
 
J

John Whitworth

BSchnur said:
3.1 -- what a child, I have 3.0 disks someplace. Heck, I STILL have a
Compaq DOS 1.2 disk -- used to start up my first home computer --
Compaq portable, two 5.25 disk drives, 256M, NO hard drive.
256MB RAM? Wow...I knew Compaq were ahead of their time, but not *that*
much! ;-)

JW
 
B

BSchnur

256MB RAM? Wow...I knew Compaq were ahead of their time, but not *that*
much! ;-)

HEY, it was a bug in my keyboard, I typed K, not M. I think it must be
a Vista bug, oh wait, this is a Win2K workstation...
 
D

DevilsPGD

In message <[email protected]> BSchnur
Understood -- didn't mean to imply that Vista Upgrade version was not
the EULA allowed version to get for upgrades from Win2K, just that it
won't do an in place. Then again, I hate in place upgrades...

I call it a feature, not a bug, that it won't do that type of upgrade :)
 

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