Win XP home upgrade cd from dell?

[Frank]

A friend got a win XP home upgrade cd from dell(he ha win me on his
Dimension 4300. I ried to do a clean install on a new drive with the cd. It
copied files , but then said the cd was invalid or nort a windows cd?
Can you do a clean install with this cd?
Thanks,
Frank

 

[David Jones]

You can do clean installs with upgrade CD's as long as
you have your original non-OEM Windows 98/ME/2000 CD's.

However, it's possible the version your friend got from
Dell can only be loaded on a Dell computer...you or your
friend should contact Dell to find out what you can
install that CD on.

 

[Will Denny]

Hi Frank

What kind of CD was it - an OEM version, retail version? Had your friend already installed on his/her PC?

 

[Frank]

He said he called dell and told them he wanted to upgrade to xp home, It's
an oem, straight from dell. It was previously installed on this pc.HD
crashed. This was a new HD. I have no experience with the Home edition. I
really just want to know if you can do a clean install with this type of
upgrade CD.I know about the qualifying cd from previous version, but it
seemed as if it (the message on the pc) was saying this CD was not capable
of such an install. That it needed to upgrade from within an existing OS?
Thanks,
Frank
Hi Frank

What kind of CD was it - an OEM version, retail version? Had your friend
already installed on his/her PC?

 

[Will Denny]

Hi Frank

You have run into a problem with trying to install the OEM version onto a different hard disk. Unfortunately OEM CDs are 'tied' to the hardware configuration that they are initially installed onto. Trying to install onto a different hard disk will give you the error message that you are seeing. You will have to contact Dell, explain to them what has happened - a new hard disk after a crash - and see what they say.

 

[noone]

If what Dell sent was a true XP Home Editon Upgrade CD, then yes, you
should be able to do a clean install with it, ASSUMING you also posses a
CD from a "qualifying product". Your description sounds like this is what
dell sold you. Does it have a setup.exe and an i386 folder in the root?

If they sent you a "XP Home System Restore Disk" then that disk will ONLY
work with it's intended system - it's designed to restore the original
as-from-Dell image. Typically these ONLY come w/ a CPU purchase, and are
often tied to that system (the bios and motherboard info is embedded in
the CD setup info). They can be used with any HD type however, so if you
wanted to upgrade to a new, larger HD in your system it should work just
fine. Since your fiend had ME and told them he wanted to go to XP, Dell
should NOT have sold you one of these.

Assuming you got the former (for about $99, right?), then it's basically
just a normal XP Upgrade Disk, just like you'd buy at Target, except it
probably has dell's name on it somewhere. To do a clean install tell it
to delete all exisiting partitions, re-partition and then format the HD
(it'll warn about you losing all data, but you knew that). Later it'll
ask you to insert the "qualify product CD". Put in a Win9X or Win2K CD.
It MUST have an i386 folder in the root, otherwise it's not "qualifying".
[Most system restore disks don't have the i386 folder; virtually every
Win95 CD out there does, and it'll qualify just fine. someone you know
must have one of these coasters lying around somewhere.].

 

[Will Denny]

Hi

If you read Frank's last posting, you would have seen that the disk is an OEM version.

--

Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

If what Dell sent was a true XP Home Editon Upgrade CD, then yes, you
should be able to do a clean install with it, ASSUMING you also posses a
CD from a "qualifying product". Your description sounds like this is what
dell sold you. Does it have a setup.exe and an i386 folder in the root?

If they sent you a "XP Home System Restore Disk" then that disk will ONLY
work with it's intended system - it's designed to restore the original
as-from-Dell image. Typically these ONLY come w/ a CPU purchase, and are
often tied to that system (the bios and motherboard info is embedded in
the CD setup info). They can be used with any HD type however, so if you
wanted to upgrade to a new, larger HD in your system it should work just
fine. Since your fiend had ME and told them he wanted to go to XP, Dell
should NOT have sold you one of these.

Assuming you got the former (for about $99, right?), then it's basically
just a normal XP Upgrade Disk, just like you'd buy at Target, except it
probably has dell's name on it somewhere. To do a clean install tell it
to delete all exisiting partitions, re-partition and then format the HD
(it'll warn about you losing all data, but you knew that). Later it'll
ask you to insert the "qualify product CD". Put in a Win9X or Win2K CD.
It MUST have an i386 folder in the root, otherwise it's not "qualifying".
[Most system restore disks don't have the i386 folder; virtually every
Win95 CD out there does, and it'll qualify just fine. someone you know
must have one of these coasters lying around somewhere.].

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

You probably can't. Ask Dell how to use their proprietary
product. As OEM CDs normally cannot perform upgrades, Dell would have
had to create a customized installation routine.

Bruce Chambers

--
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[Frank]

Waiting on word from dell, thanks to all here
Frank