Greetings --
Win2K can be "upgraded" only to WinXP Pro. If you're planning a
move to WinXP Home, you'll need to format the system partition and
perform a clean installation.
Some people will recommend that you perform a clean installation,
rather than upgrade over an earlier OS. For the most part, I feel
that these people, while well-meaning, are living in the past, and are
basing their recommendation on their experiences with older operating
systems. You'd probably save a lot of time by upgrading your PC to
WinXP, rather than performing a clean installation, if you've no
hardware or software incompatibilities. Microsoft has greatly
improved (over earlier versions of Windows) WinXP's ability to
smoothly upgrade an earlier OS.
WinXP is designed to install and upgrade the existing operating
system while simultaneously preserving your applications and data, and
translating as many personalized settings as possible. The process is
designed to be, and normally is, quite painless. That said, things
can go wrong, in a small number of cases. If your data is at all
important to you, back it up before proceeding.
Have you made sure that your PC's hardware components are capable
of supporting WinXP? This information will be found at the PC's
manufacturer's web site, and on Microsoft's Windows Catalog:
(
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hcl/default.mspx) Additionally, run
Microsoft WinXP Upgrade Advisor to see if you have any incompatible
hardware components or applications. As you're already using Win2K, I
wouldn't expect there to be any serious compatibility problems.
Nevertheless, you should, before proceeding, take a few minutes to
ensure that there are WinXP device drivers available for all of the
machine's components.
Upgrading to Windows XP
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpupgrad.htm
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
