windows xp upgrade from windows 98

[tagost]

My hard drive on my windows 98 system just crashed. I want
to replace the disk and since I need to go through the
agony of a recovery, I intend to upgrade to windows xp
rather than restoring windows 98. Can anyone tell me if I
qualify for an upgrade license in this situation? I have
the original certificate of authenticity for windows 98
with the product key, but I have no operating system image
on disk that the windows xp product will detect during
installation. Will the upgrade version of windows xp
install correctly without "seeing" the system you are
upgrading from?

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

It's quite possible to perform a clean installation using an
Upgrade CD. You'll be offered the opportunity to delete, create, and
format partitions as part of the installation process.

Simply boot from the WinXP Upgrade CD. The Upgrade CD checks to
see if a qualifying OS is installed, and, if it finds none, it asks
you to insert the installation media (CD) of that OS. Unfortunately,
an OEM "Recovery/Restore" CD will not work for this purpose; you must
have a true installation CD, complete with the "\Win98" folder and
*.cab files, or the "\i386" folder of WinNT/2K.

Alternatively, or especially if all you have is an OEM Recovery CD
for the earlier OS, you can even start the upgrade from within the
current Win98/Me/NT/2K installation, and still elect to perform a
clean installation, to include formatting the drive. In this case,
there's no further request for the qualifying OS's installation CD,
because the installation routing "remembers" that you started from
within the qualifying OS. This process is more time-consuming, but
you get the same results: a clean installation of WinXP.

HOW TO Prepare to Upgrade Win98 or WinMe
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q316639


Bruce Chambers

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[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

To use the upgrade disk, it must see either an existing installation on the
system or a generic or retail copy of Win98. Installation will not proceed
if the installer cannot validate one of these. If you cannot resurrect the
crashed drive and do not own a regular Win98 CD (not a System Restore disk),
then you will need a full version of WinXP.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

In

My hard drive on my windows 98 system just crashed. I want
to replace the disk and since I need to go through the
agony of a recovery, I intend to upgrade to windows xp
rather than restoring windows 98. Can anyone tell me if I
qualify for an upgrade license in this situation? I have
the original certificate of authenticity for windows 98
with the product key, but I have no operating system image
on disk that the windows xp product will detect during
installation. Will the upgrade version of windows xp
install correctly without "seeing" the system you are
upgrading from?

Yes, you can use the upgrade (if you have a Windows 98
installation CD), and should, since it's cheaper.

The requirement to use an upgrade version is to own a previous
qualifying version's installation CD (not an OEM restore CD), not
to have it installed. When setup doesn't find a previous
qualifying version installed, it will prompt you to insert its CD
as proof of ownership. Just insert the previous version's CD, and
follow the prompts. Everything proceeds quite normally and quite
legitimately.