XP OEM Or XP Retail

[Guest]

I need to find out if I can do an upgrade from (98se-Millenium) to XP pro
with a Full version OEM disk. There seems to be some differing views on this.
I have heard you can do a upgrade (were you will not lose any information
or files) with the XP Pro Full retail version but not the XP Pro Full OEM
version.
thanks for any Clarification.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Only a "Retail Version" of Windows XP can perform an
upgrade over an existing Windows installation. An OEM
version cannot perform an upgrade....only a "clean install"
which requires reformatting the hard drive.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User

Enjoy all the benefits of genuine Microsoft software:
http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/default.mspx

---------------------------------------------------------------------------­---------------------------------

:

| I need to find out if I can do an upgrade from (98se-Millenium) to XP pro
| with a Full version OEM disk. There seems to be some differing views on this.
| I have heard you can do a upgrade (were you will not lose any information
| or files) with the XP Pro Full retail version but not the XP Pro Full OEM
| version.
| thanks for any Clarification.
| --
| Tech in Newport

 

[Ron Martell]

I need to find out if I can do an upgrade from (98se-Millenium) to XP pro
with a Full version OEM disk. There seems to be some differing views on this.
I have heard you can do a upgrade (were you will not lose any information
or files) with the XP Pro Full retail version but not the XP Pro Full OEM
version.
thanks for any Clarification.

You need a retail version (upgrade or full install) in order to
upgrade from a previous version of Windows. There is no reason to
purchase the retail full version if you have a legitimate license and
installation CD for Windows 95/98/Me (or Windows 2000 if upgrading to
XP Pro).

OEM versions will not do an upgrade install. What you can do with an
OEM version is to use the Files and Settings Transfer wizard on the
intallation CD to save the user data files and program configuration
settings from your existing Windows versions to another hard
drive/partition, a network drive, or a removable backup device such as
CDRW. Then you can do a clean install of XP with the OEM disk. You
will also have to reinstall your application programs. Then you can
run FASTW again to import the saved data and settings. Not as quick
and simple as an upgrade, but better than nothing.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

 

[Guest]

OEM versions will not do an upgrade install. What you can do with an

OEM version is to use the Files and Settings Transfer wizard.

If the source machine is 95/98/Me then I'd definitely NOT recommend that,
I've seen too many cases where FSTW breaks the registry. You end-up with an
XP 'user' which behaves like a 95 user, that is, documents are in
C:\MyDocuments, temporary internet files are in the Windows folder, etc.
Undoing this damage is non-trivial.

 

[Donald L McDaniel]

If the source machine is 95/98/Me then I'd definitely NOT recommend that,
I've seen too many cases where FSTW breaks the registry. You end-up with an
XP 'user' which behaves like a 95 user, that is, documents are in
C:\MyDocuments, temporary internet files are in the Windows folder, etc.
Undoing this damage is non-trivial.

I completely agree. The best way to install a GOOD XP is to do a
CLEAN installation. This entails a little more work, but will
certainly pay dividends down the line.

I'm sure the MSVP's have good hearts and all when they advise to do
upgrades, but the common consensus is that Upgrade installs are more
trouble than they are worth.

==

Donald L. McDaniel
Please reply to the original thread.
==========================================================

 

[Guest]

Forget upgrading to Win ME. Win XP upgrade will allow a straight through path
from Win '98. You only need to do an ME upgrade if you have Win'95.

ALSO

The reason for your confusion is that there are actually THREE versions:

OEM (wont upgrade - cant buy it in shops - only for new pcs -cheap
Upgrade version (will upgrade - can buy it - for pcs with windows - cheap)
Full version (will upgrade - can buy it - for pcs with no os or early one)

 

[Ron Martell]

I completely agree. The best way to install a GOOD XP is to do a
CLEAN installation. This entails a little more work, but will
certainly pay dividends down the line.

I'm sure the MSVP's have good hearts and all when they advise to do
upgrades, but the common consensus is that Upgrade installs are more
trouble than they are worth.

And I would disagree. During beta testing I installed Windows XP
many different times, sometimes as an upgrade and sometimes as a clean
install. On occasion I installed the same beta version twice, once as
an upgrade and a second time as a clean install.

At the time I was running Windows Me as my primary O/S so the upgrade
installs usually used a copy of that partition to upgrade from.

Throughout all of these installs the only substantive difference that
I ever found between an upgrade and a clean install was that a clean
install was a total p.i.t.a. because of the hours and hours and hours
that it took to reinstall applications, reconfigure them, and restore
data files from backups.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

 

[Donald L McDaniel]

And I would disagree. During beta testing I installed Windows XP
many different times, sometimes as an upgrade and sometimes as a clean
install. On occasion I installed the same beta version twice, once as
an upgrade and a second time as a clean install.

At the time I was running Windows Me as my primary O/S so the upgrade
installs usually used a copy of that partition to upgrade from.

Throughout all of these installs the only substantive difference that
I ever found between an upgrade and a clean install was that a clean
install was a total p.i.t.a. because of the hours and hours and hours
that it took to reinstall applications, reconfigure them, and restore
data files from backups.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada

Well, Ron, I guess we all have our opinions, don't we. I do value
yours. But I have found (at least for me and my box), that clean
installs are always best.

Evidently, you have a different experience. Which of course does not
invalidate mine, nor does my experience invalidate yours.

==

Donald L. McDaniel
Please reply to the original thread.
==========================================================

 

[Robert Moir]

Well, Ron, I guess we all have our opinions, don't we. I do value
yours. But I have found (at least for me and my box), that clean
installs are always best.

Evidently, you have a different experience. Which of course does not
invalidate mine, nor does my experience invalidate yours.

My opinion / experience is that clean installs are preferable, but that
upgrades should pretty much always go ok too. With one very important
caveat: The majority of problems I have seen with systems that people
have upgraded have been where people have a system that is 'broken' to
some degree and attempt to fix that by upgrading.

My observations lead me to believe that upgrades work well when
everything is working properly, as they are essentially all about
changing from one known and well understood position to another known
and understood position, and when part of the system is in an
unpredictable state then part of the upgrade process will be up to
chance.