Windows XP Upgrade or Full?

[wulf109]

I keep reading that you can't upgrade to XP with the Full version only with an Upgrade version from Windows 98. Is this true? Windows 98 it didn't matter you could upgrade from either version. You could even do a full install from an upgrade version,you just needed some other Windows version in your second CD-ROM.

[pfh]

AFAIK the same applies to XP.

[ViRaL1]

Yes, this is the case. A full version of XP will NOT allow you to upgrade your previous operating system to Window$ XP. Unless you have a lot of apps that you can't reinstall, I usually recommend installing from scratch rather than upgrading. There are some apps that won't survive the upgrade and on occasion, some features don't seem to function properly after an upgrade as they would after a fresh install. As you stated, even if you buy the upgrade, you can still do a fresh install so long as you have your Window$ 98/ME/NT?/2K CD handy during installation.

[ozymango]

I keep reading that you can't upgrade to XP with the Full version only with an Upgrade version from Windows 98. Is this true?

Where are you reading this? If I read you correctly, you're asking if you can buy a full copy of either XP Home or XP Pro and upgrade your current Win98 system to XP Home or Pro -- if that's your question, the answer is definitely yes. So you've got things inverted: You can upgrade from Win98 to XP with either an upgrade version of XP (home or pro) or the full version, but you can't install the upgrade version of XP as a new build, you have to have a current MS OS to upgrade.

I work with XP all the time (I'm a tech guy at a university) and we've upgraded from 98 or ME to XP using our ("full version") discs no problem. You just start 98 or ME, then load your XP disc in the CD-ROM, click "Install," and you'll have an option to upgrade to XP at that point. True, you may need to update a whole stack of drivers and some of your old software may not work, but you'll get a report as the install launches that'll tell you about any problems you may encounter with certain software.

You can't update from 95, and you can't update an NT or 2K build with XP Home, but you can with XP Pro (for NT and 2K, that is; 95 users have to start from scratch). I personally like doing "upgrades" from scratch (complete new build) but we've got a lot of tools to make this a lot easier than it is for most people; doing an upgrade rather than fresh install will probably work a lot better and easier for you.

So if you've already got a licensed copy of 98, you can buy either the full or upgrade version of XP and upgrade your system either way (might wanna save some money on the upgrade version) but it does mean that if you do need to build from scratch ever, it'll take you a few more steps.

[handyguy]

If you have a full version, just delete win.com, or copy it somewhere. Then when you install a full version XP it should install. Haven't tried it myself, but thats why you keep win.com just in case.

[pfh]

I keep reading that you can't upgrade to XP with the Full version only with an Upgrade version from Windows 98. Is this true?

, but you can't install the upgrade version of XP as a new build, you have to have a current MS OS to upgrade.

I've built 3 systems using OEM upgrade discs NOT Full discs. Built on spanking new hard drives. The only thing I had to do was insert a WinME disc in cd-rom when promted. I would consider this to be a clean new build install. Win98 and ME were the same- insert previous OS when prompted.

[ozymango]

I keep reading that you can't upgrade to XP with the Full version only with an Upgrade version from Windows 98. Is this true?

, but you can't install the upgrade version of XP as a new build, you have to have a current MS OS to upgrade.

I've built 3 systems using OEM upgrade discs NOT Full discs. Built on spanking new hard drives. The only thing I had to do was insert a WinME disc in cd-rom when promted. I would consider this to be a clean new build install. Win98 and ME were the same- insert previous OS when prompted.

When I wrote "have to have a current MS OS to upgrade" I meant that as you have to own a current MS OS to upgrade. Sure, you just need to pop in your 98 or ME CD-ROM at some point but you must have a 98 or ME CD-ROM to do that -- Microsoft is gonna make sure you pay one way or the other!

That's why at the end I put in the "few more steps" line and the -- sorry I wasn't at all clear there. My thing is, I have a hard enough time trying to keep track of any one installer CD-ROM so if you give me two CDs I have to work with, you're just asking for trouble!

[ViRaL1]

I must have been thinking of 2K with Home.

[stiltman]

My funest upgrade to XP was from win 3.11 via win95 via win98

[pfh]

Oh god! Remember the days of 3.11? Network nightmare!

But you can't be serious stiltman??!! That IS funny.

[stiltman]

Oh god! Remember the days of 3.11? Network nightmare!

But you can't be serious stiltman??!! That IS funny.

Very serious. I had to make sure 3 of their programs would work under XP and they no longer had the install diskettes. They also didn't want to upgrade to newer versions. I got them all to work after messing with the pifs. Hardest part was getting these to work in full screen.

[wulf109]

Given the conflicting opinion's I decided to buy a $20.00 XP disk off ebay. It was a Dell re-installation disk without CD code. I got an old 1Ghz Duron out of the closet and tried to install from within WindowsME. The Hardware Advisor said I couldn't install from WindowsME. I went back to ME and clicked Setup and the intall started but stopped when XP asked for the CD key. Then I booted from the CD itself by changing my BIOS. XP installed normally and did not ask for the CD key. It's running and puts up a reminder that I must activate in 30 days. I downloaded a freeware key finder and it gave me the key for XP disk. The Dell disk is a full install and it will happily upgrade from WindowsME,so that answer my original guestion. Full or Upgrade,either one will work for an upgrade or clean install.

[stiltman]

now you just have to deal with a illegal Dell OEM CD

[ViRaL1]

Uhhhh.

[bazooka]

deleted

[ozymango]

Very serious. I had to make sure 3 of their programs would work under XP and they no longer had the install diskettes. They also didn't want to upgrade to newer versions. I got them all to work after messing with the pifs. Hardest part was getting these to work in full screen.

Ouch!

That takes me back -- back in '95 I was working at a university and we had to upgrade a small computer lab (20 machines) from Windows 3.11 to 95. We had no CD-ROM drives to work with, and the world's worst Novell Network that had some kind of bug with the HP network cards we were using, so we had to upgrade each computer by hand, using the 13-floppy upgrade method.!!!! Ever have to do that? Inserting freaking floppy disks 260 times! Never again!!!

[ViRaL1]

With 20 machines, I probably would have copied the disks to the HD of one machine and just passed that drive from one machine to the next, copying the files from drive to drive. Still a long process, but not QUITE as long.