I was originally running Win 98; I upgraded to Win ME and now have the Win XP Pro upgrade disk. I wanted to upgrade to use NTFS & not have to bother with a bunch of 2 gb files when burning DVD's When I did the XP upgrade I specified the clean install option (whatever the other choice from 'upgrade' was) The computer shortly afterwards did a reboot and I came up to a DOS looking screen to continue the upgrade process. I had to tell it to install on the C drive over the other copy of Windows. In the end I still have all my original files. It certainly looks like it did an upgrade rather than a clean install. I had wanted a clean install A) because everythig I read said that was the least error prone way to go and B) I have a ton of old stuff that I had wanted to clean out. I haven't registered XP online yet, can I reinstall XP and get a clean install? Is it better if I boot from a boot disk and format the C drive myself then reboot with the XP upgrade disk in? My BIOS seyp will let me choose the DVD-ROM disk as a bootup drive. thanks
I have the upgrade disk, not the full install. Just want to doublecheck that I can install WinXP on an empty disk.
csaag, you can do as many clean installs as you want. With the upgrade you will have to have a previous window version there. It will have to read a previous version, then it should go into windows setup. If your having problems still try installing 98 instead of ME. You can upgrade from either O/S http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/upgrading/matrix.asp If you still have problems, every O/S comes with 2 free tech calls from Microsoft.
I have read the discussion on a clean install of XP. I have a corporate version of XP Pro but cannot get SP1. Does anyone know if I can purchase an XP Pro Upgrade and install it over the copy I already have without harming or losing my files and data?
dedalus, I don't believe you can save your files. The only time files stay the same, is if you run a repair of the XP O/S. And if you ran a repair, it would repair your corporate version. Best thing to do is back up all of your data. What is wrong with the corporate version? And instead of getting SP1, can't you just do windows update?
to flip218... I've got all the updates except for SP1, which won't download on my product key. So in effect I want to upgrade product key, and one way of doing that is to install a new updated commercial version of XP Pro, but I don't want to be faced with formatting and losing data and all the other things that go with that. I've got to upgrade CPU and MB anyway fairly soon, but if I can solve the SP1 problem I can wait a while longer before parts updates. If you have futher thoughts, will be much obliged.
The reason why Service Pack 1 will not install on your comptuer is that you have a pirated copy. The only way you can fix it, is to puchase windows xp. Regards CoZZa
From my experience with XP pro you can call microsoft and purchase a legitimate key from them. THis will allow all future upgrades.
For Cozza, many thanks. I didn't know that. I got it from a repair technician. I had read that multi-corporate users don't have complete keys, but you may be more right than me. Thanks for telling me. For 321sucker, thanks for the tip. Do you know how I can get a key code from Microsoft without a few days at Abu Ghraib and whether I would have to pay the same XP Pro full scale retail tab around $400 smackers or is it something less? I don't mind purchasing the key code, but I think there are discounters for the full package and if I end up getting that, then I have to mess with the consequences related to data and software backups, removals and reinstallations. Otherwise I might as well reinstall my old copy of Windows 97 then upgrade to XP Pro, a complicated series of tasks but less than 400 in cost.
