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General discussion

Installing XP Home Upgrade Edition on New Hard Drive

Nov 24, 2003 6:50AM PST

I'm upgrading from Win98se to XP Home Upgrade edition with a clean install. Also at this time I would like to replace my c: system drive with a new drive. Will the installation process in XP request my original Win98se CD for OS validation, or will it check the hard drive for Win98se? If it checks the hard drive, then I won't be able to replace my current system drive with a new one.

Thanks.

Discussion is locked

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Re:Installing XP Home Upgrade Edition on New Hard Drive
Nov 24, 2003 6:55AM PST

It should only require that you be able to provide the CD for a qualifying OS, such as Win98.

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I would not do this.
Nov 24, 2003 6:57AM PST

The last time I did this, my 98 CD was required. I thought 98 on drive would have been fine, but it wasn't in this case.

!!!!!!!!!!!! RED ALERT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!! DANGER WILL ROBINSON !!!!!!!!!!!!!

You have revealed you are about to do the equivilent of doing a bungy jump without the bungy cord tied off. You have no ESCAPE PLAN if the XP upgrade fails. NO 98 CD means no way back home.

This is not a good idea.

Bob

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Re:I would not do this.
Nov 24, 2003 7:37AM PST

Robert,

I have the original CD. I just want to make sure that XP won't look for the installed version of Win98 rather than the CD. Or, will it look for both?

Dave

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You have NO assurance in this matter. But let's get clear on a simple issue.
Nov 24, 2003 7:44AM PST

"Will the installation process in XP request my original Win98se CD for OS validation, or will it check the hard drive for Win98se? If it checks the hard drive, then I won't be able to replace my current system drive with a new on"

For all intents, all 98 CD's look one like another. There is no serialization so I can't grab onto what your concern is here.

It could be that you may want to install XP on two machines. It's best that you reveal this since there is a deep hole that a few have fallen into on that issue. The 28 Days movie is downright a picnic compared to what happens to a XP machine if it's not activated.

The forum can help you, but you have to really explain what the issue is.

Bob

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Re:You have NO assurance in this matter. But let's get clear on a simple issue.
Nov 24, 2003 7:52AM PST

OK. Lets try again. I have 1 PC with a legally licensed OEM version of Win98se. I know I can upgrade my current system drive with XP Home Upgrade edition.

Before I perform the XP upgrade, I want to replace my system drive with a larger and new disk drive. So, when I install XP Home Upgrade, there will be nothing on the hard drive. Since this version of XP is for Upgrades Only (from previous versions of Windows), could the XP installation process attempt to validate that Win98se is installed on the hard drive, and if not, abort the install. Or, will it just prompt me for my original Win98se (Dell) CD? I hope this clarifies my question.

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This is SIMPLE.
Nov 24, 2003 8:00AM PST

"OK. Lets try again. I have 1 PC with a legally licensed OEM version of Win98se. I know I can upgrade my current system drive with XP Home Upgrade edition.

Before I perform the XP upgrade, I want to replace my system drive with a larger and new disk drive. So, when I install XP Home Upgrade, there will be nothing on the hard drive. Since this version of XP is for Upgrades Only (from previous versions of Windows), could the XP installation process attempt to validate that Win98se is installed on the hard drive, and if not, abort the install. Or, will it just prompt me for my original Win98se (Dell) CD? I hope this clarifies my question."

Just put in the new hard disk, boot off the XP CD and when the time comes, show it the 98se CD. It doesn't CARE if it's licensed, incensed, copied, or such. It just wants a look.

Installing 98 before XP just makes for a lot of extra work. Save yourself the hours?

And a BLANK hard disk with no partitions is SUPER. You'll get the BEST INSTALL EVER since you'll partition it using XP's installer. The partition shall be "compatible."

After it's all up and running, I could power down, attach the old drive on the secondary IDE channel and use the File And Settings Transfer Wizard to bring back files and settings.

Bob

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Re:This is the way I did it.
Nov 24, 2003 8:06AM PST

going from ME to XP Pro. As Bob said, it makes for an enjoyable upgrade as long as you know your PC is capable of running XP. I didn't even have to load drivers for my printers as XP had them onboard.

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Re:This is SIMPLE.
Nov 24, 2003 8:17AM PST

Thanks. Glad to hear it should be simple.

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Re:Re:This is SIMPLE.
Nov 24, 2003 10:04AM PST

WOW!!!!!

hey, before you go ahead, you should know that the XP Home Edition Upgrade Disk is NOT BOOTABLE. Trust me, i tried this and it DID NOT WORK! you need to install 98, 98SE, NT 4.0, or another compatible OS to upgrade from. If you try to boot directly from the CD it will tell you that the setup.exe is not a valid ms-dos file.

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Illustrations and more. XP Home Upgrade CD boot and more.
Nov 24, 2003 10:41AM PST