Windows 98 to XP upgrade?

[mussinc]

First of all I would like to apologize if this question is unapropriate in this forum, just let me know and it will not happen again!!!

Here is my question(s):

Windows XP Home Upgrade requires the buyer to have a full install of either 98se, ME, or 2000 installed on the system before the XP Upgrade will work, just hypothetically lets say one is running a copied version of 98se and wants to install the XP Home Upgrade(purchased)...will this work and will there issues at time of online registration/updates later on down the road, or would one be ok doing so?

Same question, but with a copy of Office 2000 Pro on an upgraded XP system with no XP Office?

Just curious...:rolleyes:

Thanks in advance.

[compukeith]

OK - It's not good to use copied software, but yes. It will install perfectly and you shouldn't have any problems later on. XP will activate perfectly.

As for your question about Office... Do you mean will Office 2000 Pro work? Yes. It will work great.

[compukeith]

As another note - i recommend doing a clean install instead of just updating the system

[mussinc]

I planned on doing a fresh install of 98 after fdisk, then installing the xp upgrade immediately after that.

What I meant about office, was if I also have a copy of Office 2000 pro, would the updates in the future on the XP Upgrade detect that and cause problems?

[compukeith]

You can install XP directly instead of installing 98, then XP. Just put the XP disk in and it will eventually ask you to put your win98 disk in to be sure you have a copy.

As for Office, installing office 2000 won't effect any Windows XP udates. It's never had any problems for me :-)

[mussinc]

so, what you are saying is XP Home Upgrade can be installed from a empty formatted hard drive with no O/S on it? As long as you have a 98 disc? ....cool!

Thanks for the help!

[mussinc]

One more question...what about doing a fresh install with a OEM Pack, Brand New Factory Sealed & Unregistered COA, instead of a Upgrade...would a OEM version work ok on a home built pc?

[compukeith]

For your first recent question, yes - you can install on a clean Hard drive.

As for the OEM CD, it probably won't work. Most of those CDs look for a ID that's a part of some piece of hardware (probably either the BIOS or something on the motherboard). I would just do the upgrade disk like we were talking about before. I have a couple of reasons for this:
1. The OEM CD's usually install a ton of crap that you don't want, such as AOL.
2. If the OEM CD was "acquired" then the Upgrade CD will be the legal way to go and you won't have a "contaminated" OS install.

Happy Installing!

[mussinc]

ok...that's good to know...I just purchased a full retail version of XP home off ebay....that should solve some problems...thanks for the help Keith...

[mussinc]

Compukeith,
Got a few more questions for you about XP Upgrade installation which might also help others. By the way I am going with XP Home Upgrade from a fresh install.
I have a 80 gig Western Digital HDD which comes with software on floppy called Data Lifegaurd Tools. This software is designed to help the user format, partition, etc. ones HDD. I have found in the past that if you do not use this software, you will experience problems later when trying to fdisk & format. Anyway, here is my first question:

1.) I get my 80 gig HDD formatted using the tools supplied from Western Digital off the floppy. From what I remember at some point during that process the WD software tells me to remove the WD floppy and insert the floppy from the O/S I plan to install so it can copy the system files needed for the O/S I will be using. If this is so, how do I do this if XP is on a CD? Can I or should I shut down at that point, reboot and go into my bios and change my boot sequence to boot from CD? Can I or should I use a win98 boot disc?


2.) I have heard there are limitations of the FAT32 file system with Windows XP. When attempting to format a FAT32 partition larger than 32 GB, the format fails near the end of the process with the following error: Logical Disk Manager: Volume size too big. Is this true? If so, does this mean that when I go to do my fresh install on my 80gig Western Digital HDD that I am going to have problems if I use 1 partion size (the entire capacity of the drive 80gig)? If so, how do I make this work?

[nocode]

Originally posted by mussinc
Compukeith,
Got a few more questions for you about XP Upgrade installation which might also help others. By the way I am going with XP Home Upgrade from a fresh install.
I have a 80 gig Western Digital HDD which comes with software on floppy called Data Lifegaurd Tools. This software is designed to help the user format, partition, etc. ones HDD. I have found in the past that if you do not use this software, you will experience problems later when trying to fdisk & format. Anyway, here is my first question:

1.) I get my 80 gig HDD formatted using the tools supplied from Western Digital off the floppy. From what I remember at some point during that process the WD software tells me to remove the WD floppy and insert the floppy from the O/S I plan to install so it can copy the system files needed for the O/S I will be using. If this is so, how do I do this if XP is on a CD? Can I or should I shut down at that point, reboot and go into my bios and change my boot sequence to boot from CD? Can I or should I use a win98 boot disc?


2.) I have heard there are limitations of the FAT32 file system with Windows XP. When attempting to format a FAT32 partition larger than 32 GB, the format fails near the end of the process with the following error: Logical Disk Manager: Volume size too big. Is this true? If so, does this mean that when I go to do my fresh install on my 80gig Western Digital HDD that I am going to have problems if I use 1 partion size (the entire capacity of the drive 80gig)? If so, how do I make this work?

I'm not Compukieth, but I can answer your two questions. Forget about the WD formatting software and use the Windows XP disc to partion and format using NTFS. You will not have problems by not using the WD software. You should not have any problems with one 80Gb partition using the ntfs file system if one big partition is what you want. Your XP Upgrade disc will take care of everything. The only other thing you need is your previous full version windows disc, so you can put it in your cd-rom drive when prompted for verification of your previous OS durring the xp installation.

[compukeith]

I am compukeith (:)) and I totally agree with nocode. I would never have a drive under FAT again. I use NTFS with everything I have.

Glad you were able to get with that guy to get XP off ebay.

[mussinc]

Thanks to all...I am not familiar with NTFS, can someone please explain NTFS and how it works to me in liaman's terms?

[nocode]

Choosing FAT or NTFS
Part 1: What's the difference? (http://windows.about.com/library/weekly/aa001231a.htm)

That should help.

[mussinc]

Ok, probably go with NTFS on my primary 80 gig, but I also have an external USB wd 20 gig HDD...will this cause or create any problems...will I still be able to access that drive if I using NTFS on my primary?

[compukeith]

No, you'll be able to access it just fine with XP formatted in the NTFS file system. I actually prefer external media (such as external hdd's) to be formatted in FAT. That way, you can plug it into any OS (linux, win98, me, whatever) and they'll al be able to read/write to it.

[mussinc]

Cool, can't wait to get started, it'll be nice to finally be up to date...well at least for a year or two.

Thanks for the help and p.s. to no code....awesome avatar man!

[mussinc]

Like to thank you both for the help!
I am currently up and running under XP, from a new NTFS 80 gig HDD, clean install from the 98 to XP Upgrade disc, activated and registered.

Running greta, no problems so far! Didn't even have to look for any drivers!

I LOVE IT!

OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 1 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name ...
System Manufacturer System Manufacturer
System Model System Name
System Type X86-based PC

Drive C:
Description Local Fixed Disk
Compressed No
File System NTFS
Size 74.52 GB (80,015,491,072 bytes)
Free Space 71.50 GB (76,776,734,720 bytes)
Volume Name
Volume Serial Number
Drive D:
Description LG DVD-ROM Disc
Drive E:
Description TDK CD-R/RW Disc
Drive F:
Description Local Fixed Disk
Compressed No
File System FAT32
Size 18.64 GB (20,010,500,096 bytes)
Free Space 17.74 GB (19,042,893,824 bytes)
Volume Name
Volume Serial Number
Processor x86 Family 6 Model 4 Stepping 4 AuthenticAMD ~1336 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Award Software, Inc. ASUS A7N266-VM ACPI
Total Physical Memory 512.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 776.81 MB
Total Virtual Memory 3.30 GB
Available Virtual Memory 2.98 GB
Page File Space 2.34 GB

...runs like a rapped ape!

Downloading updates now...

Once again thanks for the help!:D