Upgrade ??

i was looking through window's os products, for an older computer i have, its an old gateway were the hardware is stored right behind the monitor, and i saw that there was an xp proffesional upgrade, but cant i just get a retail or oem and still upgrade the old system to xp??


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16837116196 - Upgrade


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16837102062 - Oem

Should be able to yes. The OEM would actually probably be better because you would not have to deal with the old windows just to reinstall, which you would have to do with the upgrade disk.

I believe the XP upgrade discs are bootable and the only difference is they ask for a CD for the original operating system (98, ME, w2k) during the install process.

Yeah the upgrade and retail/OEM are actually the same thing, just the upgrade version will ask for proof of owning a previous full retail version. Windws 95 doesn't count, but everything newer is upgradable. If you have Windows already installed it should be no problem, just boot to the disk and everything will be fine.

If you don't you will need a CD with an earlier version of Windows on it, and a resatoration CD from Gateway won't do. Just insert the CD when asked, and everything will go fine.

Thanks for the info, so if i wanted to i could just get the windows xp oem and just format and do a fresh install for less then i could the upgrade and i could do without a previouse version of windows??

I actually had an upgrade version of Win2k that would let you boot and install without having the old CD. Thought it was odd, but it worked without it.

AOpen said:

Thanks for the info, so if i wanted to i could just get the windows xp oem and just format and do a fresh install for less then i could the upgrade and i could do without a previouse version of windows??

Click to expand...

Yes. The only catch with the OEM software is that the license is for the first machine you nistall it on. If you decide to buy a new PC you will also need to buy a new license for Windows XP. How big of a deal that is to you only you can decide. If you plan on tossing the PC in the near future and upgrading it is something to keep in mind.

AOpen said:

Thanks for the info, so if i wanted to i could just get the windows xp oem and just format and do a fresh install for less then i could the upgrade and i could do without a previouse version of windows??

Click to expand...

Yes, the OEM versions of windows are all we sell at work, and are what i install on every system build i complete.

I've also fooled around with the upgrade versions too. The ONLY difference between the two is the upgrade license will ask you to pop an old win 98 - win 2k disk in there during installation (even from a boot ) but will not pick any files off of it.

~ Gos