Can you upgrade Windows from a previous upgrade CD?

[Ken90630]

Okay, I know this question has prolly been asked before, but since I didn't see it and I need an answer ....

Let's say a person bought a retail (non-OEM), full version of, say, Windows 98 awhile back. They then wanted to upgrade to Windows 2000 when it came out, so they bought the upgrade CD (again, retail) that they were eligible for.

They ran that for a few years and now have decided they want to upgrade again to Windows XP. Since the Windows 2000 that's on their machine now is from an upgrade CD, can the person go out and buy another upgrade CD, this time with Windows XP on it? In other words, can you upgrade from an upgrade? And can a person continue to do this indefinitely, thus never really needing to purchase a full version of Windows again as long as they bought one at some time?

I have a friend who wants to upgrade his O.S., and he's in a sitch similar to the one I've outlined above.

I'd like to hear from you guys who've run across this in 'real life' (as opposed to guesses) and have a definitive answer. Thanks in advance.

 

[Anubis08]

Yes. That was the thought process behind making upgrade OS releases. You might need to keep that 98 cd though just in case you cannot upgrade from a previous upgrade cd (i.e. when it asks for a previous microsoft os cd).

 

[Anubis08]

This is something you can try out (even though you don't want guesses). I believe you can delete your old partition and use the upgrade to do a clean install and just insert the old cd when necessary. This was for my previous comment. I was told this by another user on this forum when I first started using it.

 

[rmrf]

win98 is eligible for both home and professional upgrades. win2k is eligible for only the professional upgrade.

just out of curiousity, where were you going to buy the upgrade from?

 

[Ken90630]

Originally posted by: Anubis08
This is something you can try out (even though you don't want guesses). I believe you can delete your old partition and use the upgrade to do a clean install and just insert the old cd when necessary. This was for my previous comment. I was told this by another user on this forum when I first started using it.

Yeah, you're right. That does work, as I've done it myself. Thanks.

You might need to keep that 98 cd though just in case you cannot upgrade from a previous upgrade cd (i.e. when it asks for a previous microsoft os cd).

Well, see, that's what I was getting at with my question. For purposes of this discussion, let's say that original Windows 98 CD has since been abducted by aliens on a scavenger hunt. :Q And now I wanna upgrade from Windows 2000 -- which was installed via an upgrade CD -- and I wanna get Windows XP via another upgrade CD. Can I do this? When the new XP upgrade process asks me to put my older Windows version CD in the tray to verify my eligibility for this new upgrade, will the Windows 2000 upgrade CD accomplish that? Or will the system throw up a roadblock and say, "Sorry, pal, that Windows 2000 CD you have there is an upgrade CD. You've already upgraded once. You can't do it again."

That's what I'm curious about.

Anyone?

 

[Ken90630]

Edit: Please see my last post (the one just before this one). Thanks.

 

[Ken90630]

EDIT: Got my answer today from Microsoft, so case closed.