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Do I need a valid XP product key to install Vista Upgrade?

R

Renegade23216

Senior member
My friends have windows xp home or professional (can't remember which one). They lost their key... and I think they installed it using some hacked methods...

Eventually, their system kicked them out indicating that they need to enter a valid product key (which they don't have).

I suggested they go pickup a copy of Vista Home Premium (upgrade).

But my question is will the upgrade version work from XP if they do not have an XP product key? They cannot actually log into XP to install since they're locked out. So if they install Vista upgrade by booting to the CD, will it require XP product key or validation to proceed with Vista upgrade?
 
Or will Vista upgrade allow them to just input any old XP cd to continue installation? And can it be done by booting to CD since they can't log into their OS?
 
Upgrading from XP to Vista requires neither a XP CD nor a XP Key.

If XP is already installed, then you insert the Vista DVD while running XP and give the Vista Installer your Vista Upgrade Key.

If XP isn't installed, you can do a fresh (new) Vista install without inserting a Key. Then start Vista and FROM INSIDE VISTA, insert the Vista DVD and RE-INSTALL Vista a second time, this time doing an "upgrade" installation.
 
Be sure your friend has hardware that is up to vista home premium. If not, or even if he has, might consider home basic. I picked up retail upgrade for home basic for 50 bucks. Do a search and you should find it available. It's the old original 32 bit version. Then I got a 64bit version with sp1 from MSFT for 10 bucks. Used the 32 bit key and it's just fine. I also have home premium on another machine and don't miss the aero one bit. Only problem at first was lack of dvd codecs. But installed VLC videolan player and that works fine with dvds. 64 bit version seems snappier than 32 bit home premium os on same platform even with slightly faster cpu (2.6 vs 2.2 ghz). I like it a lot, and will be sorry to be giving it away to grandpa who I built it for, but then he'll be real happy, I'm sure. amd le-1600, ga-ma78gm-s2h, 2 gigs ram.
 
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