Retail ugrades installed over oem

[Pghpooh]

A cold day here and really don?t want to go out to shovel snow! LOLOL
And, waiting for the Pittsburgh Steeler playoff game to start!

A dumb question.
Over the years I have built or upgraded a few computers.
Every time I built I used the oem version of Windows XP.

Can I buy a retail UPGRADE version of Vista and install it over the OEM WinXP?

And, in the future if I were to build a new pc can I install a ?used? version of WinXP and then add the retail version upgrade of Vista to the new pc?

If my memory is right I know you can use the full retail version of XP as needed. Meaning load the software maybe one or twice over a year or more without paying additional license fees.
Can you do the same thing with retail version of the upgrades for WinXp and Vista?
As I said earlier just some dumb questions on a cold day!

Thanks
Pghpooh

 

[Jeff7181]

There's no such thing as a retail upgrade version. It's one or the other. To answer your question, yes. You can buy an upgrade version of Vista to upgrade an OEM XP install.

For an upgrade install to be legal, you must have a legal full license (OEM or Retail) for another OS already. So you can't use a "borrowed" XP license to put XP on there and then use a Vista upgrade license.

 

[Pghpooh]

HI
Jeff7181
I think I should have explained things better.
I already have the oem installed and registered with Microsoft.

It would be this working registered oem version that I would be working with.
From your answer I assume I can-----

Install the registered oem software then as soon as the install is done I can install the upgrade over the oem.

I apologize for being slow to understand as I have the grandkids here and they want me to set up all my pc?s and their laptops so they can play Webkinz!!! Total of 4 going at the same time, 2 playing games and 2 adults shopping on line!
Pghpooh

 

[Billb2]

There's this to consider also

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
There's no such thing as a retail upgrade version. It's one or the other.

No, there are Retail Upgrade, and Retail Full versions.
OEM versions are "full" versions, since they are designed to be installed on machines with blank HDs.

Retail Upgrade discs can be installed over both Retail and OEM versions of prior OSes, AFAIK.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: Pghpooh
HI
Jeff7181
I think I should have explained things better.
I already have the oem installed and registered with Microsoft.

It would be this working registered oem version that I would be working with.
From your answer I assume I can-----

Install the registered oem software then as soon as the install is done I can install the upgrade over the oem.

I apologize for being slow to understand as I have the grandkids here and they want me to set up all my pc?s and their laptops so they can play Webkinz!!! Total of 4 going at the same time, 2 playing games and 2 adults shopping on line!
Pghpooh

If Vista works like XP did, you don't even need to install the OEM version, all you need is the disk. When you start a clean install from an upgrade disk, it'll say it can't find a previous version of Windows and either prompt for the CD key from your previous version, or ask you to insert the disk from the previous version. If you can provide either, I think it'll let you do a clean install.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
There's no such thing as a retail upgrade version. It's one or the other.

No, there are Retail Upgrade, and Retail Full versions.
OEM versions are "full" versions, since they are designed to be installed on machines with blank HDs.

Retail Upgrade discs can be installed over both Retail and OEM versions of prior OSes, AFAIK.

There's no practical difference. An upgrade license is an upgrade license. Whether you purchased it retail, got it as part of an upgrade package from your OEM, or found it... the same rules apply. There are different licensing rules for OEM vs. Retail vs. Upgrade vs. Volume License so these are really the only "types" of licenses that matter.