W2K: buy the stand-alone OS or the "upgrade?"

MichaelD

Lifer
Jan 16, 2001
31,528
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I did post this on my W2K vs. Win98 thread, but it was getting buried and I prefer to not bump.

As the title says, which to get? Is there anything that comes w/the full version that doesn't come with the upgrade version. There's a $100 difference b/t the two. That's two or three games!
 

KpocAlypse

Golden Member
Jan 10, 2001
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I'm personally partial to Full versions. Because i hate doing "upgrade" installs. Now if w2k upgrade is like ME SP(err whatever it was called) was, then it wouldn't be that bad. ME SP just needed to see the old 98/95 cd on install, it didn't need to have 98/95 installed on the HD to work.


Plus the full is bootable, which is nice, Im not sure about the "upgrade"

Feature wise i think they are close to the same, though i never owned a upgrade cd
 

duragezic

Lifer
Oct 11, 1999
11,234
4
81
From what I understand, the full version has everything it's just it requires a win98 (or maybe 95 too) cd to verify that you are actually upgrading then you can take it out and use the win2k like a full one.

I didn't know this before. I thought if you bought a win98se upgrade then you'd have to install win98, then install 98se upgrade on top of that. I always thought that was friggin stupid but I guess that's not how it works so it's all good. :)

edit: hi
 

rmblam

Golden Member
Aug 24, 2000
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I have the "upgrade" disk and yes it is a "full" version. All I have to do is place a windows 98 setup disk in to "qualify" when it asks during the install.

Get whichever is cheaper. I paid under $70 for mine.
 

HomerSapien

Golden Member
Jul 19, 2000
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i grabbed the upgrade at a office max store closing sale for $90. It is bootable, it will ask you for a nt 3.51, nt 4, or win9x cd right before you format the drive (or right after). The search for previous cd is much quicker than the win98 one. I say save the hundred bucks, keep a win 9x cd and buy a few games to go with it.
 

Noriaki

Lifer
Jun 3, 2000
13,640
1
71
The only difference in the Upgrade version is this:

At install time, it does a quick scan of your hard drive looking for qualifying upgrade products.

If it does not find one it asks you to insert your old Windows CD as proof that you have a qualifying product. It then scans said CD for about 2 seconds, to verify it is in fact a qualifying product.

Once this is complete it asks to put your Win2k CD back in.

From this point forward the Upgrade is indisguishable from the full version.

You can do complete clean installs from an upgrade version, it does not need a previous windows version installed on your hard drive.
You can make Slipstreamed SP2 upgrade CDs if you like.
There is nothing the full version can do an upgrade version can't. The only difference is that scan step.

Is skipping that simple "Insert Win98 CD for 2 seconds" step worth the price difference between upgrade and full to you? If not go upgrade.

Up until 2 days ago I had a Win2k upgrade version, I've used it many many times for clean installs...trust me it works the exact same as the Full version.
 

KpocAlypse

Golden Member
Jan 10, 2001
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<< i grabbed the upgrade at a office max store closing sale for $90. It is bootable, it will ask you for a nt 3.51, nt 4, or win9x cd right before you format the drive (or right after). The search for previous cd is much quicker than the win98 one. I say save the hundred bucks, keep a win 9x cd and buy a few games to go with it. >>




If it does like they say, i'd say get the upgrade...
 

splice

Golden Member
Jun 6, 2001
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If you are a student I would go with the Academic Upgrade. It's not really an upgrade but the &quot;full&quot; CD (at least mine is). I've never been asked to insert another Win CD for verification.
 

MichaelD

Lifer
Jan 16, 2001
31,528
3
76
Allrighty, thanks for the replies. I'm not sure either what the diff is b/t a full and an upgrade version of a Windoze OS...I would assume that someone out there knows and has figured it out by now, though!

I do know this for a fact: The Win98SE upgrade (from Win95) CD isn't a bootable CDR. It will ask you for the Win95 CD. If you don't have it, Win98OS load won't continue. I got lucky in that my Dell DID come with a FULL version CD of Win 98 SE. The CD Key is stamped right on it :D rock on, dude! My Dell is now a table for a small lamp, but that's another story entirely.

I've installed Win98SE from the CDR about...oh wait a minute..um...NO!:frown:I've never done an unlicensed installation from that CD....uh, yeah Mike, whatever! I'd rather spend $100 more for a full version that I can load on any computer that I own (only one running copy at a time of course.....) than be stuck with an update CD that is basically useless on it's own. Unless of course, you guys know something I don't? That's ususally the case though; which is why I love you, man! Talk to me.
 

MichaelD

Lifer
Jan 16, 2001
31,528
3
76
Oh man, do I feel like a dork! In the 10 minutes it took me to type my reply (gotta think about it, you know!) a whole bunch of you replied.

Thanks very much, everyone! I shudder to think where I'd be, knowledge-wise, w/o these forums. Sniffle....here, take my BudLight!


Noriaki,
Thanks, man; that is exactly what I needed to know. I've got an original, honest-to-goodness-I-paid-for-it, original from MS Win98SE CD...Thanks bud. Windows 98SE is nice, but I feel like I've outgrown it. Not that I'm some big script writing guy or anything, it's just that at this point, I'd like to be able to leave the computer up and running for more than 48 hours w/o worrying that my 2 hour Internet Gaming session has used up 97.4% of all 512 megabytes of memory! Ugh. I know what I'm buying tomorrow. :)
 

Noriaki

Lifer
Jun 3, 2000
13,640
1
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lol yeah I know the feeling.
Win2000 is a big jump over Win98SE :)

Yeah, I had the same thing you do. The Upgrade version will work perfectly fine for you. When you want to do a clean install it will ask you for that Win98CD, and it will scan it for a couple seconds.

So you just have to have it handy when you do a clean install.

Here's a funny one for you, Win2000 is a qualifying upgrade product for Win2000 ;) If you have Win2000 installed on your hard drive it won't ask you for a CD, then after the scan step you can format the old copy of Win2000 off and install a fresh copy. ;)