Win XP Pro UPGRADE Question

[GilletteCat]

I have just received a brand new Dell Inspiron 700m with XP Home. Because it already has the OS, it is eligible for the UPGRADE version of XP Pro. What are the implications of going that way, vs a complete uninstall and a clean install from a Full version CD of XP Pro. Am I going to encounter the "blue" os loader after the first reboot, to be able to kill the existing dell restore partitions? Is this the type of os install that presumes that the os will never need to be reinstalled again (since one would have to go through the pain of installing the orig. Home version, just to be able to "upgrade")? To dispense with the obvious, I am considering buying the Academic version of XP Pro Upgrade (~$68 at CDW), its cheaper than the full version. Plus, I already bought the XP once, Home, with the comp, so the upgrade seems more logical that a full version. Please, let me know what the pittfalls are of the upgrade version (i.e. non-bootable CD, etc...)
Thanks a lot!

 

[GilletteCat]

bump!
c-mon guys and gals!
need your input!

 

[Varun]

I've always done full reinstalls, but you can do this with an upgrade disk. It will just prompt you to put the valid OS CD in so it can check that you have it.

 

[Rapidskies]

I've done or seen xp home to xp pro upgrades done about 5 times without issues. I think you would be fine doing the upgrade since you are starting with a fairly clean machine and you are going from xp home to xp pro. If you were doing a win9x to pro upgrade I would tell you to install fresh but I've had good luck w/ xp home to pro.

 

[GilletteCat]

My main concern, and the reason for asking, is whether the update route will enable me to get to the point where I can blow all the existing partitions, reformat, and install. Or, will it not allow it and I will end up having to go the partition magic route to delete the Dell's gigantic 5GB partition they create for the Symantec system restore?
Any thoughts on that?

Thanks

 

[whatho45]

upgrade in the respect of upgrade vs. full just means "hey...you already are a windows customer...don't buy full price...just get the upgrade". You can still do full install with formats and all that good stuff. just make sure you have a previous windows cd.

 

[GilletteCat]

Finally! Thanks! That's the answer I was looking for here!

You are sure about, right?

 

[AtlantaBob]

Originally posted by: whatho45
upgrade in the respect of upgrade vs. full just means "hey...you already are a windows customer...don't buy full price...just get the upgrade". You can still do full install with formats and all that good stuff. just make sure you have a previous windows cd.

This is accurate. Although, I believe that all academic-priced versions are also full versions--that is, if you get the academic priced version, you won't have to stick in an old XP CD.

 

[bacillus]

afaik you will lose the potential use of the Dell restore partition if you either upgrade or do a fresh install.

 

[GilletteCat]

Originally posted by: bacillus
afaik you will lose the potential use of the Dell restore partition if you either upgrade or do a fresh install.

"Loosing" this partition is one of the primary reasons for doing the full install

 

[Liver]

no worries. it'll work the way you want. clean install, will check for windows product on drive (can be 95 or whatever) and then full clean install.