Win98 SE to Win XP Pro

[cyberdad]

This question belongs in the beginners section if we had one. What is involved for me to upgrade from my present 98SE to Windows XP Pro. What are the pitfalls? Can a beginner like me do this without getting into trouble? an I take a chance with a OEM?

 

[Zucarita9000]

Sure, If you were able to install Win98SE, you'll be able to install XP. Are you thinking about reformatting your HD and perform a clean install of the OS? It's very simple. Just insert the XP CD, boot from the CD-ROM and follow the on-screen instruction. From within the installation program you can create and format partitions.

On a side note, it's highly recommended to install XP on an NTFS drive. NTFS is far more superior than FAT32 and XP will run more smoothly with it.

Make sure you backup your documents and important data first.

If you get the XP Upgrade, at some point during the installation it will ask you to insert a 9x or 2k CD to check that you own a qualifying previous version of Windows.

 

[darktubbly]

Be careful with XP...it has steeper system requirements than 98SE. As long as you've got a Pentium II or above, at least 128MB of memory (that's the absolute bare minimum for it to run at an acceptable speed), and a good gig of space for the OS itself, you should be alright. The installation should be a breeze otherwise. For step-by-step instructions, you can post more questions or check this page for a visual walkthrough.

 

[Davegod]

if youve got a decently fast pc, and can backup your files fine, get XP. you wont want to go back.

OEM version of XP is fine and a fair bit cheaper, you wont get nearly as good (if any) phone-up-and-chat tech support from MS though. aviod getting "upgrade" windows, installing from scratch is always a lot better.

oh yeah, whats involved:
- backup all your files onto something, like burn onto CD, a second hard disk.
- double check the backups
- download or otherwise acquire XP-version drivers for all your hardware.
- back them up, together with the other files you forgot about in steps 1 & 2
- put XP cdrom into cdrom drive
- restart the computer, go into bios and change "boot order"/"boot sequance" so it is your cdrom first and hard disk second, save & exit bios (there might actually be a time during win98's boot when you can press a key and select where to boot from, cant remember)
- windows XP setup will start
- follow the instructions.

during the instructions you'll need to format your hard disk, which will delete all the files on it. format it NTFS, like XP will reccomend. towards the end of the install it will start talking about finding new hardware, where you'll install your hardware drivers.

 

[cyberdad]

Are you saying that I will install XP over windows 98SE? How about the OEM version?
Do I only have to buy the upgrade? As you can see I know next to nothing about this. MY system:
Enlite case with 5 Panaflow fans
Athlon XP2100+1.73 GHz
MSI KT3 Untra ARU KT333
Crucial 256 SDRAM (20
ITA Radeon 2800 np (In shipment)
IBM ATA/IDE 45 GB Ultra ATA 7200
Enermax 400 wattWill this meet the system requirements? I know that these quesions are probablt trivial to you guys, but as you can see, I don't know much.

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: cyberdad
Are you saying that I will install XP over windows 98SE? How about the OEM version?
Do I only have to buy the upgrade? As you can see I know next to nothing about this. MY system:
Enlite case with 5 Panaflow fans
Athlon XP2100+1.73 GHz
MSI KT3 Untra ARU KT333
Crucial 256 SDRAM (20
ITA Radeon 2800 np (In shipment)
IBM ATA/IDE 45 GB Ultra ATA 7200
Enermax 400 wattWill this meet the system requirements? I know that these quesions are probablt trivial to you guys, but as you can see, I don't know much.

You will be able to install XP over 98SE. You only need to buy the upgrade version of the OS. You specifications are fine, although you may find that you want to bump up the RAM a little bit to 512 MB.

You have two options for moving to XP. You can simply pop in the XP upgrade disk and upgrade the operating system. This will preserve your data and applications, but you may run into problems down the road. XP and 98SE have very different architectures, and lingering 98 components can cause issues in XP.

The second (recommended) option is to backup all of your critical data, reformat your drive and install XP from scratch. It's not too hard to do, and we can walk you through it here on the forums. You simply boot from your XP CD, choose to install a new copy of Windows, delete/recreate/format the partition on your hard drive and let XP install. You are left with a "clean slate" from which you can install your applications and restore your data.

As long as you backup your data beforehand, the upgrade to XP should be a painless process.

 

[cyberdad]

MrChad: Thank you and the others for your information. Please keep this thread in mind as it will be a little bit before I can get to this change. I will certainly call upon you for your help. I may upgrade my hard drive at the same time.