Windows Vista Upgrade question

[Freshgeardude]

So I bought Windows XP... it came with a free upgrade to vista business so will i still be able to use XP pro and vista at the same time?? Like on the same system

 

[regnez]

You could dual boot the machine, yes. To do that, however, you would have to own a full copy of each version of Windows that you want on your computer. The free upgrade that you are going to get is (obviously) only going to be an upgrade, and not the full version.

So while you could run both versions of Windows on your computer, you would have to go out yourself and purchase the full version of Vista, the free upgrade you will receive is not going to cut it.

 

[Freshgeardude]

I went to do the upgrade and it says my redemption code was already used WTF!!!

 

[pcgeek11]

Originally posted by: regnez
You could dual boot the machine, yes. To do that, however, you would have to own a full copy of each version of Windows that you want on your computer. The free upgrade that you are going to get is (obviously) only going to be an upgrade, and not the full version.

So while you could run both versions of Windows on your computer, you would have to go out yourself and purchase the full version of Vista, the free upgrade you will receive is not going to cut it.[/q]

Bologna. This ( bolded above ) is false. The uopgrade will / can do a full bare bones installation. You will just need the validating software OS cd to prove you have it during the installation. It does have the full code to install.

pcgeek11

 

[thepeach]

i'm probably wrong about this but let me shoot my mouth off so you experts can hopefully get me set straight on the Vista Upgrade CD: Am I right/wrong about the following statements: (i found these quotes on the internet so i know they have to be true

"The only way to access the Upgrade option from any Vista edition (Retail, OEM, Upgrade, ect.) is while inside of a Windows Environment"

"You cannot use the upgrade option from boot on any version of Vista, be it full version or upgrade version. The only way to use the upgrade option is from within a Windows XP environment. The New Installation option on an Upgrade DVD can only be ran from inside a Windows 2000/XP environment due to the key restriction. However on a full version DVD you can run the New Install option from boot."

"A clean install from boot is only supported on full versions. Upgrade versions will only work from within a version of Windows itself. That way they can guarantee that the copy of Windows that you're using to upgrade from is a genuine copy. They really don't have a way of doing that at boot time that's why it's not allowed on upgrade discs."

Alright, now shoot holes in me & smarten me up

 

[Markbnj]

That is true in my experience so far. If you select Upgrade from a cd-boot install it will tell you to restart Windows and run it from inside the OS. Once you do that you still have the choice of either upgrade or a clean install, so I guess there isn't much reason to use the boot approach.

 

[thepeach]

Originally posted by: Markbnj
That is true in my experience so far. If you select Upgrade from a cd-boot install it will tell you to restart Windows and run it from inside the OS. Once you do that you still have the choice of either upgrade or a clean install, so I guess there isn't much reason to use the boot approach.

so, with a clean install from within windows, does it reformat the drive when doing this?

 

[dfuze]

Personally, I wouldn't trust an upgrade attempt. I would back up all my important files and do a clean format & install to ensure the most stability. But that's just me, I'm a glutton for the pain of total reinstalls.

 

[Markbnj]

Originally posted by: thepeach

Originally posted by: Markbnj
That is true in my experience so far. If you select Upgrade from a cd-boot install it will tell you to restart Windows and run it from inside the OS. Once you do that you still have the choice of either upgrade or a clean install, so I guess there isn't much reason to use the boot approach.

so, with a clean install from within windows, does it reformat the drive when doing this?

You can do this from the install, but it doesn't do it by default. There is also an option to make an extended partition, but we couldn't get that to work on a SATA drive last night.

 

[thepeach]

thanks for the useful comments Markbnj

 

[pcgeek11]

I think you guys are getting confused between upgrading an installed XP installation keeping the settings programs etc intact. Yes you will have to do that from within the windows environment using my experience with the Beta, RC, and RTM versions.

If you want to do a clean installation ( Bare Hard drive ) with the Vista Upgrade DVD, then you will have to boot from the upgrade DVD to perform a clean installation. There is no other way that I would install Vista other than a clean install as you are asking for trouble otherwise. This has been proven over and over again.

Take for instance, there is no upgrade path from XP Pro64 bit, and Windows 2K, either of these will require a clean installation. Think about it, you cannot run these upgrades from within the windows environment so how else would you do an upgrade except from a clean boot with an upgrade DVD.

See this:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/upgradeinfo.mspx

Clean install
Upgrading to Windows Vista with a clean install means that you should use Windows Easy Transfer to automatically copy all your files and settings to an extra hard drive or other storage device, and then install Windows Vista. After the installation is complete, Windows Easy Transfer will reload your files and settings on your upgraded PC. You will then need to reinstall your applications.

Windows XP Professional x64
Windows 2000

Requires clean install.

Notes:
If you are currently using Windows 2000 Professional or Windows XP Professional x64, you are eligible for an upgrade copy to a corresponding or better edition of Windows Vista, but a clean install is required.

For versions of Windows earlier than Windows 2000, upgrade copies are not available. These earlier versions of Windows require you to install a full copy of Windows Vista.

If the edition of Windows Vista that you choose to install will result in a loss of functionality over your current edition of Windows, a clean install must be done or the installation must be completed to a new partition on your PC.

Just like always it will ask for your qualifying media to continue the installation, after it verifies the media then you will insert the Vista DVD to continue. You will not need to have the previous OS installed before upgrading the PC to Vista.

pcgeek11

 

[WT]

Microsoft seems to indicate that the Vista DVD is not bootable, hence the need to upgrade from within the existing OS. Sooo, how is this done when upgrading from W2K which requires a clean install but .. catch22 ... you can't boot to the DVD to install Vista !? Perhaps MS has some sort of option in place for this, but no one has clarified how this will be done yet.

 

[thepeach]

Originally posted by: WT
Microsoft seems to indicate that the Vista DVD is not bootable, hence the need to upgrade from within the existing OS. Sooo, how is this done when upgrading from W2K which requires a clean install but .. catch22 ... you can't boot to the DVD to install Vista !? Perhaps MS has some sort of option in place for this, but no one has clarified how this will be done yet.

my understanding is that you will only be able to start the install and a clean install while in the Win2k environment. It will then reboot and wipe 2k and install Vista as a fresh OS on your drive.

 

[Markbnj]

The Vista DVD does boot, but you can only upgrade if you run setup from within windows. You can't upgrade from within Windows 2000 at all. You can only resinstall.

 

[wiin]

Notes:
If you are currently using Windows 2000 Professional or Windows XP Professional x64, you are eligible for an upgrade copy to a corresponding or better edition of Windows Vista, but a clean install is required.

Ok so how do we get this upgrade copy?

 

[pcgeek11]

Originally posted by: wiin

Notes:
If you are currently using Windows 2000 Professional or Windows XP Professional x64, you are eligible for an upgrade copy to a corresponding or better edition of Windows Vista, but a clean install is required.

Ok so how do we get this upgrade copy?

You purchase it from a store, or online merchant of your choice after the release date. They are not giving it away, unless you qualify for the advanced upgrade program.

pcgeek11