XP Home Upgrade...

[Fineghal]

Resident tech type geek...

Mother wants to install XP Home on a windows 2000 box.

Being the cheapest she got the XP Home UPGRADE.

According to the back of the box I need 98/ME not Win2k.

So here are my questions:
Is it just license crap or does the software actually check?

Is there a bypass?

My logic on how this could be legal is as follows:
M$ allows downgrade rights. With a Win2k license I should be able to downgrade to 98.
Am I mistaken?

 

[regnez]

You can upgrade to XP from Win2k. I did it on an old Gateway box of my parents about six months ago and didn't run into any problems.

If you do hit a snag for whatever reason though, drop me a pm. I have an extra (full) copy of Win98 that I bought but never used.

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Honestly, I would have thought 2k to xp would have been possible, but it appears I'm wrong.

Source

Note You may use Upgrade Advisor to check for upgrade eligibility and compatibility information for Windows XP Home Edition with the following exception: It is not possible to upgrade from Windows NT® 4.0 or Windows 2000 Professional to Windows XP Home Edition.

*shrug*

- JaAG

 

[regnez]

Originally posted by: JustAnAverageGuy
Honestly, I would have thought 2k to xp would have been possible, but it appears I'm wrong.

Source

Note You may use Upgrade Advisor to check for upgrade eligibility and compatibility information for Windows XP Home Edition with the following exception: It is not possible to upgrade from Windows NT® 4.0 or Windows 2000 Professional to Windows XP Home Edition.

*shrug*

- JaAG

Actually, that is probably true. The upgrade I did was to XP Pro (I am a student, and it was only $100 up at the college). Apologies for the bad advice, I did not intend to mislead.

PM me and I will send you my extra copy of 98. During the installation, there is a point where you can just insert an eligible copy of a previous Windows; the XP installation reads that disc to make sure it is what it is, and then lets you finish with the install.

 

[mechBgon]

With a Win2k license I should be able to downgrade to 98.
Am I mistaken?

Win2k licenses don't grant downgrade rights.

 

[Dave Richardson]

Is there a good reason for her wanting to go to XP from Windows 2000?

 

[Arkaign]

If she's not worried about keeping a bunch of old apps, boot off of the XP Home Upgrade CD, and feed it another OS to 'qualify' with, and then you can do a fresh install. Just back up her email, favorites, desktop items, documents, and make sure you are ready to reinstall her apps and drivers (printer, etc).

This will have a much cleaner faster result anyway.

I *think* you can use a Win2k Pro CD to qualify, but of course you cannot actually install onto an existing 2k Pro install w/Home. I know for a fact that 98, 98SE, and ME CDs let you install the full clean XP Home install.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: mechBgon

With a Win2k license I should be able to downgrade to 98.
Am I mistaken?

Win2k licenses don't grant downgrade rights.

I'm pretty sure that at least at one point, they did... ?

At I remember hearing about "downgrade rights" back in the days of W2K, before XP. I do seem to have trouble pulling up anything about W2K downgrade rights in Google though.

 

[Fineghal]

I'll just snag a copy from my school store. Just checked, 70 bucks is pretty cheap as far as that goes.

Oh and as to why, basically plug and play.
Win2k can be a pain when it's being used as a family machine with infinite + 1 usb devices being plugged in and some people not installing drivers properly. :roll: