re-installing

[cbvalu8r]

I have to reformat my hard drive. Have XP-Home Upgrade version. Do I need
to resintall the old Windows ME and then the XP? Silly question maybe - but
there's no additional fee/cost to pay is there? That is, I can just use my
product key and away I go?
--
cbvalu8r

[Will Denny]

Hi

Why do you have to reformat? That is normally a last gasp measure.

What kind of XP CD do you have? That may determine how you will need to
reformat/re-install XP. There's no extra cost for re-installing XP.

--

Will Denny
MS-MVP - Windows Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups


"cbvalu8r" > wrote in message
...
>I have to reformat my hard drive. Have XP-Home Upgrade version. Do I need
> to resintall the old Windows ME and then the XP? Silly question maybe -
> but
> there's no additional fee/cost to pay is there? That is, I can just use
> my
> product key and away I go?
> --
> cbvalu8r

[Me Too]

Caution! I had occasion to upgrade my Dell 8100 supplied with Windows ME to
XP (using a retail MS XP Home Disk). I preferred to reformat my HD during
the installation, unfortunately after this installation my Dell 8100
suffered from a BSOD and a "NMI - Parity Check / Memory Parity Error" when
shutting down. I later discovered that the Dell chipset driver had been
removed when I reformatted my HD. Re-installing the Dell Chipset driver
appears to have resolved the BSOD and NMI - Parity Check / Memory Parity
Error" upon shutdown.

"cbvalu8r" > wrote in message
...
>I have to reformat my hard drive. Have XP-Home Upgrade version. Do I need
> to resintall the old Windows ME and then the XP? Silly question maybe -
> but
> there's no additional fee/cost to pay is there? That is, I can just use
> my
> product key and away I go?
> --
> cbvalu8r

[Ed.]

No, you don't have to install ME first. During the install of XP Home
upgrade after the drive is formatted, it will see no operating system to
upgrade from. To continue it has to verify that you entitled to an upgrade
and are a previous Windows owner. To verify follow what it says and put in
your Windows ME CD to be checked. After it is verified, the XP install will
continue.

You can also format your drive during the install of XP using XP providing
your computer boots to CD first.

If you find that XP don't find all your needed drivers, then search for
updates for them. I would certainly do this before having to install ME
first and then upgrading to XP from that.

It is always much better to do a clean install of XP rather to upgrade.

Good Luck

"cbvalu8r" > wrote in message
...
>I have to reformat my hard drive. Have XP-Home Upgrade version. Do I need
> to resintall the old Windows ME and then the XP? Silly question maybe -
> but
> there's no additional fee/cost to pay is there? That is, I can just use
> my
> product key and away I go?
> --
> cbvalu8r

[Bruce Chambers]

cbvalu8r wrote:
> I have to reformat my hard drive. Have XP-Home Upgrade version. Do
> I need to resintall the old Windows ME and then the XP? Silly
> question maybe - but there's no additional fee/cost to pay is there?
> That is, I can just use my product key and away I go?
> --
> cbvalu8r


It's quite possible to perform a clean installation using the
Upgrade CD, provided you have the true installation CD for the earlier
OS.

Simply boot from the WinXP Upgrade CD. You'll be offered the
opportunity to delete, create, and format partitions as part of the
installation process. The Upgrade CD checks to see if a qualifying OS
is installed, and, if it finds none, it asks you to insert the
installation media (CD) of that OS. Unfortunately, an OEM
"Recovery/Restore" CD will not work for this purpose; you must have a
true installation CD, complete with the "\Win98" folder and *.cab
files, or the "\i386" folder of WinNT/2K.

Alternatively, or especially if all you have is an OEM Recovery CD
for the earlier OS, you can even start the upgrade from within the
current Win98/Me/NT/2K installation, and still elect to perform a
clean installation, to include formatting the drive. In this case,
there's no further request for the qualifying OS's installation CD,
because the installation routing "remembers" that you started from
within the qualifying OS. This process is more time-consuming, but
you get the same results: a clean installation of WinXP.

There's no limit to the number of times you can reinstall
and activate the same WinXP license on the same PC. Nor is there ever
a charge. Nor does a Product Key (so long as it's not an evaluation
license) ever expire. If it's been more than 120 days since you last
activated that specific Product Key, you'll most likely be able to
activate via the Internet without problem. If it's been less, you
might have to make a 5 minute phone call.

Here are the facts pertaining to activation:

Piracy Basics - Microsoft Product Activation
http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/basics/activation/

Windows Product Activation (WPA)
http://www.aumha.org/a/wpa.htm

--

Bruce Chambers

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having
both at once. - RAH

[Ken Blake]

In ,
cbvalu8r > typed:

>I have to reformat my hard drive. Have XP-Home Upgrade version.
>Do I
> need to resintall the old Windows ME and then the XP?


No. The requirement to use an upgrade version is to *own* a
previous qualifying version's installation CD (with an OEM
restore CD, see below), not to have it installed. When setup
doesn't find a previous qualifying version installed, it will
prompt you to insert its CD as proof of ownership. Just insert
the previous version's CD, and follow the prompts. Everything
proceeds quite normally and quite legitimately.



You can also do a clean install if you have an OEM restore CD of
a previous qualifying version. It's more complicated, but it
*can* be done. First restore from the Restore CD. Then run the XP
upgrade CD from within that restored system, and change from
Upgrade to New Install. When it asks where, press Esc to delete
the partition and start over.



> Silly question
> maybe - but there's no additional fee/cost to pay is there?


No.


> That is,
> I can just use my product key and away I go?


Yes.

However why do you want to reformat and reinstall? In my view,
it's almost always a mistake. With a modicum of care, it should
never be necessary to reinstall Windows (XP or any other
version). I've run Windows 3.0, 3.1, WFWG 3.11, Windows 95,
Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows XP, each for the period of
time before the next version came out, and each on two machines
here. I never reinstalled any of them, and I have never had
anything more than an occasional minor problem.



It's my belief that this mistaken notion stems from the technical
support people at many of the larger OEMs. Their solution to
almost any problem they don't quickly know the answer to is
"reformat and reinstall." That's the perfect solution for them.
It gets you off the phone quickly, it almost always works, and it
doesn't require them to do any real troubleshooting (a skill that
most of them obviously don't possess in any great degree).



But it leaves you with all the work and all the problems. You
have to restore all your data backups, you have to reinstall all
your programs, you have to reinstall all the Windows and
application updates,you have to locate and install all the needed
drivers for your system, you have to recustomize Windows and all
your apps to work the way you're comfortable with.



Besides all those things being time-consuming and troublesome,
you may have trouble with some of them: can you find all your
application CDs? Can you find all the needed installation codes?
Do you have data backups to restore? Do you even remember all the
customizations and tweaks you may have installed to make
everything work the way you like?



Occasionally there are problems that are so difficult to solve
that Windows should be reinstalled cleanly. But they are few and
far between; reinstallation should not be a substitute for
troubleshooting; it should be a last resort, to be done only
after all other attempts at troubleshooting by a qualified person
have failed.



If you have problems, post them here, it's likely that someone
can help you and a reinstallation won't be required.


--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
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