XP upgrade from oem or retail?

I need to buy a new harddrive for 2 reasons: 1) I was
sold a pirated OS, 2) my harddrive is old and about to
crash. Can I use a legit oem version of Win98 (that came
with my computer years ago) and install it on my new
drive, then buy the XP upgrade and install it over my oem
Win98? I heard that the XP upgrade only works for retail
versions of windows, NOT oem versions. Please help! I am
getting conflicting answers. Thanks!!

Spanky wrote:
I need to buy a new harddrive for 2 reasons: 1) I was
sold a pirated OS, 2) my harddrive is old and about to
crash. Can I use a legit oem version of Win98 (that came
with my computer years ago) and install it on my new
drive, then buy the XP upgrade and install it over my oem
Win98? I heard that the XP upgrade only works for retail
versions of windows, NOT oem versions. Please help! I am
getting conflicting answers. Thanks!!

The upgrade Win 98 CD will work for using the upgrade CD to either upgrade
over the previous Win 98 or clean installing by replacing the Win 98 CD when
prompted during the install of XP. OEM versions of XP cannot perform an
upgrade, but retail versions can upgrade or clean install.
You boot from the CD and do a clean install.
Click on or copy and paste the link below into your web browser address bar.
How to clean install XP.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP

http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outloo...snewreader.htm

In ,
Spanky typed:

I need to buy a new harddrive for 2 reasons: 1) I was
sold a pirated OS,


Why does that mean you need a new hard drive? If that's your only
problem, just get rid of the pirated version and install a legal
version.


2) my harddrive is old and about to
crash.


How do you know it's about to crash? Hard drives *can* last for a
good number of years.


Can I use a legit oem version of Win98 (that came
with my computer years ago) and install it on my new
drive, then buy the XP upgrade and install it over my oem
Win98?


NO, that's not necessary if your Windows 98 OEM CD is a regular
installation CD, not a Restore CD. Despite what many people
think, the requirement to use an upgrade version is to *own* a
previous qualifying version's installation CD (not an OEM restore
CD), not to have it installed. Just boot from the XP upgrade CD.
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.

But if yours is a restore CD, then you can do as you suggest.


I heard that the XP upgrade only works for retail
versions of windows, NOT oem versions.


No, not correct.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup