WinXP simple question

[thylantyr]

I haven't used WinXP so these questions should
be easy to answer - lol

Microsoft seems to sell this product in OEM version
and Retail versions. The OEM is $89 and Retail is
$179.. Also, the retail WinXP upgrade is $89
if you have an existing Windows OS installed.

I'm building a fresh system and want to use WinXP,
I don't want to install my old Window 98 then
do a WinXP upgrade - too much bloat and too much
hassle.

Question #1:
Do you know if there is any places that sell
the WinXP OEM if I don't buy a complete system from
them ? All the places I see claim to sell WinXP for
$89 WITH system, otherwise you are stuck
paying $179 for the retail box?

Question #2:
If I bought the WinXP upgrade can I fool WinXP
to think there is an existing OS on the newly
formatted drive? Can I format the new drive
and make it bootable, then install WinXP upgrade,
will this "format/bootable" trick fool WinXP
and the OS will install ?

Bottom line, I'm willing to pay $89 for WinXP,
but no more - lol

[TheDude]

Hi thylantyr,

Welcome to the forum,

To the best of my knowledge, the OEM versions only come as bundled with hardware, except for 3 paks with licenses which sell for about 4 grand!
However, I did find a site that says you can buy OEM version "with another computer hardware". I am not sure what that means exactly. What other hardware do you need to purchase? Anyway here is a link for that, maybe worth checking out?
http://shop3.outpost.com/product/3122690

As for your 2nd question....I think that this can be done, but due to strict forum rules about such things, I cannot even direct you to information of this type. If you explore this on your own, you may find a way to accomplish it.;)

Hope this is of some help to you.

PS..I agree with you that a fresh install is the only way to go...upgrades with this OS can be a nightmare.

[Keeper]

Try these guys, best prices I have found, no hardware to buy either

http://www.eastoutlet.com/allframes.htm

[thylantyr]

Thanks for the info.

[Stangfrk]

Originally posted by thylantyr


Question #2:
If I bought the WinXP upgrade can I fool WinXP
to think there is an existing OS on the newly
formatted drive? Can I format the new drive
and make it bootable, then install WinXP upgrade,
will this "format/bootable" trick fool WinXP
and the OS will install ?



I'm not sure if this will help you any, but you can make a bootable Win Xp cd. No OS is needed once you have the CD made. http://www.windowsxp.nu/bootcd/

[Chill]

You will not be able to fool a Windows XP upgrade disk into installing onto a drive with no previous Windows operating system. During the beginning of the install it will look for previous versions of windows and if it cant find one, then it will abort.

[JBELL]

get upgrade version then when installing select the FULL install over UPGRADE...


it will reformat drive to the ntfs5 file format and give you full blown WinXP

[JBELL]

Originally posted by thylantyr
I haven't used WinXP so these questions should
be easy to answer - lol



I'm building a fresh system and want to use WinXP,
I don't want to install my old Window 98 then
do a WinXP upgrade - too much bloat and too much
hassle.



Question #2:
If I bought the WinXP upgrade can I fool WinXP
to think there is an existing OS on the newly
formatted drive? Can I format the new drive
and make it bootable, then install WinXP upgrade,
will this "format/bootable" trick fool WinXP
and the OS will install ?

Bottom line, I'm willing to pay $89 for WinXP,
but no more - lol


I just re-read this thread and remembered something I did with Win NT and Win ME

when installing from an upgrade disk - I did freash install and all it did was ask me to insert the CD of my older purchased copy of windows... absicallly all an upgrade is truly is the full version with security features added into the install feature ...

Just make sure you have your WIN9x cd ready during install.

***NOTE*** all of that is totally legal within the respects of the purchase purpose of the microsoft product and viewed as a ''warez'' issue as long as said product is being purchased - MS gets their money and they are happy.