Woody's monthly 'computer idiot needs help' thread

[woody]

At least this time it's not a pressing issue... but involves MS Windows licenses and upgrades.

Here's the setup:

#1: I took the bait on pre-ordering Windows 7 Pro 64 bit on Friday. (It's ship date is like 4 months out, so we have the benefit of time.)

#2: The copy of XP Home I want to "upgrade" is on a crummy old Compaq desktop - (AMD Sempron 2.0GHz, maxed at 512kb memory, 40GB IDE HDD) This PC did not come with an XP DVD, but prompted me to burn a set of seven 'recovery disks' when I first booted up.

#3: The 7 Pro 64 upgrade will be used on a newer desktop - (Intel E5200 2.5GHz, 64 bit capable MOBO, 4 SATA ports and an IDE port, 4GB DDR2) and shall live on one 320GB HDD. I also want to keep the XP Pro SP3 living on another identical drive, and possibe set it up for "Dual Boot." At present, I am switching b & f between 7RC 64b and XP 32b by powering down and unhooking the data cable to the XP drive, and it boots up with the 7RC drive. Not a huge PITA, but looking for a more elegant way.

And here's where I need to plot out a course of action:

I think I need to (unclear of the order) format & partition the new SATA 320GB drive... get it in the box and make sure it's "seen"

Then I need to somehow extract the old XP home files from the IDE drive and get it onto that new SATA drive.

Or should I try to load the drivers (for the new PC) onto the old drive first, then see if it boots up on the new PC.

My understanding of Windows upgrades is that it has to load over the top of a registered previous version... one can't do a 'clean install' of an upgrade by itself?

I also understand that once I upgrade, the old XP Home OS is not to be used anymore. (I'm fine with that, the old PC is mostly a doorstop, and not completely reliable anymore) I am NOT looking for any gray-area workarounds... I want to keep it 100% legal. But I'd rather sacrifice my least-used license to do the upgrade, than blow up my new & playing nicely XP Pro 32 Bit license

Sage advice, taunts, and lambastation is always appreciated...

 

[AIbandit]

here's an excerpt from the microshaft website refering to XP installs.

"Running Earlier Versions?
If you have Windows XP or Windows 2000, you can purchase Windows 7 Upgrade versions. But you must back up your files, clean install, and reinstall your applications.

"

As for dual boot's there not the most stable. I would recommend having the installs on 2 seperate drives and just press ummm F8 ( bad memory its an f somthing) to select your Boot DRIVE.

 

[woody]

OK then, so from that I gather I just need to do a clean load of the new OS onto the new formatted drive and pick it up from there. In other words I can just leave that old IDE HDD alone, and use up it's key if prompted by the upgrade load?


Hmm... dual boot is not having two OS on two different drives and being able to toggle between them? (it's two OS on the same HDD, I assume on separate partitions?) remember, I'm pretty dumb about things, and operating under assumptions is one glaring way that manifests

F8 (or whatever it is on my junk) to select boot order, or just powering down and connecting/discoing one cable is aprox the same minor hassle, but it'd be nice to put the side panel back on before someone (me) does something regrettable.

 

[AIbandit]

OK then, so from that I gather I just need to do a clean load of the new OS onto the new formatted drive and pick it up from there. In other words I can just leave that old IDE HDD alone, and use up it's key if prompted by the upgrade load?

Yes Ive never ran an upgrade before(there's other versions out there iratefla) but I would assume it just requires the old key

You can stack two installs on one HD one partition. Didn't see you were using two drives(havnt had my coffee)

Selecting boot order would be a bit faster and keep your guts safe.

If your new install recognizes your other hard drives OS (It should) it should also create a boot option. ( though I know nothing about Windows 7)
and prompt you on boot to select which OS you would like to use. You can also set a timer for this boot screen say 5 seconds to select before booting to the default OS.

 

[woody]

Ya I have two identical HDD now (one XP Pro 32bit, another 7RC 64bit) and by Mon or Tues, will have a third identical HDD for the 7 Pro Upgrade.

LOL and to complicate it further, I have a 1TB external, partitioned into two equals, that are used for backups & storage... but that's not part of this situation.

Keeping my eggs in different baskets....

I'm wanting to sacrifice an older (but registered & updated) copy of XP Home that's buried as a preload on an older & mostly unused PC.

 

[AIbandit]

I edited alot sorry I have a horrible memory.

 

[woody]

:thumbup: It is still early out there...

You should have seen the mess I made on scratch paper a few nights ago, trying to sort out the best way to attack this. Drinking may have been involved... It seemed like it made sense at the time.

EDIT:
The new(er) PC initially was to be XP Pro with 2 x 320GB in RAID 1. That (RAID) ended badly, So -

We have run "stable and updated" XP Pro on one drive only since April.

Then I snagged the 7RC (both 32 and 64 #7100 versions) and took turns screwing them into the other empty HDD. Settled on the 64 bit, and it seems to be happy on there.

BUT When I loaded the 7 versions up (Did 64 bit twice and 32 bit once trying out the drivers) I ALWAYS unplugged the data & power cables from the XP drive... Having that one completely divorced was the best insurance I could think of... (I'm smart enough to know I am dumb & dangerous) So I don't know how it'd act doing what you describe.

 

[AIbandit]

lol drinking always produces the most interesting results when trying to plan something. :cheers:

 

[woody]

lol drinking always produces the most interesting results when trying to plan something. :cheers:

You should see the results when those plans go into the execution stage while drinking. :doh:

OTOH the new desktop was built over an afternoon/evening on our kitchen table, with much bourbon involved. No fires were observed, nor were any laboratory animals tested.

so :dunno: but :cheers:

Thanks

 

[tbburg]

Well, whatever you do, don't EVER dip your laboratory animals in your bourbon.


That's alcohol abuse.