question about upgrading to win xp home

[chunkstyle]

hi guys

i'm thinking about building a pc for my parents for their 40th anniversary & was wondering if any of you could offer any info on a concern i've got about win xp's upgrade version.

a couple places locally have win xp home on sale for $90 for the upgrade version (the anniversary's coming up soon, so i don't have a lot of time to shop around for a cheaper or full-version copy). the only other fairly recent windows disc i have that would work for the upgrade is the win 98 cd that had once been installed on our old pc (out of service & dissassembled about 2-3 years ago). that copy of win 98 is now in use on my parents' current pc that i built for them a year or so ago (a pentium 1! -- they REALLY need a newer pc!), although i have the cd in my possession.

since they'll be getting a new pc, the old one will be taken out of service, and that copy of win 98 will then become disused again, and as far as i see it, therefore a legitimate, legal "base" for the new xp upgrade.

the thing i'm wondering is: since this copy of win 98 has now been used on 2 pc's, at separate times, will it work for the upgrade on the new one i'm thinking about? i don't know if windows "keeps track" of what serial # was on the disc you used to upgrade from, and if the fact that it's been on other pc's will cause this new installation to fail when i go online to activate the new xp upgrade.

the only other out-of-use copy of windows i've got to upgrade from is a set of ancient 3.11 floppies from my deceased packard-bell of 10 years ago! and i've heard that you can't upgrade to xp from such an old version of windows.

any ideas?

thanks!

[doctorgonzo]

Buy the OEM full version. It's the same price, and you won't have to worry about upgrading. I would say that based on your description, though, there wouldn't be anything wrong with doing what you plan on doing. Your Windows 98 disk can't keep track of where it's been.

[WhatsThisBoxFor?]

You should be able to use the win98 as the upgrade disk - just run the install and it will ask you for proof of previous install.

If you are worried you can get a full version of xp for $90 at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16837102151

[Panama Red]

I agree with Dr G. If you can wait the couple days, buy it here and save a couple bucks plus shipping is free.

http://www.viosoftware.com/Windows+X...620ec5197cb188