Help XP Upgrade Install

[Mikeye]

I was re-formatting my hard drive to clean up all the junk left of it from my kids. After formatting and partitioning, I entered the XP upgrade disk to reinstall, and it asked to insert another windows disk to verify eligibility for the upgrade. THe problem is that I lost my Windows ME disk somewhere through the years. Is there anything I can do (shor of buying a full version of Windows) that will allow me to finish the install? Anywhere i can get a ME disk? Any help would be appriciated.

[Panama Red]

Any legitimate disk of qualifying software will do, 98, ME, or Win 2000.

[Mikeye]

my problem is that I dont have any of thoes... I bought the full version of ME to replace Win 95 a few years ago.

[sdkfz]

Originally Posted by Mikeye Is there anything I can do (shor of buying a full version of Windows) that will allow me to finish the install? Anywhere i can get a ME disk? Any help would be appriciated.

Your only chocies are to have a qualifying 'upgrade from' OS disk or to buy a new full version of XP.

Since the EULA states that the license of the original OS is still 'in use' in the upgrade you can not legally use it on a second PC. This coupled with the fact that the cost of the other OS disk is going to be pretty close to the cost of an OEM copy of XP- I'd bite the bullet- take it as a lesson learned to keep all software disks safe in a single storgae box - and buy XP from someplace like newegg. You need to buy some hardware to get the 90.00 OEM price, but pretty much any little cable etc will suffice to satisfy.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16837102141

[Mikeye]

Thanks for that, I think thats what ill do.

I have been told that had I not partitioned my drive and just chose 'new Install, and formatted the existing partition, that I would not have had to insert any media as proof of upgrade. Can anyone validate that this is true?

[Panama Red]

Originally Posted by Mikeye I have been told that had I not partitioned my drive and just chose 'new Install, and formatted the existing partition, that I would not have had to insert any media as proof of upgrade. Can anyone validate that this is true?

Not true. You would still would have had to supply proof of previous ownership in order to use the upgrade version. If you had chosen to do a repair/install instead of a reformat and clean install, chances are good that it would not have asked for the previous os.