can ME be installed 'over' XP?

[gary711]

WHY WOULD I EVER DO THIS?!

I am replacing my motherboard.....

and i know that i will need to reinstall windows XP pro. for reasons as they are, i only have the windows ME operating system on hand. can ME be installed overwriting XP?

possibly could i do a dual boot then uninstall XP?

what do you think? i appreciate the help!!

[gary711]

WHY WOULD I EVER DO THIS?!

I am replacing my motherboard.....

and i know that i will need to reinstall windows XP pro. for reasons as they are, i only have the windows ME operating system on hand. can ME be installed overwriting XP?

possibly could i do a dual boot then uninstall XP?

what do you think? i appreciate the help

[morriswindgate]

Can't do it unless ME was already installed. Format C is all you can do.

[eko976]

Just reinstall the XP Pro
If you have a legal version it should work

[ktkendall]

You actually should not have to reinstall or do anything, xp should detect the new hardware, but if you do not have the disk then you may be right cause it may prompt you for the disk at some point for some of the drivers it will need for the new board. You can try it though..

[reboot]

No, you can't install ME over XP, and NO, you don't need to reinstall XP.
The last thing you do, before shutting down to change the hardware, is boot to Safe Mode, and take EVERYTHING out of device mangler, then shutdown and start moving hardware.
XP will usually boot, and install drivers after that on the new hardware. If it doesn't, THEN you can run a repair on it, and not lose anything.

[gary711]

the only hardware change being made will be the motherboard and it has a driver CD for its self. will i stil have to take everything out of device manager? if i do....how do you do that?

thanks again,
gary

[wschino]

Originally posted by reboot The last thing you do, before shutting down to change the hardware, is boot to Safe Mode, and take EVERYTHING out of device mangler.

Is this the same as the enum trick?

[reboot]

Yes, virtually the same, but you can't do the ENUM trick in 2k/XP.
Boot to safe mode, open Device Mangler, highlight stuff, hit the DEL key until there's nothing left.
It doesn't matter if the only thing you're changing is the mobo. A different mobo will assign different IRQ's and memory addresses for each device, including the IDE drivers, so you have to remove everything, so it can reinstall the correct drivers, in the right order, for the right device.
If it doesn't boot, then run a repair install over top.

[gary711]

hey thanks alot reboot- you have been very helpful!

now all i have to do is give it a shot.

ill post the results afterwards!

[gary711]

reboot please help- there is no way to 'highlight' and delete drivers in device manager. could you be more specific please?

thanks a bunch

[ktkendall]

Gary;
You going to delete the devices themselves, right there on the main screen of device manager..Do your keyboard and then mouse last.. It will take a bit and is tedious but makes for a much cleaner firstboot with that new board..Just open up the little plusses, and right click the devices themselves and most will have the option to uninstall, the ones that don't have that option don"t worry about.
KK

[reboot]

You can't delete a root device, without deleting the specific item.
What that means is that you have to expand all the little + signs, and delete each thing individually.
eg. If you expand "Sound, video and game controllers", you'll have quite a list of things.
Start at the bottom, put the mouse over each one in turn, and you can either right click, select delete, or make sure it's highlighted and hit the DEL key.