windows xp pro upgrade cd

You can do a fresh install with your upgrade CD, however it will ask you to put in another OS CD to verify you own a previous version of windows, and I dont think the restore disc will work. If you have another Windows disc (like Win98) then you'll be fine.

If you put the upgrade CD in while windows is running, it will give you the option of a clean install and wont ask you for a previous version CD. However I can't remember if it will let you format the drive, so all the bloatware might still be there. Also, you've got PM.

OEM copies of software are not eligible for upgrades. Always been that way, will always be that way. OEM software is always considerably cheaper than FPP. That is why OEM copies are not eligible for upgrades. Sometimes the software allows you to do it, but it's a violation of the EULA and if somebody decides to turn you in, the fine is a hell of a lot more than the software costs. I haven't tried to use an upgrade CD on an OEM installation, but it's not likely it will go through.

Where in the hell did you get that idea? It is not against the EULA to use an upgrade disc on a system with an OEM version of windows. You must be thinking of not being able to use an OEM copy to DO the upgrade.....ie if you have Windows 98 you cant use an OEM XP disc to upgrade to XP, however if you have an OEM version of XP home (like on my laptop for instance) you can buy the Windows XP Pro upgrade and upgrade it to XP Pro. That's what it's for.

I got the idea from the EULA and because I'm paid to know these things and because I've had employers pay a hell of a lot of money to get me trained to know these things. OEM software is not eligible to be used as an upgrade OR to be upgraded. Period. Research before flaming is usually a good idea.

First off, I wasn't flaming. Second, you might want to take your own advice and research things a little, because I too am paid to know these things and as a Microsoft registered OEM partner I am well aware of the EULA for OEM software. It IS eligible for upgrade.

Please tell me HERE or HERE where it says the previous version can't be OEM?

HERE is the EULA for Windows XP Pro retail full and upgrade, it doesn't say it in there either.

Finally here is an excert from the OEM EULA:

"UPGRADES.
If the SOFTWARE is labeled as an upgrade, you must be
properly licensed to use a product identified by MS or
Microsoft Corporation as being eligible for the upgrade in
order to use the SOFTWARE ("Eligible Product"). For the
purpose of upgrade(s) only, "HARDWARE" shall mean the
computer system or computer system component with which you
received the Eligible Product. SOFTWARE labeled as an
upgrade replaces and/or supplements (and may disable, if
upgrading a Microsoft software product) the Eligible
Product which came with the HARDWARE. After upgrading, you
may no longer use the SOFTWARE that formed the basis for
your upgrade eligibility (unless otherwise provided). You
may use the resulting upgraded product only in accordance
with the terms of this EULA and only with the HARDWARE.
If the SOFTWARE is an upgrade of a component of a package
of software programs that you licensed as a single product,
the SOFTWARE may be used and transferred only as part of
that single product package and may not be separated for
use on more than one computer.

Now why would they put it in the EULA that if the software that made you eligible for the upgrade was bundled with hardware, in this case Windows XP OEM, you must use the upgrade with the hardware?

Your highlight missed the important part: "... you must be properly licensed to use a product identified by MS or Microsoft Corporation as being eligible for the upgrade..." Bundled applications aren't always OEM copies, and it doesn't specifically specify OEM in that language.

Microsoft's website deals with retail copies of their software. They leave the OEM software to the OEM's to deal with. Those charts aren't really conclusive of anything.

Call Microsoft PSS or whatever they're calling it this week and ask them this question. Do it three times. You'll get at least two different answers, if not three. It's scary to me how little even MS knows about its own licensing practices.

There is one big issue with an OEM to Upgrade process. If OEM software is upgradeable, there is not one single good reason to ever buy FPP, academic FPP excluded, if it is at all possible to get an OEM copy. The OEM system was initially designed so that the software developer and its so-called "OEM" resellers could co-exist peacefully without undercutting each other.

I will, as you say, take my own advice and research it again. I figured the fines that my last employer had to pay for upgrading OEM software would be enough to solidify at least one thing they don't consider to be a "qualifying product". The EULA language they presented to me at that time is not what you pasted there.

It would actually make my job a lot easier to find out that everything I had found the last time I had to research this was either never true or not currently true. I'm not helping my last employer get their money back though~

I didn't miss it, I already showed 2 links that say that it is eligible.

My excert is from the Microsoft EULA that came with my Gateway computer, therfore it does apply to Windows XP OEM

They only leave the support to the OEMs, not the licensing. Also, if you don't believe that those charts apply to OEM being eligible, don't you think they would say so? As you quoted in your previous post "... you must be properly licensed to use a product identified by MS or Microsoft Corporation as being eligible for the upgrade...". Where do you think someone is to find that information? On those charts. It does not say anywhere on them that the software is not eligible if it is OEM.

Let me see if I can try to make you understand....

Let's say some guy goes into Bestbuy and buys a computer with Windows XP Home Edition but he really wants Windows XP Pro. The store also sells the windows XP Pro upgrade. Now he can check the EULA of the computer he just bought, which of course says what I quoted in my previous post, and then check the link I showed you to see if he is eligible (ignoring the fact that is says the same thing on the package). Now where does it say in any of that, that he can not use the upgrade? Now lets say he buys the upgrade, and then reads the it's EULA, which I also provided a link to. It also does not say that he can't use it. Now don't you think if you were right and he is not eligible to use the upgrade, SOMETHING would say so?

Now I think I understand where the confusion is. It sounds to me that you are thinking of volume licensing, which if that is the case, has a completely different set of rules. This conversation however, is about single licenses.

Well OK I did my research. You're right and I'm a jackass, and for what I did I apologize, but I've always been and always will be a jackass, so that part I just can't apologize for.

The confusion was that I was halfway correct in a manner of speaking. A few years, a dysfunctional memory, and excessive alcohol consumption twisted the facts up a bit. I read every EULA I could get my hands on and did a bunch of searches and couldn't find anything to support what I thought was a hard fact. So I made a few phone calls to former colleagues to straighten it out. So here's the real scoop: At one time, there was a version of Office SBE that did not qualify for upgrade to the next level of Office, and that's what they paid fines for. All those rules have changed now, so I can't even verify which versions were involved. Every time I had to deal with it after that, it came as OEM software, so I guess that's where my self-misinformation went to.

lol.......no problem. I can relate, especially to the excessive alcohol consumption.

And once again, as I allways say, having spent a lot of money on training or being paid to know things dont exactly mean ya know anything.

Now I'll be the first to admit I make mistakes, and sometimes do some flat-out stupid things, but it's a pretty long way from that to saying that I don't know anything.

If it performs an inplace upgrade, yes.
If it wipes the drive during the upgrade, no.

You should be given an option for which way you want to go, as well as an option to install a completely separate copy.

Don't forget that if you get into a scenario where it requires you to provide a previous edition's CD, you can use anyone's Windows 98, Windows 2000, or Windows XP Home CD to satisfy the installer. It doesn't actually have to see the CD for the exact product you are intending to upgrade, it just has to see any qualifying CD. Since you are really upgrading what we have thoroughly established is a qualifying product, there won't be any technical or legal ramifications from doing this.

If memory serves me correctly, when you tell it to do a fresh install, it will put the setup files on the partition, so it wont let you format the partition. It will install a fresh copy of Windows, but all the old files will still be there.

Andevian is right though, just use a different OS cd when the installer asks for it, it's not using any files off of it, it just checks to make sure you have one. Any Windows 98, ME, 2000 or XP Home disc will do. It's not illegal because you do own an eligible product for the upgrade. It's pretty easy to get an old windows disc.