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Dimension 8500 - Upgrading O/S from ME to XP
I Plan to upgrade my O/S Windows ME, factory installed by Dell to WIndows XP home edition. When I refer to the Dell support page on doing so, it says my system will handle the Xp O/S "upgrade" just fine. What exactly do they mean by the "upgrade"? I have a new stand alone version of Windows XP I purchased at the store and intend to install this on my Dimension 8500 by reformatting my hard drive and doing a clean install. Is this o.k., or will I lose needed Dell configurations already on my hard drive? What is the Best way to do this upgrade?
First of all, there is no such thing as a Dimension 8500 - do you mean 8100? Upgrade means that you are moving to a newer version of Windows. This can be done by installing over Windows ME (an upgrade installation) or by reformatting the drive and installing Windows XP on a clean hard drive (clean install). It is recommeded that one never to do an upgrade installation, as it carries over problems from the previous version of Windows. So, the answer to your question is that yes, you can do a clean install. In fact everyone should do a clean install. Note also that you do not need to pay the extra price for the full installation of Windows XP if you have a CD from any previous version of Windows. During installation, XP will ask you to insert the CD from the previous version to prove that you are eligible for the upgrade version.
Steve
pappadude
13 Posts
86
0
Posted March 7th, 2004 19:00