Quick Question on Clean Reinstall of Windows XP Home Edition

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Joe D. - 30 Jan 2007 19:11 GMT

I'm planning on doing a reinstall of Windows XP on one of my home computers.
When I purchased the computer, it shipped with Windows XP Home Edition,
Service Pack 1. I am ready to do a clean reinstall of XP SP1 and then using
an upgrade CD I ordered from Microsoft, upgrade to XP SP2.

This is my question: I have a Windows XP SP2 Upgrade CD that I purchased at
retail for another machine. Can I use that CD to do a direct reinstall of XP
SP2 (instead of doing it in two stages) and when the time comes in the
installation process insert my licensed copy of XP SP1 to prove ownership of
a valid license. It just seems kind of silly to install SP1 and then upgrade
to SP2, when I have the means to do a clean install of SP2 directly.

Hoping for a reply,

Joe D.

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Dave B. - 30 Jan 2007 19:20 GMT

No you cannot, the product key that shipped with your PC (likely full OEM)
will not work with a retail upgrade CD.

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> I'm planning on doing a reinstall of Windows XP on one of my home
> computers.
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
>
> Joe D.

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Joe D. - 30 Jan 2007 20:34 GMT

Dave,

Thanks for taking the time to respond. However, when I purchased that
Upgrade version of XP SP2 at retail, I used it to do a clean install/upgrade
from Windows Me that I had purchased as part of my Dell Dimension system.

In the upgrade process, when asked to insert a copy of Windows (to prove
license ownership of a previous version of Windows) I put in the Windows Me
CD (a full OEM version of Windows Me; not a restore CD) that shipped with my
Dell computer, and the clean install to XP SP2 went as smooth as silk.

I guess I should rephrase my question a bit: If I can get the upgrade to
work that way (i.e., using my copy of SP1 as proof of ownership), then is
there any other legal/authentication prohibition that Microsoft may have in
upgrading to SP2 in that fashion? For example, would Microsoft think that
the same copy of Windows had been install on two different machines?

Thanks again,

Joe D.

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> No you cannot, the product key that shipped with your PC (likely full OEM)
> will not work with a retail upgrade CD.
[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]
> >
> > Joe D.

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Dave B. - 30 Jan 2007 20:50 GMT

If you have that upgrade installed on another PC already you cannot use it
to upgrade a second PC. The way you validate the upgrade doesn't matter, you
have used the upgrade product key on a machine already, you can't use it
again unless you remove it from the first PC.
Your thinking that it will see that your using a full XP SP1 CD and allow
you to use the Product key for that, it will not.

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> Dave,
>
[quoted text clipped - 49 lines]
>> >
>> > Joe D.

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Joe D. - 30 Jan 2007 21:44 GMT

Thanks Dave, at least now I know which path I must take. JAD

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> If you have that upgrade installed on another PC already you cannot use it
> to upgrade a second PC. The way you validate the upgrade doesn't matter, you
[quoted text clipped - 56 lines]
> >> >
> >> > Joe D.

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