Can you upgrade, inspite a broken installer?

[Curt]

By now the hole DC world must know that I have upgraded from Win2K to XP Home (OEM; no disc), but the sad fact is that this have been such a disappointing to me. From the very beginning at February the 24'th there has been more errors than I had during the previous five years with Win2K - and that system was not too stable, I thought.

Now it has gone completely mad: the Windows Installer is broken. I can't even update! Of course I rushed to the store, but there was a reason I had it so cheap; they know next to nothing about IT - (but they will sell you a washing mascine or a blender) - and will only promise to send it to the head quarter's mechanics. They, on the other hand, may be clever on the subject, but I became nervous about the hole situation and was thinking that I could use the occasion to upgrade from XP Home to XP Pro.

But then the question is if such an installment also will fail, due to the "old" broken XP Home installer, or if the new XP Pro installer may / will 'take over' and install as normal?? What is your opinion on this??

[mouser]

ill give you the advice i always give with operating systems upgrades, though i have to say it's based mostly just on my intuitions and not massive experience trying both options.

I always prefer a clean operating system install.  Make notes and backups and if possible save your old hard drive and install the new OS on a new hard drive.  The benefits of doing a new install are significant in terms of keeping your system clean and organized, and forcing you to keep track of what you really need and use.

Just my 2 cents.

[Curt]

I always prefer a clean operating system install. 

Thanks, mouser. I believe I understand your point to the letter, but I was thinking that if I bought this XP Pro upgrade disc, then maybe I could upgrade both the new XP Home and the old 2000 Pro at the same time, giving me an excellent backup media. The price for the complete XP Pro is still very high, so I was first considering the cheaper upgrading way.

[Curt]

... I have upgraded from Win2K to XP Home (OEM; no disc), ...: the Windows Installer is broken. ... was thinking that I could use the occasion to upgrade from XP Home to XP Pro.

But then the question is if such an installment also will fail, due to the "old" broken XP Home installer, or if the new XP Pro installer may / will 'take over' and install as normal?? What is your opinion on this??

Does any of you guys and dolls have some kind of an answer to this question, please?!

[mouser]

it very well might fix it.. but then again it might not 

[steeladept]

Thanks, mouser. I believe I understand your point to the letter, but I was thinking that if I bought this XP Pro upgrade disc, then maybe I could upgrade both the new XP Home and the old 2000 Pro at the same time, giving me an excellent backup media. The price for the complete XP Pro is still very high, so I was first considering the cheaper upgrading way.

I have not tried it yet, but according to WindowsSecrets, the Vista upgrade "hole" that allows you to clean install over ANY version of windows applies to XP as well.  So you can clean install XP Home (again), then upgrade to XP.  If you can find a download of the XP Pro installer, that would be even better using the key you have from your upgrade version.

Just a thought anyway....

[Curt]

.., the Vista upgrade "hole" that allows you to clean install over ANY version of windows applies to XP as well.  So you can clean install XP Home (again), then upgrade to XP.  If you can find a download of the XP Pro installer, that would be even better using the key you have from your upgrade version.

Thanks for taking the time to answer, steeladept, but take a look below my avatar, and accept that this IT-illiterate (aliterate?) doesnt understand how to interpret your answer. Its a bit like seing a plan over a big house and wondering where to find the entrance... Please forgive my ignorance! Besides, I don't have any CD; was only thinking about buying it.

[dk70]

If you want to buy XP get cheapest XP Home OEM. Unless you need Pro features dont pay extra. Consider Vista perhaps, does not cost much more - check http://www.shg.dk Software, MS Windows OEM. I dont see much reason to pay much higher retail price.

But why not try to fix Windows Installer problem, reinstall http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa372856.aspx or look around at the links from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Installer Error you get is probably well known. See if you can find error code then look it up http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;en-us;kbhowto "windows installer" plus error code should give answers.

[Curt]

... fix Windows Installer problem, reinstall http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa372856.aspx

- and so I did: Windows Installer 3.1.dk from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=889482fc-5f56-4a38-b838-de776fd4138c&displaylang=en - re-started, installed a new program, and all seems to be back to normal.

Thanks, dk70, for this most useful tip! 

[Curt]

By now the hole DC world must know that I have upgraded from Win2K

But still the old Win2K is standing in the corner, laughing at me. Oh, how I am missing its content: 25 GB music, 2 GB pictures, 2 GB e-books, and some programs.  $$$$.

The main problem is that Explorer will crash, when I try to open Windows, leaving me to command prompt in DOS, or write a doctoral thesis in Chinese - the same thing to me.

There never was made any backup point on that machine, or maybe it doesn't work, because I tried to click Restore in F8 Safe Mode, but nothing changed.

If I make a Win2K partition on my new machine, can it then somehow "drive" the old machine? - so I might reach all this lost material? Is it posible to open Windows' Explorer on one PC, with another PC's Windows' Explorer ?? [Piuh; did any understand this!?]

[Carol Haynes]

Have you tried a repair install of XP ? Just boot from the CD (if you haven't got one then borrow one from somewhere) and follow the prompts for a repair install.

It SHOULD (and that's the big word here) install XP again over the top whilst retaining data and programme settings.

Personally my experience is that you are much better off doing a backup and then formatting the hard disc and starting from scratch with a clean slate. No amount of tinkering ever seems to fix a fundamentally flawed installation of Windows.

[Curt]

Have you tried a repair install ?

After the installation of Installer 3.1 my new XP Home is working all right. As for the old 2000 Pro, hmmm... When I insert the 2000 installation CD it will start the repair procedure and try to install, but then it will say that some file is missing and offer to go and get it at the Internet, but nothing will happen - I guess the necessary file too is broken, but it doesn't tell what file or where to get it.

I imagine these problems (maybe) could be solved by upgrading, but Win2000 PRO can not be upgraded to XP Home, it has to be into XP PRO - and I don't know of any XP Pro CD to steal, beg or borrrow...

[Curt]

... I imagine these problems (maybe) could be solved by upgrading, but Win2000 PRO can not be upgraded to XP Home, it has to be into XP PRO - and I don't know of any XP Pro CD to steal, beg or borrrow...

I suddenly remember there is only 2½GB free space. Is that enough to upgrade to XP Pro?