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Windows ME to 2000?

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9 replies

by jennl

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My husband's new computer came with ME installed on it. He got a Windows 2000 upgrade CD through school. Everything we've found says you can't go from Windows ME to 2000. Any suggestions on how we can get 2000 on this box without buying any more software? (We do have another box running Win 98 and a Win 95 upgrade CD.)

9 replies

by jpt

From what I understand you can't go from Windows95/98/ME to Windows2000 because they are two different OS. Windows 2000 is based on technology from Windows NT. The Windows 2000 upgrade I believe is the complete version of Windows 2000 but comes with the upgrade printed on it, if you have purchased an earlier version of Windows. This is what I've been told. The best thing to do is phone Microsoft and ask them, and they will give you a definite answer.

Hope this helps.

by jennl

This was confirming what we already knew - were hoping to find a work around.

by computab

You have two options.
1. Format the hard disk with a Windows 98 Startup floppy disk and install Windows 98 with an OEM disk, then use your upgrade 2000 disk to upgrade.
2. Get an OEM Windows 2000 disk, format with a startup disk and install Win 2000.
In both cases you could use the CD to boot and format with the CD

by jennl

We figured this might be what we have to do. Were hoping not to have to muck with drivers too much.

by chiact

Since the CD is Windows 2000 "Upgrade", it is meant for machines that are previously running on Windows NT (4.0).

To install Windows 2000 on your mentioned box, you need to have the Full version (i.e. the version that allows you to install from scratch.) I doubt yours is this version since the word "Upgrade" is there.

Once you have the Full version, you can install Windows 2000 Professional :

Make sure that your box has CD-Rom boot-up option set in the BIOS before your HDD.

Boot with the CD in the drive, and follows the instructions given.

You have to decided between NTFS or FAT32 though.

Cheers!!!

by jennl

This was confirming what we already knew - were hoping to find a work around.

by jtm_vic

If you upgrade to 2000, there is a Windows 2000 Readiness Analyzer tool. It is available on the Web and can scan for upgrade issues prior to upgrading (go to Microsoft site). I recommend you run this on the 98 or 95 box prior to upgrading.

As for the ME box, do not attempt to upgrade. Because this upgrade is not supported nor recommended, I simply never tried. If you must install Windows 2K on your new PC, consider buying a full version of Windows 2K and dual boot your PC (Run both ME and 2K). I have done this on client PCs which originally came with ME however would not run some programs. After dual booting, I simply installed programs on the 2K side that would not run in ME.

If you need some help with dual booting let me knowand I'll draft a quick cheat sheet.

Note however some programs like Office which you would like to share on both operating systems will have to uninstalled then reinstalled on both operating systems.

by jennl

Thanks for the tool pointer. I've done dual booting before but hadn't thought to try it here. I think we'll format the box with 98 then upgrade from there after using the analyzer - we hate ME that much. Since we were forced into ME with the new computer even though MS knew it was past it's shelf life pretty much before it was released, I refuse to pay for a full blown version of 2000.

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