Activated XP necessary to install Vista upgrade - But what happensin a few years ?

Hello,

At the moment you hear very often that it is necessary to have a
activated XP installed to use the VISTA Upgrade-DVD. OK so far.


When I reinstall next year. I have to install my old XP first and
activate it again. And then I can install Vista with my Upgrade-DVD.

But what happens in perhaps 4 years ? I will still be able to activate
my old XP then ? The support for XP will be already ended then.

Thanks
Thorsten

Why will you have to re-install next year and every year thereafter?


"Thorsten" <thorsten-> wrote in message
news:%...
> Hello,
>
> At the moment you hear very often that it is necessary to have a activated
> XP installed to use the VISTA Upgrade-DVD. OK so far.
>
>
> When I reinstall next year. I have to install my old XP first and activate
> it again. And then I can install Vista with my Upgrade-DVD.
>
> But what happens in perhaps 4 years ? I will still be able to activate my
> old XP then ? The support for XP will be already ended then.
>
> Thanks
> Thorsten

Mike Hall - MS MVP Windows Shell/User schrieb:
> Why will you have to re-install next year and every year thereafter?
>
>
> "Thorsten" <thorsten-> wrote in message
> news:%...
>> Hello,
>>
>> At the moment you hear very often that it is necessary to have a
>> activated XP installed to use the VISTA Upgrade-DVD. OK so far.
>>
>>
>> When I reinstall next year. I have to install my old XP first and
>> activate it again. And then I can install Vista with my Upgrade-DVD.
>>
>> But what happens in perhaps 4 years ? I will still be able to activate
>> my old XP then ? The support for XP will be already ended then.
>>
>> Thanks
>> Thorsten
>

There are a few reasons :

- Perhaps my system is crashed
- perhaps I have upgraded my computer with a new harddisc or mainboard

That would be my concern.
As we're getting closer to buying, I see a lot of "Posters", who are not
your mainstream users, question the praticality of purchasing the Upgrade.
I will format my HD every 8 to 10 months for maintenence.
Does this mean I have to reinstall my XP every time?
We don't have to with an XP Upgrade disc. Just have our prior 98/ME/2000
discs.

"> There are a few reasons :
>
> - Perhaps my system is crashed
> - perhaps I have upgraded my computer with a new harddisc or mainboard
>

Or a maintenence format and reinstall. Which I do with my XP upgrade CD.
All I need is my 98/ME/2000 original CD.
Pete

"Thorsten" wrote:

> Mike Hall - MS MVP Windows Shell/User schrieb:
> > Why will you have to re-install next year and every year thereafter?
> >
> >
> > "Thorsten" <thorsten-> wrote in message
> > news:%...
> >> Hello,
> >>
> >> At the moment you hear very often that it is necessary to have a
> >> activated XP installed to use the VISTA Upgrade-DVD. OK so far.
> >>
> >>
> >> When I reinstall next year. I have to install my old XP first and
> >> activate it again. And then I can install Vista with my Upgrade-DVD.
> >>
> >> But what happens in perhaps 4 years ? I will still be able to activate
> >> my old XP then ? The support for XP will be already ended then.
> >>
> >> Thanks
> >> Thorsten
> >
>
> There are a few reasons :
>
> - Perhaps my system is crashed
> - perhaps I have upgraded my computer with a new harddisc or mainboard
>

jbpete schrieb:
> That would be my concern.
> As we're getting closer to buying, I see a lot of "Posters", who are not
> your mainstream users, question the praticality of purchasing the Upgrade.
> I will format my HD every 8 to 10 months for maintenence.
> Does this mean I have to reinstall my XP every time?
> We don't have to with an XP Upgrade disc. Just have our prior 98/ME/2000
> discs.
>
> "> There are a few reasons :
>> - Perhaps my system is crashed
>> - perhaps I have upgraded my computer with a new harddisc or mainboard
>>

The process changed...

You will have to reinstall XP first, and then you can use your
VISTA-Upgrade-DVD.

I think that the flowing link may ease your mind:

http://blogs.business2.com/beta/2007...oft_helps.html


"Thorsten" <thorsten-> wrote in message
news:%...
> Hello,
>
> At the moment you hear very often that it is necessary to have a activated
> XP installed to use the VISTA Upgrade-DVD. OK so far.
>
>
> When I reinstall next year. I have to install my old XP first and activate
> it again. And then I can install Vista with my Upgrade-DVD.
>
> But what happens in perhaps 4 years ? I will still be able to activate my
> old XP then ? The support for XP will be already ended then.
>
> Thanks
> Thorsten

When I asked this question during an MVP chat, the answer was that if XP is
ever removed from the activation servers MS will provide a different means
for users to reactivate. Such a decision has not been made and is not
anticipated, but likely it would be by means of a download that would
provide for dummy activation of some sort. In any case, MS says it is
committed to guaranteeing XP users that their software will never be
orphaned due to a suspension of XP activation services at MS.

"Thorsten" <thorsten-> wrote in message
news:%...
> Hello,
>
> At the moment you hear very often that it is necessary to have a activated
> XP installed to use the VISTA Upgrade-DVD. OK so far.
>
>
> When I reinstall next year. I have to install my old XP first and activate
> it again. And then I can install Vista with my Upgrade-DVD.
>
> But what happens in perhaps 4 years ? I will still be able to activate my
> old XP then ? The support for XP will be already ended then.
>
> Thanks
> Thorsten

You will have to install and activate XP each time you rebuild from scratch.
Or you can image the system just after upgrading to Vista and archive the
image.

"jbpete" <> wrote in message
news4362B71-406B-49CA-A40D-...
> That would be my concern.
> As we're getting closer to buying, I see a lot of "Posters", who are not
> your mainstream users, question the praticality of purchasing the Upgrade.
> I will format my HD every 8 to 10 months for maintenence.
> Does this mean I have to reinstall my XP every time?
> We don't have to with an XP Upgrade disc. Just have our prior 98/ME/2000
> discs.
>
> "> There are a few reasons :
>>
>> - Perhaps my system is crashed
>> - perhaps I have upgraded my computer with a new harddisc or mainboard
>>

Not any more. An XP cd is irrelevant to Vista. An upgrade edition only
checks for installed OS's.

"jbpete" <> wrote in message
news:5AA74C79-A5F8-42EE-95F6-...
> Or a maintenence format and reinstall. Which I do with my XP upgrade CD.
> All I need is my 98/ME/2000 original CD.
> Pete
>