Installing xp on win2000?

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win2000.general (More info?)

When a manufacturer supplies an OS copy as part of a retail PC package,
it is extremely unlikely that the OS code provided is identical to the
full retail OS version. The manufacturer will have provided an OS
version that will install only on his own brand hardware, and possibly
only on the specific PC model the code came with. That's the nature of
the Microsoft contract with the manufacturer.

www wrote:
> I have recently got a new laptop which has win xp. The instllation files
> are now on the harddisk in a directory called i386 and there is no
> backup xp cd anymore, which seems to be the new trend.
> I was thinking to map this directory
> as a network drive and use i386\winnt32.exe to install it over
> a win2000 machine I have. I am getting dll errors. Any ideas ?
>
>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win2000.general (More info?)

www wrote:
> I have recently got a new laptop which has win xp. The instllation files
> are now on the harddisk in a directory called i386 and there is no
> backup xp cd anymore, which seems to be the new trend.
> I was thinking to map this directory
> as a network drive and use i386\winnt32.exe to install it over
> a win2000 machine I have. I am getting dll errors. Any ideas ?
>
>


You problem stems from the fact that you have an OEM version of WinXP.
An OEM version _cannot_ be used to upgrade an earlier OS, as it was
specifically designed to perform only a clean installation.

The point is moot, however, also because you have an OEM version of
WinXP. OEM versions must be sold with a piece of hardware (normally a
motherboard or hard drive, if not an entire PC, although Microsoft has
greatly relaxed the hardware criteria for WinXP) and are _permanently_
bound to the first PC on which they are installed. An OEM license, once
installed, is not legally transferable to another computer under any
circumstances.

You need to purchase a separate WinXP license for each computer on
which you install it.

Just as it has *always* been with *all* Microsoft operating
systems, it's necessary (to be in compliance with both the EULA and U.S.
copyright law http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/117.html), if not
technically) to purchase one WinXP license for each computer on which it
is installed. (Consult an attorney versed in copyright law to determine
final applicability in your locale.) The only way in which WinXP
licensing differs from that of earlier versions of Windows is that
Microsoft has finally added a copy protection and anti-theft mechanism,
Product Activation, to prevent (or at least make more difficult)
multiple installations using a single license.


--

Bruce Chambers

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