win 2000 to XP upgrade

[Bassnut (Fred)]

I have my OBs PC running win2000 server (dont ask), Im having some hickups with some astro apps, so I want to upgrade to XP. A clean install would be a nightmare worth avoiding, soo many apps to install and register. Can I just upgrade with an XP disk without installing everything else?.

Be gentle, a total install would really be bad, a weeks worth of grief .

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by Bassnut

I have my OBs PC running win2000 server (dont ask), Im having some hickups with some astro apps, so I want to upgrade to XP. A clean install would be a nightmare worth avoiding, soo many apps to install and register. Can I just upgrade with an XP disk without installing everything else?.

Be gentle, a total install would really be bad, a weeks worth of grief .

Is it W2K Server? You can not upgrade a server version to a desktop version like XP. You probably would have to go for 2003 Server, which should run all the same stuff as XP. I checked with my Windoze guru at work and he agrees.

[supernova1965 (Warren)]

Sorry to give you the bad news but even if you could do an upgrade you may find that you would still have your hickups with your apps and would probably have months worth of grief if you don't do a clean install.

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Thanks guys, I thought as much. 2003 server wasnt installed at the get-go because focus max doesnt work with it.

[Barrykgerdes]

Originally Posted by Bassnut

I have my OBs PC running win2000 server (dont ask), Im having some hickups with some astro apps, so I want to upgrade to XP. A clean install would be a nightmare worth avoiding, soo many apps to install and register. Can I just upgrade with an XP disk without installing everything else?.

Be gentle, a total install would really be bad, a weeks worth of grief .

Hi Fred

I would re partition the HD with a on the fly partitioner to give me a drive of a few giga bytes or a second HD. They are very cheap these days.

I would then install XP as a second operating system using the new install option. This way you can have both systems and most of your favourite programs can be run from the already installed programs on the main drive.

This is in fact how I run my computer except it has Windows 98-2e as well as Windows 2000 and XP. With a little fiddling there is a lot that can be done.

I even pulled Vista Home of a laptop (made an image), put a larger drive in. Put Windows 98-2e on the start partition. Added XP as a second system then using a little trick I found (and can do on any computer) I re-installed the vista image as another operating system. This computer now works great on either system especially as I cleaned all the junk out of Vista so that it loads in 50 seconds instead of 5 minutes.

I also have an unused copy of XP PRO SP2 that I may be induced to part with.

If you need any help PM me

You may wonder why I use the archaeic Windows 98-2e. Well I just use the DOS 7 portion that allows direct access to the drive much easier than psuedo DOS systems, and I like to fiddle with some of my old DOS programs that use the old memory extenders that don't work in Windows ME onwards.

Barry

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Hi Barry.

Well, thats interesting you mention a second XP partition, it already has a second XP install as a recovery option, but the space on it is very small, I wondered about resizing the partitions on the fly, can you recommend a rock solid repartitioner?.

I know what you mean having access to older version and DOS, I still have some hand crafted simple, fast, custom Basic programs that id love to use that only runs in DOS.

Thanks for the offer, but I still have the XP disk that came with the PC, so hopefully I can use that if I have too.

I might add, there are very many tightly integrated automation apps on the PC that all need carefull tweaking, hence the reinstall worry.

[bobson (Bob)]

If you want to resize existing partitions without losing data then you need "Partition Magic"

Back up your data just in case something goes wrong.

cheers

[g__day (Matthew)]

Fred,

Might Windows 7 with its backwards compability mode/s be a possibility? If you set up a new HDD and loaded that there - then did a discover on your old apps - maybe (possibly a big maybe) this could work?

Matthew

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Originally Posted by bobson

If you want to resize existing partitions without losing data then you need "Partition Magic"

Back up your data just in case something goes wrong.

cheers

Bought it today Bob

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Originally Posted by g__day

Fred,

Might Windows 7 with its backwards compability mode/s be a possibility? If you set up a new HDD and loaded that there - then did a discover on your old apps - maybe (possibly a big maybe) this could work?

Matthew

Wondered about win 7, but just not game enough, I have some 20 odd apps to load, nup, not going to risk it

Ive had some very kind, expert and usefull PM assistance involving partition magic and other things, so im set.