I have an retail upgrade copy of XP and a windows me recovery disk. Im trying to get XP cleanly installed. On a formatted HD(partitioned 40gb 50%-50% C: primary and D:extended) XP asks to see a previous version of windows. The recovery disk is not recognized and install will not continue.... I try to get around this by installing windows me via the recovery disk to C:. I didnt think the recovery disk would work after fdisking the drive but it did. Windows me loaded, checked out the net for a while and got back to my experiment. XP is installed now and i have a few questions about its cleanliness :). 1.Assuming i have windows me loaded and im getting ready to insert the XP upgrade disk. Can i delete everything on C: besides C:\windows before inserting the upgrade disk? If not, please tell me what should stay and why it wont work without it. 2.Im going to list what i did here to get xp installed. If anyone sees a mistake or thinks of a better way please let me know. Sorry its so long :): I created a primary and extended partition using fdisk from a winme boot disk. I formatted C: with the winme boot disk. I used an HP recovery disk set to reinstall windows me on the primary partition. I started windows me and inserted the xp upgrade disk. Im prompted by welcome screen and asked "what do i want to do?" I choose to install XP. Im prompted with windows setup dialogue box and i choose "New installation advanced" and click next. I click "i accept the agreement" box/enter my xp product key and click next. When the setup options appear i click next for the typical install options. Im then prompted to download updated setup files, i skip this and continue with install without the download. Computer restarts automatically. Blue XP setup screen appears and i choose to setup XP now by hitting enter. It points me to install xp on D:, i hit escape to choose another partition. I choose C: partition1 [fat32] and press enter to install xp on the selected item. Heres where i get lost: Im prompted with this message. [You chose to install XP on a partition that contains another operating system. Installing XP on this partition might cause the other operating system to function improperly. CAUTION! Installing multiple operating systems on a single partition is not recommended. To learn more about installing multiple operating systems on a single PC see... http://www.microsoft.com/windows/multiboot.asp using internet explorer] I tried deleting this partition but i receive an error because xp setup files exist on C. I give up on the deleting idea and go back where im given the option to select a different partition but i choose to continue setup using this partition (C:\) by pressing C. Then i choose to convert the drive to NTFS and im warned about the other OS not being able to work properly. I choose C to convert the drive anyhow. Then im warned a windows folder exists and i might lost my documents. I choose to use the folder and delete the existing windows install in it by pressing L. End of being lost: At this point everything starts running auto pilot until the regional and language options dialouge box appears heres a few things i did.... I hit next making no changes. I enter name and organization and hit next. I keep the default computer name and hit next. I enter my area code and hit next. I change to my time zone and hit next. I choose typical settings and hit next. The rest is typical XP install do you wanna activate? junk. Finally Xp is installed. The first thing i noticed was that folders for old programs that were installed under windows me (before trying to clean install XP) were still in program files on C:\ but not in add and remove programs or the start menu. Trying to launch these programs from the exe's doesnt work. Missing file error. This is what prompted my question about deleting everything but C:\windows. If i can delete everything but C:\ windows and Xp setup deletes all the files in C:\windows this would mean im getting a clean install. yes? If no please help me understand why. Thanks.

I have not played with XP install yet. But as you have two partitions available, try this for a clean install, it works for Windows ME. Might fool XP. Install your ME restore on C:, then in DOS session under ME, xcopy the \Windows\Options\ structure and files to the (I assume clean) D: partition. I use: XCOPY C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\*.* D:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\*.* /s/e/c/h/r/k Then clear C: from boot diskette (DELTREE /Y C:\*.* works just fine). This way when XP looks for or asks for qualifying version, point to the \Windows\Options\INSTALL\ directory and the Windows ME *.CAB files. Actually Windows ME normally finds it and does not ask. If that does not work with XP then it gets more complicated. Try xcopy of all of the C:\Windows directory to D:\Windows, or as a last try, even the whole drive as in a full backup. This is a bit of a problem as Xcopy can not copy the open files (skip the _RESTORE), so make sure you include the /c switch. Enough of the system should tranfer for XP to see it as valid. Be interesting to see if this works with XP.

Jack G, i gave it a shot. With C:\formatted i hit any key to boot from cdrom and xp setup began. It went thru the motions and prompted me to insert the previous version disk. Im not exactly an expert so i may have missed something but as far as i can tell i wasnt given the option to point it to my extended partition where i copied the Win Me C:\windows folder. The only way i was able to get it to work is by running XP's setup while windows was loaded. Since im forced to run it while windows is loaded i didnt need to point setup to a previous version. Heres where im at so far..... I started over. Fdisked the ntfs partition and formatted it with a ME startup disk, reinstalled win me via the recovery disk so everything is just as it was before i began. I opened up windows explorer and deleted everything but C:\windows & My Documents folder. My Docs gave me an error so i left it alone but deleted its contents. I restarted the computer and once windows loaded i inserted the XP Upgrade disk/chose "new install-advanced" and went thru the same exact steps i listed above. XP Home is installed and it didnt ask me for a previous version disk. This looks promising. Im using xp right now to post this reply. So far so good. Im still a little paranoid :). Can someone convince me ive cleanly installed xp with the upgrade copy over the recovery disk windows me environment? Did the windows folder get replaced or did XP's files just move in replacing what it needed too? Thanks.

Only way to tell is look at the file dates of all the files in the \Windows directory and sub directorys. Most likely it just overlayed the old stuff. Someone with experiance with XP over in the XP forum might can tell you. You could use Explorer with the View set to details, but that shows date modified. I prefer a DOS session so that I can use a DIR \Windows\*.* /p/s to look at all the file created dates. The 06-08-00 of course would be any leftover ME, not sure what XP file dates would be.

I just found some files i deleted while in me in the old recyler:). Im going to install Xp cleanly on another machine and compare files. Fingers crossed.

i have xp pro abd when i install it i must do it through windows, but i get the option of upgrade or clean install. i choose clean and it installs fine and wipes ME as well. i get the warning about multiple operating systems but ignore it. it does give a clean install because i could find no traces of ME on the c: drive. installing xp onto a clean drive is a bitch of a job and i can never get it to complete. i just dont think xp is worth the hassle. i put it on occasionally to play with, but after a day i get so pissed off with it i go back to ME.

If you ever install Me again with those recovery disks, you might want to try what I did. I coppied the contents of the Windows-Options-Cabs folder to a cd to see if it would work as an install disk, and it works great. I can install Me now without all the HP extras, and it functions as a full install, not as an upgrade. You have to search the registry to find the product number too, as it asks for it now just like any other OS installation. I've also heard that once XP is installed as an upgrade, you can reinstall it full without being asked for a qualifying upgrade product, but I can't personally say if it works. It might be worth trying if you have the time to ensure that clean install.