What is the difference between the upgrades and the full versions? I have the upgrade version of home, but it let me do a fresh install, including format. Isn't that what makes a full version full? I have a theory that even when you boot from the CD in upgrade, it takes a look at the drive, sees if there is a current version of Win on the machine, then lets you continue and format if you want. Does this sound reasonable? If this is the case, and you are trying to boot from the CD on an upgrade version with a blank drive, could you be running into problems? I would assume that if this is the case, then MS would say, "hey, this is an upgrade you can't use it here" or allow you to insert a prior version CD to confirm your upgrade. Of course, this is MS and this would be a nasty way to stick it to people trying to get by on an upgrade. I know that installing ME from the upgrade disc on a formatted drive took a little doing, even for those of us who were legit, so this may the next step. Just a theory. Any thoughts?

Upgrade: you can do a full install, but you need you current operating system's cd (ME or 98). It will ask you for it during the install. Full Version: This is for those who do not have a windows operating system or have win 95.

There's absolutely nothing different between the upgrade and full version AFTER installation. The only difference is that the upgrade version looks to see if you have a previous version of Windows installed. If you don't, you can supply the CD for a previous valid version and will accept that.

if u have XP pro full version u can either upgrade or full install. i have win 98se, and i installed xp pro full version with 2 choices, upgrade or full installation. in my case, upgrade was recommended, so i picked upgrade for the installation. take care, j3r3my

That's my point, I have the upgrade version and it never asked me for an ME or Win 98 CD during a full install with format.