The Wizard decided to become an early adopter of Windows Vista. I decided on Vista Home Premium. I already was running a copy of Windows XP Professional. I checked the disc package and determined that I would be able to run the upgrade, but I would have to do a 'Clean Install', as XP Pro cannot really be upgraded to anything but Business and Ultimate.
I ran the update and Vista installed just fine thank you. However, the next day, I noticed that when I took the Vista DVD out of the drive, then the computer decided to try to boot into XP. That wasn't possible since, my XP windows folder was renamed to Windows.old, so that I could recover files from it. This was done automatically by the Vista upgrade, mind you... besides, Vista doesn't use the boot.ini file, so why was it trying to?
So I had to boot into Vista by keeping the dvd in the drive. Not an ideal situation... I figured that somewhere something went wrong on the upgrade, so I decided to re-run it.
I only got as far as the Product key and was stuck - Vista would no longer accept the key that was provided with the software!
I called Microsoft and was greeted by a nice sounding, obviously quite foreign man who informed me that I could not upgrade to Vista Home Premium, because I had XP Pro. When I told him that I already did the upgrade yesterday, he told me that it was not possible! I said... Hmmm.. let's see... I am sure that the last time I looked at my Windows XP, it did not have the AERO glass desktop... could I have been wrong all these years using my XP Pro? Nah! This guy knew absolutely Nada about the new OS from Micro$oft!
I asked for a new key. He said that I had to get that from my reseller. I told him that I bought a retail version from Staples. He obviously never heard of Staples as he again told me that I have to get the replacement key from them. I disagreed and he transferred me to support. Support told me that I had to delete the partition that Vista was on, recreate it and re-install my copy of XP. Then I could run the update from there. I told him that I just did that and he said..."Hmmm. Couldn't have... You have no key."
I got fed up and followed his advice and blew away the Vista partition. Reinstalled XP, and 3 hours later I was back on the phone to Micro$oft in Bangalore, India, where I spoke with another nice man, who went thru the same stuff the other guy did. They could not provide me with a key. They transferred me to Tech Support... (Get where I am going with this?)... anyways, Tech support had me on hold while they looked for a solution. Finally, he told me... install Vista Home Premium without the key.. (NOW WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT!!)..
I figured what the H.. I didn't think it would work... but guess what? It installed w/o the key and then I successfully activated it over the net!
Total time spent on the upgrade - 11 Hours! I now have a nicely installed version of Home Premium that can't be installed? Weird!
The Wizard's advice? Two things: NEVER TRY TO INSTALL Home Premium on XP Pro and second, wait a year or so until Micro$oft trains their lackeys on the new OS!
Nuff Said! I am going to bed. More posts tomorrow!
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