Win 2K Pro to XP Pro migration woes

[oscarse]

I have just purchased 6 new XP Pro machines to replace win 2k Pro machines and was expecting to be able to transfer the installed programs using a product called PCmover ... this product took about 2 hours to create a moving van and then about the same time to move this back to a new machine ... the results were disappointing, only about 50% of the Applications worked which doesn't give me very much confidence in the ones that appear to work.

I also tried a product called EasyPCMover which only copies user files and settings ... this product did copy things like the user files and address book but all of the outlook database was MIA.

After much wasted effort I thought of another possible avenue ... I was able to Ghost a W2k Machine and install that image on one of the new machines ... I followed this with a Win 2k Repair and was able to successfully move everything to this new machine with everthing except Norton Internet Securities working properly (a quick call to Symantec to reactivate this product was all that was required)

The issue now is I have attempted to do a Upgrade of 2K pro to XP Pro but all the XP Pro install disks state that there is no upgrade path to XP Pro???

Can anyone confirm this or have I got the wrong XP Product?

 

[jrbarnett]

The chances are quite likely that your new PC's will have XP OEM licenses. An OEM license is for supply only with a new PC, and does not permit upgrading from a previous operating system.
As your PC's have Windows 2000 installed at the time you apply the upgrade, the XP CD won't allow the product to be installed as there is an existing operating system present.

Other XP licenses do permit upgrading from a previous operating system.
For more details on XP licensing, please see faq779-4004.

John

 

[oscarse]

Thank-you for pointing out the FAQ ... Mr Castner is always a wealth of information.

Anyway for those that care, I have come up with a way to migrate from one OEM machine to another with what I consider a perfectly legal approach. As in some chemical reactions, a catylist is sometimes required to get a reaction going, the migration of an MS OS can be treated much the same way;

Step one;
Old OEM Machine (ME, 98, NT, 2K, XP Home)
- With a legitimate XP PRO Full Version ... do an OS Update "DO NOT ACTIVATE"

Step two;
- transfer the Disk image to NEW OEM Machine using Ghost or other HD replicator software

New OEM Machine
Step three;
- do a Repair install with OEM OS disk entering in OEM Prod Key now you can Activate

Step four;
- reinstall OEM drivers

This provides a simple migration for the cost of one Full version of XP Pro without having to reinstall applications or settings. In my case having 6 machines to migrate will be cost effective as it would take a minimum of 8 hours each to load up and configure these machines. Where as this new process takes roughly 2 hours a machine.

Yes there are those out there that will say a clean install is the only way to go but IMHO it would be far better for users if MS didn't throw up so many road blocks for migration. I know that the piracy issue is behind this mentality but it only took me an evening to figure a way around the Update blocks ... Hardware has become a consumable commodity ... for small businesses it is almost a requirement to replace their hardware every 3 to 4 years ... all pc's are delivered with OEM OS's ... software on the other hand takes time to configure and learn so users are not as quick to change their software ... so why not provide a simple migration for these users?