i bought my pc around a year ago from a comouter shop that has now changed

hands. I was given a cd "copy" of windows and although I asked them for a

gneuine cd I was told it wasn't necessary - something about oem. yes, i

know, to an extent it's my fault im in the position i'm in.

 

i'm now geting serious issues with software upgrades and also want to look

at upgrading to (genuine) vista. but i've got a years' worth of application

installs and data on my disk and while I can back up my data, I don't want to

have to reinstall every piece of software i have in order to go "genuine",

which seems the case. i don't put my self in the bracket of being dodgy, I'm

an honest customer that got stiffed and I find it very, very hard to take

that MS appears not to allow me to buy a gebuine certificate so that i can

upgrade. i don't care if it costs me £150, i jsut want to be genuine

without affecting what i've already got. i must be 1 of thousands if not

millions in the same boat, so please tell me MS can help the likes of me.

 

 

how do i get out of this mess without having to do full reinstalls and

losing all of my installed applications? your help would be much appreciated.

I had a similar problem when SP2 came out. I called Microsoft and they

sold me Windows XP upgrade which I installed and I was soon up running

with everything intact. Did not have to reload anything or lose

anything. I found Microsoft Support to be very helpful.

 

 

"Dan K" <Dan K@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:0B6B21D3-4E48-46DD-B429-5B12F887F0E6@microsoft.com...

|i bought my pc around a year ago from a comouter shop that has now

changed

| hands. I was given a cd "copy" of windows and although I asked them

for a

| gneuine cd I was told it wasn't necessary - something about oem. yes,

i

| know, to an extent it's my fault im in the position i'm in.

|

| i'm now geting serious issues with software upgrades and also want to

look

| at upgrading to (genuine) vista. but i've got a years' worth of

application

| installs and data on my disk and while I can back up my data, I don't

want to

| have to reinstall every piece of software i have in order to go

"genuine",

| which seems the case. i don't put my self in the bracket of being

dodgy, I'm

| an honest customer that got stiffed and I find it very, very hard to

take

| that MS appears not to allow me to buy a gebuine certificate so that i

can

| upgrade. i don't care if it costs me £150, i jsut want to be genuine

| without affecting what i've already got. i must be 1 of thousands if

not

| millions in the same boat, so please tell me MS can help the likes of

me.

|

|

| how do i get out of this mess without having to do full reinstalls and

| losing all of my installed applications? your help would be much

appreciated.

|

|

|

if it means keeping everything intact then that is the way forward.

actually, if i'm going to spend any money, does anyone know if it's possible

for me to just upgrade to vista - but without trashing all of my applications

that are installed alredy for xp? baring in mind my genuine license issue.

 

regards,

 

dan

 

 

 

"John" wrote:

> I had a similar problem when SP2 came out. I called Microsoft and they

> sold me Windows XP upgrade which I installed and I was soon up running

> with everything intact. Did not have to reload anything or lose

> anything. I found Microsoft Support to be very helpful.

>

>

> "Dan K" <Dan K@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

> news:0B6B21D3-4E48-46DD-B429-5B12F887F0E6@microsoft.com...

> |i bought my pc around a year ago from a comouter shop that has now

> changed

> | hands. I was given a cd "copy" of windows and although I asked them

> for a

> | gneuine cd I was told it wasn't necessary - something about oem. yes,

> i

> | know, to an extent it's my fault im in the position i'm in.

> |

> | i'm now geting serious issues with software upgrades and also want to

> look

> | at upgrading to (genuine) vista. but i've got a years' worth of

> application

> | installs and data on my disk and while I can back up my data, I don't

> want to

> | have to reinstall every piece of software i have in order to go

> "genuine",

> | which seems the case. i don't put my self in the bracket of being

> dodgy, I'm

> | an honest customer that got stiffed and I find it very, very hard to

> take

> | that MS appears not to allow me to buy a gebuine certificate so that i

> can

> | upgrade. i don't care if it costs me £150, i jsut want to be genuine

> | without affecting what i've already got. i must be 1 of thousands if

> not

> | millions in the same boat, so please tell me MS can help the likes of

> me.

> |

> |

> | how do i get out of this mess without having to do full reinstalls and

> | losing all of my installed applications? your help would be much

> appreciated.

> |

> |

> |

>

>

Dan K wrote:

> if it means keeping everything intact then that is the way forward.

> actually, if i'm going to spend any money, does anyone know if it's possible

> for me to just upgrade to vista - but without trashing all of my applications

> that are installed alredy for xp? baring in mind my genuine license issue.

>

> regards,

>

> dan

>

 

Be sure you know what you are doing when correcting to the genuine

version or you will be doing a new installation. Take the standard

precautions of backing up all important files beforehand. The major

difference between doing a repair and a new installation is inversely

related to one's impatience.

"Dan K" <Dan K@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:0B6B21D3-4E48-46DD-B429-5B12F887F0E6@microsoft.com...

>i bought my pc around a year ago from a comouter shop that has now changed

> hands. I was given a cd "copy" of windows and although I asked them for a

> gneuine cd I was told it wasn't necessary - something about oem. yes, i

> know, to an extent it's my fault im in the position i'm in.

>

> i'm now geting serious issues with software upgrades and also want to look

> at upgrading to (genuine) vista. but i've got a years' worth of

> application

> installs and data on my disk and while I can back up my data, I don't want

> to

> have to reinstall every piece of software i have in order to go "genuine",

> which seems the case. i don't put my self in the bracket of being dodgy,

> I'm

> an honest customer that got stiffed and I find it very, very hard to take

> that MS appears not to allow me to buy a gebuine certificate so that i can

> upgrade. i don't care if it costs me £150, i jsut want to be genuine

> without affecting what i've already got. i must be 1 of thousands if not

> millions in the same boat, so please tell me MS can help the likes of me.

>

>

> how do i get out of this mess without having to do full reinstalls and

> losing all of my installed applications? your help would be much

> appreciated.

 

You should always have a full and complete backup of important data, and

have original installation media for all installed apps.

 

I also recommend using a drive imaging program such as Acronis True Image

version 10 to image the system to an external hard drive. Image regularly

for backup purposes. Images can be full, incremental or differential on a

drive or partition basis. Restores can be on a file, folder, partition or

drive basis, and it also does file backup and disk cloning.

 

With the system backed up purchase a genuine copy of XP of the same type and

language version currently installed, XP Home or Pro, from your favorite

discount software retailer, and do a repair install using the new CD and

product key.

 

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

 

--

Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]