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Chapter 1: Selecting the Right Vista Version
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That’s the rub. Understanding how you qualify for an Upgrade version of Windows Vista
can be somewhat confusing; and even then, it’s not very clear when you can perform an
in-place upgrade over an existing Windows version. Here are some guidelines.
Those Who Don’t Qualify for an Upgrade Version of
Windows Vista
If you are currently running any MS-DOS-based version of Windows—including Windows
95, Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, or Windows Millennium Edition (Me)—or
any version of Windows NT (3.x and 4.0), you don’t qualify for any Upgrade version of
Windows Vista. That means you need to grab a more expensive Full version instead.
Because the Full versions of Windows Vista cannot be used to perform an in-place upgrade
to Windows Vista, you need to back up all your documents and other data and your
application settings, and find all your application install disks or executables so you can
reinstall them after Vista is up and running.
Those Who Do Qualify for an Upgrade Version of
Windows Vista
If you are running Windows 2000 or any mainstream desktop version of Windows
XP—including Windows XP Home Edition, Professional Edition, Media Center Edition
(any version), Tablet PC Edition (any version), or XP Professional x64 Edition—you qualify
for an Upgrade version of Windows Vista.
That said, there are some limitations, depending on which Windows version you are run-
ning. Windows 2000 and Windows XP x64 users cannot upgrade to any Windows Vista
version in place. These users will instead need to perform a clean install. (That is, they
qualify for Upgrade pricing only.)
Make sure you’’re getting the latest version of Windows Vista when you purchase
at retail. At the time of this writing that means a version that includes Service
Pack 1, but I expect Microsoft to update its Vista retail packaging at least a few
more times over the years.
Looking for an easy way to back up documents, settings, and other data and then
restore it on Windows Vista? Good news: Windows Vista includes a tool for this
purpose called Windows Easy Transfer.
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