upgrade disk used for full install?

[Guest]

Howdy,

I just have a quick question about OS upgrade disks as I have never used one before.

I just built my new PC about a month ago and loving it. core 2 duo, 2 gig ram, 680i mobo, 8800gts ect...

I purchased a oem verision of xp when I built said system just to keep me happy until Vista came out. I plan on buying the upgrade version of home premium. I do have that handy rebate coupon that newegg gave me with the copy of xp but some people say that I will not be able to use it when I buy vista... time will tell I guess.

my question is this. As xp is already installed I will use the upgrade disk to move to vista. will I be able to do a clean install of vista once it checks for an old OS or is the only option to upgrade xp into vista?

thanks,

Jeff

 

[mattthenewb]

In previous versions of Windows a clean install from an upgrade version was easy. You didn't even have to have the old OS installed, just a CD from one to prove you own it.

I have seen rumors on this forum (and the one who posted them treated them as such, he did not stake a claim) that Vista upgrade versions will not allow clean install, and will only install over previously installed OSs. Yet, I have seen beta tester's websites that advise you do to a clean install with your upgrade versions in such a way as to suggest that they have done them.

Further, on their official Vista website MS has a chart that indicates whether "in-place installation options" are available. Apparently, when moving from certain OSs to Vista a clean install is a technical must. So for those upgrades at least we know that clean install is available. For the others, in-place installations are called "options" which, to me, means they are, well, optional. Judging from this data, which is official, I don't fret the rumors. They were probably the unconfirmed fears or deliberate attempts to sabatoge Vista's rep of some that were transmitted through others.

The chart I spoke of can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/upgradeinfo.mspx