I inherited a computer that came with Windows 98. I would like to upgrade to XP. How do I do this?

Question

I know stores can do it, but can it be done at home cheaper?
Thanks!

Answer 1

not much of an inheritance is it?

a computer that runs Win 98 is so old that it may not be upgradeable to be able to do very much. Hardly worth I'd think.

Answer 2

As far as cheapness goes, many techs will do it for about $60; A Windows CD costs $150-200. (that's why I switched to Linux- it works better anyway)
When you turn the computer on, the manufacturer probably has a logo that comes up. When this comes uphit . Computer will say "Entering Setup." When you get in Setup, go over to boot. Then go down to "1st Boot Device." Hit enter. A menu will pop up with the boot devices. Go to "Atapi CD-Rom" or whatever it says for CD-Rom, and hit enter. Look in the lower right hand corner, and see what button means "Save changes and exit," then hit that button.
If your computer can't boot from CD, then you'll have to make a startup disk, which is beyond the scope of this answer.

At the college I attend there are 40+ computers in the library all designed for 98SE, and they're running XP. Check if its 98 or 98SE; if its 98SE you'll probably be fine. on the other hand, 98SE is an excellent OS, though it can't run some software. (I ran it for several years).
You might upgrade your RAM; I've just been looking for a place to get the inserts.
Of course, when I finally decided to upgrade, I chose Ubuntu and ditched Windows.

Good luck.

Answer 3

You can buy XP upgrade discs on Ebay for about £50-£60.
They are a good buy as they are retail as opposed to OEM, they come with telephone support from Microsoft and can be transferred from PC to PC, OEM ones cannot do this.
Install it over your copy of W98, first ensuring that you have run Disk Cleanup, Disk Defragmenter, anti virus and anti spyware packages. It will keep all your files intact and your programs will also be kept safe. Do not buy an OEM, get an upgrade.

Answer 4

first check how much memory and ram ur computer has, because if it has to little xp may not work properly, when you put the xp disk in it will tell you if you're computer is compatible or not, so remember to keep the recipt just incase you have to take it back. if you're computer has anything less than a 40gb hard drive and 128mb of ram you shouldn't install it. if this is the case perhapes consider buying a slightly newer computer, perhaps windows 200 with enough meory and ram

Answer 5

XP takes more memory so the computer needs to have at least 512 sram & 80 GB hard drive if it dose just buy the XP and install it if it don't you would be better off buying a new pc

Answer 6

First you need to check if enough memory space on computer to take xp. Then buy xp cost around £100. Then put disc in and follow instructions. Much better to take to shop as they only charge about £20 to install.

Answer 7

Some inheritance. You can ugrade but XP takes a lot of memory to run and your WIN 98 computer can not handle that.

Answer 8

Yup much cheaper , buy an OEM copy of windows xp , format your Hard drive , create a new partition , chuck the xp disk in , let it do the work , the rest should just walk you through the setup.

Google : formatting hard drive if you get stuck

Answer 9

Yes.

Get a Windows XP CD and put it in the CD drive.

It will walk you through installing XP.

Answer 10

You firstly buy/rent a fairy costume then put it on and then skip around the computer three times and say : UPGRADE TO XP, UPGRADE TO XP, UPGRADE TO XP. Then when you turn on the pc it will have XP

Good luck!