The favoured install option is to perform a clean install, however if you do need to upgrade your current version of XP to Vista then please see the table below to determine which version of XP can upgrade to which version of Vista.

	Windows Vista Home Basic	Windows Vista Home Premium	Windows Vista Business	Windows Vista Ultimate

Windows XP Professional	No	No	Yes	Yes

Windows XP Home	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Windows XP Media Center Edition	No	Yes	No	Yes

Windows XP Tablet PC	No	No	Yes	Yes

Most offices will be running XP Professional edition, therefore it will only upgrade to Windows Vista Business or WIndows Vista Ultimate Edition. However Windows XP Home will upgrade to any version of Vista.

Please note other versions of Microsoft Windows cannot be upgraded to MS Vista, that includes Windows 2000, Windows x64, etc.

Microsoft supplies ALL versions of the Vista operating system on ONE DVD, so when you purchase the Home Edition, you get the same DVD as someone purchasing the Ultimate Edition. The difference being the lisence key which determines which version of Vista is actually installed onto your PC.

This also makes upgrading from one version of Vista to another much easier, as all you would need to do is to purchase the lisence key for the version you wish to upgrade to.

Another difference between the upgrade process of XP to Vista that differs from previous upgrades is that Vista does not merge with your XP installation. Rather the installed applications / configuration and settings are copied and then your XP installtion is removed before Vista is installed. This results in a more stable / cleaner upgrade installation than that which occurs with XP upgrades in the past.

Another consideration is the cost of the Vista operating systen. Its set to be the most expensive version of Windows so far. Upgrade prices are $259 for Ultimate, $159 for Premium and $99 for the basic edition. Non upgrade versions are $399 for Ultimate, $239 for Premium and $199 for Basic.

Our recommendation remains, to wait a while before making the move to Vista, preferably when you purchase a new PC. However if you do want to make the move now rather than later, then we do recommend a clean installation of Vista rather than upgrading.

Comments

joanne
16 Jan 07, 22:07

Re: Upgrade options for Microsoft XP to Vista

Also a lot of drivers arn't available for vista yet, so your printer, and other pripherals may not work

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