Can I load Windows XP from a reinstall CD onto a computer that only has Windows 98?
assuming you have at least a 5 gigabyte hard drive in your computer and minimum 256MegaBytes of RAM (memory) you computer will barely handle it. start up times will probably be closer to 10 minutes. Also, you will need to go online and download drivers for any hardware that xp doesn’t natively support, assuming the original manufacturer does THIS WILL WORK if you meet the above requirements but it will run so slow you will regret the day. I have upgraded and priced the upgrade to get a computer from Win98 to XP and it usually costs $300-$600 just to get it to run.
I am guessing from the way you asked your question that the reinstall CD is from a different computer. First off, let me say that this might be a license violation. Reinstall disks are often in the form of disk images. That is, the manufacturer sets XP up on a representative sample of the computer with all the drivers and applications. He will also make configuration changes to XP as he sees fit, including leaving off anything that he thinks is unnecessary such as unused drivers. He then takes a snapshot of the disk and copies this to the CD. So the image is a reflection of the manufacturer’s configuration for that particular model of computer. If you try to install it on another computer, the hardware may be mismatched, or you may not have the right drivers, and it may not work.
If you mean the install CD from another computer, it may or may not have all the needed drivers for the XP computer. Then there’s the legality issue – your Windows XP license is for the original computer and installing it on multiple computers is not allowed under the terms of the licensing agreement. I would suggest buying an upgrade version of Windows XP for you Windows 98 computer. Hope this helps.
