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Farewell to Windows 2000? *sob*


Dave-H

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Happy New Year everyone!

:D

I've been using Windows 2000 ever since it was first released, and am very attached to it as an operating system.

However, I feel that the time has come for me to seriously consider getting rid of it.

It's not just because the security updates will cease this summer, although that is a factor.

I'm just getting increasingly frustrated that so many software writers will not now allow their latest versions to work on it.

So, my first decision was what should I go for if I do bite the bullet and upgrade?

I dual boot with Windows 98SE, which I have vowed never to abandon, so going for a non-Microsoft OS didn't seem to be a sensible course.

Vista was a non-starter as far as I could see, so the choice was between Windows 7 or trying to get hold of a copy of XP.

I had used XP for several years at work before I retired, so I was well familiar with it.

Windows 7 looked a bit too much like an "upgrade too far".

As well as the fact that it's brand new, and not even on its first service pack yet, and therefore still likely to be full of "issues", I was rather put off by the fact that it apparently won't install on a FAT32 drive.

I need to keep FAT32 for compatibility with Windows 98, and although I gather that there are ways around this, it did seem to be a bit of an un-necessary complication to the upgrade.

Even if I did get it to work on a FAT32 drive, how well would it coexist with Windows 98?

Also, you can't do an upgrade from Windows 2000 to Windows 7 it seems, presumably because they are so different.

You have to do a clean install, which means rebuilding all the software on the computer, not something I relish the thought of, and that's even before any problems caused by hardware driver incompatibilities with Windows 7!

Windows XP does seem like the best bet.

I have always thought that the fact that there was such a huge gap in between XP being released and Vista being released was down to the fact that MS pretty much got it right with XP, and were flailing around a bit trying to find justification for replacing it. Poor old Windows 2000, it barely had a year between being released and being replaced!

Vista (and Windows 7) look to me that they don't offer a whole lot more fundamentally than XP. All they seem to have done is make it look prettier (although that's a matter of opinion!) and added a load of fancy effects to the GUI which I for one have zero interest in. There's not obviously much fundamentally new "under the hood" technology there unless someone can tell me otherwise. Most new computing technologies that have come in the last ten years seem to be supported by XP anyway.

So, I've managed to find a brand new OEM copy of Windows XP Pro (I need that as I have a dual processor motherboard) with the (latest and I assume last) SP3 updates included. All legal I hasten to add!

When it arrives I will, with some trepidation, put the disk in my drive and run setup!

Goodbye Windows 2000, you served me long and faithfully.

:}

The thing I will really miss on Windows 2000 are my customisations.

I'm assuming that things like my appearance settings will be preserved, and I know from experience at work that I can make XP look pretty much the same as the look of 2000 I'm used to.

One thing I do have however is a large number of customised shortcuts in the Windows Explorer windows, which allowed me to easily jump between my most used folders.

I gather that the facility to do that (by editing the HTML templates) has been completely removed in XP and later systems. If anyone knows how to still do it, I'd be very grateful to know!

:(

I'll also miss the nice big preview thumbnails that I have for image and video files in Windows Explorer.

I don't think the facility for video preview is there at all in XP, and as I do a lot of work with video files, that is going to be a real pain.

IIRC the only image preview thumbnails in XP are tiny postage stamp things too, and that can't be changed.

Again if anyone knows how to get any of this functionality back I'd love to know!

Still, I suppose I am looking forward to being able to finally install the latest versions of most of my programs, without hacks! As I said elsewhere it's sad that with a few honourable exceptions like blackwingcat, few have tried to keep Windows 2000 alive, unlike Windows 98, which seems to have a whole community devoted to keeping it alive!

I suppose that's because Windows 2000 was never a mass market consumer OS, so its domestic user base is very small.

Anyway, enough rambling!

Have I made the right decision?

:yes::no::yes::no:

Dave.

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Windows XP is basically Windows 2000 with some added features. So you should easily transition to XP. You can even put it into Windows Classic Theme and it functions a lot like 2000.

I am a big fan of Windows 7 as well. It does add a lot of new features and it functions very well. Unlike Windows Vista which is garbage.

I do reccommend a clean install though. Windows Upgrades don't really give you the best performance. It's kinda like getting an old car and fixing up the body but not working on the engine much. It may look new but the insides aren't working too well.

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I've also not so long ago transitioned from Win2k to XP...

I'm sure Win7 is a good OS, but i just don't like OS's with such a big footprint(backing up/restoring/defragging), so i also went with XP, which with all it's fluff disabled/removed, is an OS pretty similar to Win2k on the frontend, but still nonetheless, in the backend has several key kernel optimizations compared to Win2k(lower footprint, improved performance, optimized management of memory, registry and I/O subsystem etc.), and which supports all the newer apps and continues to recieve patches for several years to come...

And as Siginet wisely adviced, defenetely go with a clean install!

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...OEM copy of Windows XP Pro...
Must do clean install; no upgrade possible.
...appearance settings will be preserved...
If you mean "will it", yes; if you mean "keep it", no as you must install clean.
...customised shortcuts...
Try it with a VPC "test case" (just don't activate the Guest as you have 30 days). 3-4gb HDD+128mbRAM is enough.
...video preview...
If you mean thumbnails, still there.

Essentially, XP is a beefed-up 2000 so you lose no functionalities whatsoever.

Turn off Automatic updates immediately after install (in the Control Panel) to allow time to get the SP3 on or it will download the "express" version on you before you can blink (if connected to the internet). Go to Windows Update, select "Custom" and de-select each time IE7 and IE8 and let the others install or simply get them all from other sources (i.e. the MSFN list, WUD, or AutoPatcher) and manually install. Pick either IE7 or IE8 and set the other to "don't show me this again" (hide) as you choose, or "hide" both and install FireFox or another as you choose. Turn AU back on (or not).

My ramblings... browse away and enjoy! You still have time left before support fully ends!

(side note: I did notice slight improvements with SP3; and you may look into nLite etc, as you may already know.)

Edited by submix8c
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One question that's been on my mind: is it possible/is anyone planning to try to port XP security patches to Win2k when applicable? I'm planning on keeping Win2k to at least July, and if a cottage industry of porting patches starts up, I don't see a reason to switch just yet.

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Thanks guys!

Still waiting for that disk to arrive, but the time is near..........

:ph34r:

I was a bit worried that submix8c said that I had to do a clean install.

I know that's what you've all recommended that I do anyway, but I would like to try an upgrade install first.

Surely I can always do a new clean install later if I'm not happy with the results of that.

Looking here it does appear that you can do an upgrade install from Windows 2000 to XP Professional, but not to XP Home Edition.

As I said, I need XP Pro anyway as I have a dual processor machine and that isn't supported by XP Home AFAIK.

Will keep you updated!

Cheers, Dave.

:)

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Dave,

IMO XP Pro SP3 is the way to go. That said, were I you, I'd triple boot. Add a second HDD. Set it to slave. Transfer an image of your present 2k installation to it. Adjust the setup to the fact that the new HDD has no 98. Remove your current HDD. Set the new one to master. Test you 2k in the new HDD Do an upgrad install of XP and see how that goes. Supposing all goes well you've now got a working XP. Add your current HDD back, but set to slave. Now you can select which HDD will be booted using the BIOS "Boot" menu. If you set to boot from the current, you have 2k and 98. If from the new one, you have XP. If all goes well up to this point, then its easy to create a multiboot system using Grub4DOS, instead of BIOS, to the same effect, so as to avoid needing to get into BIOS each time you need to invert the boot HDD. That's my two cents. Do think about it.

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No upgrade with OEM version - clean install only - see here and do some more checking. Some folks "claim" that an OEM can be"changed" using a modified setup file, but it does not repeat does not work. I don't think anyone knowledgeable can dispute this except to say "if you replace yada-yada files..." (not necessarily "legal"). The MS link you provided is not in reference to OEM but in reference to Retail or Upgrade only.

Sorry, but it's a fact... (google it and you'll see). If you would like to retain your old settings and have plenty of time to do so, I would suggest (which will work) repartitioning your HDD and "clean installing" on the second partition or try what I suggested above. You can reinstall XP as many times as you like as long as you don't activate. You will still have to make note of all old settings, tweaks, etc, and reinstall all of your favorite software. (Been there, done that...)

HTH (see dencorso's comments as well, sans "upgrade"...)

edit - to any folks that post in this topic, remember what this topic is about, so please be kind and don't waste anyone's time with "this over that and I prefer..." since the OP has already stated what's been decided upon.

Edited by submix8c
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****, I obviously didn't do enough research!

:(

The copy I've ordered is definitely an unbranded OEM copy.

I'll wait until it arrives and see what the installation instructions that supposedly come with it say.

If I can't do an upgrade, which is what I really want to do, I'll see if the company I bought it from will swap it for a full version. I don't mind paying the extra price.

Thanks submix8c for warning me.

:)

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Yes, if it's an OEM copy you would need to do a clean install (hence OEM - meant for new PC's only). If you swap it for a retail version, you can upgrade or do a clean install. As always I'd recommend a clean install from one NT-based OS to another, especially from 2000 > XP, but if you have a ton of customizations you may want to shell out for a retail copy and try the upgrade (after a system backup, of course, just in case it all goes south).

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Well, my OEM disk arrived, and of course I couldn't do an upgrade with it, as you rightly warned me!

:no:

Annoyingly, the firm I bought it from wouldn't take it back either.

They don't have retail versions anyway, and they wouldn't refund my money as I had opened the package to check the installation instructions, even though I hadn't actually opened the packaging of the disk itself.

Apparently people order these cheap(er) OEM versions just to get the product code, and they're not interested in the actual disk. Presumably this is so they can activate illegal copies.

You can only get a refund if the package is returned untouched exactly as received.

I'll remember that in future!

:(

Anyway, I've now got a proper retail version from another supplier.

What I ordered was an upgrade version, but what has arrived is actually a full version as far as I can see, in that doesn't need an upgradable version of Windows to be already present on the machine.

So, here goes.

Wish me luck!

:)

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Well, the deed has been done!

:thumbup

It seemed to take ages, but I was impressed with the fact that XP setup did manage to preserve most of my customised settings from Windows 2000.

All of this is now something for the XP forum of course, but before I sign this thread off and start loads more in that forum(!) there are just a couple of anomalies I'd like a view on.

One thing that surprised me is that the XP start-up and shut-down screens don't look the same as they did when I used XP Pro at work.

At work they looked pretty much the same as the Windows 2000 ones, but on my new installation, they look like the XP Home ones. I've got all the themes set to classic, as I had at work, but that has not changed.

Anyone any idea why?

It doesn't say "Professional" on the XP opening splash screen, which I'm sure it did at work.

The only thing that didn't work when I restarted was my network adapter, but that was because setup couldn't find a file that in fact wasn't on the system.

I reinstalled the drivers and everything appeared to be fine, but I still couldn't connect to the internet!

The Network Connections window was blank, no icons in it. It should have had two old dial-up connections and my ethernet connection in it.

There was also two Network Connections icons in the Control Panel, both of which seemed to do the same thing, bring up the empty window. Not looking good!

Anyway, after a lot of fruitless investigation, I ran setup again.

This time there were no error messages, the network adapter was fine, and the NC window was populated.

After a bit of juggling, I got the connection to work.

Still two icons in Control Panel though.

Re-booted, and the windows was blank again, although the connection is still working!

Any ideas anyone?

If I refresh the window it says it can't create icons and to check that the Network Connections service is running.

It is.

Another funny is that I don't like being called "Administrator"!

I changed the user name for the administrator account to "Dave" on Windows 2000, but that hasn't been replicated.

I can't find where to change it in Windows XP.

The help files refer to an "advanced" tab on the User Accounts applet, which I expect is where this option will be, but the advanced tab isn't there!

Any pointers on any of this much appreciated, and I promise I'll go the XP forum afterwards!

Cheers, Dave.

:)

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Hi there :)

The pro. message was taken of in a later SP(can't remember why...).

If you wan't the classic startup and shutdown screens, then run gpedit.msc and then somewhere there's an option for using the classic logon page instead of the new one(sorry i don't know the regtweak by heart, but you could also just search for it instead, if you don't wanna use gpedit.msc)

CU, Martin.

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Another funny is that I don't like being called "Administrator"!

I changed the user name for the administrator account to "Dave" on Windows 2000, but that hasn't been replicated.

I can't find where to change it in Windows XP.

Go to Control Panel --> Administrative Tools --> Local Security Settings --> Security Options -- Accounts: Rename Administrator Account

Many other intersting things can be done from Control Panel --> Administrative Tools... Do explore it well.

Did you at least save a full backup of your 2k installation, in case you decide to go for a triple-boot in the future?

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