How to install Windows 8 on windows XP SP 2?

[Charchit]

Please help!!!!!!!!

 

[HippsieGypsie]

Welcome to Windows EightForums, Charchit.

Could you be more specific?

You may want to read this: http://www.eightforums.com/installa...s-take-installing-setting-up-windows-8-a.html

There are a ton of tutorials:
Windows 8 Tutorials
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2299-clean-install-windows-8-a.html?ltr=C
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/13375-clean-install-windows-8-upgrade.html

 

[DavidY]

Hi There Charchit

Are you definitely trying to install over XP SP2 rather than SP3?

The official requirement for the Win 8 upgrade is SP3, I believe, so I guess it may not work if you try it when running SP2. From here:
Buy Windows - Microsoft Windows

To install the Windows 8 or Windows 8 Pro upgrade, your PC must be running Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 Consumer Preview, or Windows 8 Release Preview

So I think your first step maybe to upgrade the XP PC to SP3.
How to download Windows XP SP3

Note also that the option to install by creating media, which would allow you to create a bootable DVD or USB for a "clean install" won't appear if you're running Windows 8 Setup in Windows XP:
Windows XP users are unable to download and burn an ISO to a DVD or USB drive for Windows 8 media

Windows XP does not natively support the burning of an ISO file to a DVD or to a USB drive.

You will have to reinstall all your software, so dig out all those old installation DVDs. The Upgrade Assistant should tell you which software is compatible, although I'm not sure I trust it 100%.
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/11885-windows-8-upgrade-assistant-download-run.html

Finally, it's recommended that you backup your files before you start, but (unless Microsoft have fixed it) there's no easy way to restore files created by the Windows XP Backup once you get Windows 8 going.


So I'd recommend doing a backup using another route (for instance copy all your important documents and files to an external hard disk). Also I'd use a third party tool to do a full backup image of your entire disk in case something goes wrong and you need to roll back!

 

[Ex_Brit]

I recommend temporarily disabling any antivirus you have installed to install SP3. BTW if this is an old machine there may not be any drivers to support Windows 8 in the first place.

Run the Upgrade Assistant first to make sure as suggested in the previous post.

Upgrade to Windows 8 - Microsoft Windows

 

[bobkn]

I wonder what Charcit is trying to do.

I suppose that if he (she/it) was trying to use an upgrade license on XP X64 (which has no SP3 available), he would have mentioned the fact. The upgrade will apparently not recognize XP 64 SP2 as qualifying for the use of an upgrade license. It looks like an error that Microsoft has never bothered to fix. (Probably because XP X64 was not easily available on the street. Very few upgraders out there. Corporate IT departments usually don't do upgrades, but rather fresh installs using customized images of the OS.)

As no upgrade-in-place is supported from XP to Win8, it would make sense to use a System Builder license. Then it won't matter what OS is in place. The System Builder license is actually less expensive than an Upgrade license at the moment.

If Charcit already has an upgrade license in hand from some source, and has XP X64, or can't install SP3 on a 32 bit version for some reason, I can only offer my sympathies, and hope that the price of a System Builder copy isn't too painful.

Given the amount of information in Charcit's post, I'd guess that he needs more help than a $100-$140 copy of WIn8.

 

[Ex_Brit]

XP x64 is different from later x64 systems from what I have read and has no upgrade path to anything at all.

 

[DavidY]

As no upgrade-in-place is supported from XP to Win8,

Do you mean XP-64 bit upgrade-in-place isn't supported?

On Windows XP 32bit, SP3, you certainly can upgrade your PC to Windows 8, and Microsoft support it (I know because I called support when I was doing just that, and they helped me, plus it's listed as a supported route on the Microsoft website).

Some might argue that isn't an "upgrade in place" because you have to reinstall your software applications, but I'm not too worried about the semantics there and if you used System Builder you'd be in the same situation.

Price-wise, in the UK we can still get an Upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for less than the System Builder licence for either Windows 8 or Windows 8 Pro, as long as you don't buy from Microsoft. I don't know what pricing is like where Charcit is.

 

[Ex_Brit]

64-bit XP (with or without SP2) cannot be upgraded to any other system. You will have to do a clean installation.

 

[bobkn]

As no upgrade-in-place is supported from XP to Win8,

Do you mean XP-64 bit upgrade-in-place isn't supported?

Just that. The upgrade paths are confusing. XP (w/SP3) and Vista will qualify an upgrade license, but no upgrade-in-place is permitted. Win 7 allows for an upgrade-in-place.

In the US, the Windows 8 core and Pro upgrades are $120 and $200. The System Builder copies are $100 and $140. That's from Newegg, a large online retailer. The System Builder copies are not available from the Microsoft online store. I see lower prices from other online sellers. Maybe some sellers have cheap copies left over from the promotional period (which ended at the end of January 2013, if memory serves), but I would suggest caution in pursuing low prices online.

 

[bobkn]

64-bit XP (with or without SP2) cannot be upgraded to any other system. You will have to do a clean installation.

That's also true of the 32 bit versions.

SP3 is needed to qualify for the use of an upgrade license (for a clean install).

I imagine that there aren't many XP X64 home users who were disappointed to find that they couldn't make legal use of a Win8 upgrade copy, but there are at least a few.

 

[Ex_Brit]

64-bit XP (with or without SP2) cannot be upgraded to any other system. You will have to do a clean installation.

That's also true of the 32 bit versions.

SP3 is needed to qualify for the use of an upgrade license (for a clean install).

I imagine that there aren't many XP X64 home users who were disappointed to find that they couldn't make legal use of a Win8 upgrade copy, but there are at least a few.

Not many, in all the years I've been around I only met one person who was running it. It was such an expensive proposition in those days anyway. I guess we have to wait for the OP Charchit to respond before we can advise further.