Upgrading from Win XP SP2 Professional Pirated to Licensed

Ppl!!.. Just decided to blog this in case anyone got stuck like me..

I am using a Pirated version of the Win XP SP2 Professional version and decided to purchase the licensed version to get rid of the nagging warnings from Windows that I am not doing the right thing.. I think it got to me finally :))..

So I went ahead and bought a personal OEM version of my own Win XP SP 2 Professional for 209 Sing $.. Cool huh :))..

So came home and started up my comp and inserted the CD. It did some checks and told me that it cannot upgrade from my current version and that I would need to do a new installation.

So I said ok go ahead pal!.. When It was all done.. I found that I was stuck with 2 version of Windows.. one my old one and the other the new one.. and to my horror the new one dint have any of my old installations meaning none of the applications I use..

Ok so I decided to uninstall this new XP and try it all over again.. I went to Control Panel and checked out the add/remove software option. I couldnt remove it from there.

I did some reading on windows support site and checked out the osuninst.exe command in DOS prompt. I even tried editing the registry as suggested by the windows support site. But all to no avail!!.. I kept getting hit with the message that "necessary registry information is missing"!!

I did a little bit of more reading in some non microsoft sites and came about some text that osuninst cannot be used for any new installations of Win XP and can only be used for upgrades!

Damn!!.. Almost 2 hours wasted!!...

Next plan was to first remove the 2 options while I was booting and make it boot to my old version. So I read about this and found the file I was looking for..

boot.ini

To edit this file in Win XP

1.
Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
-or- Click Start, click Run, type sysdm.cpl, and then click OK.
2.
On the Advanced tab, click Settings under Startup and Recovery.
3.
Under System Startup, click Edit.

U can find more information here if you need it .. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/289022

After I finished doing this.. I was able to boot normally to my old version of Windows..

I just went ahead and deleted my new Windows XP installation folders in D drive ... like the windows folder, program files and documents and settings folders..

Thats it I had managed to undo whatever I had in past 4 - 5 hours!!.. cool..

Now back to square one...

So what did I do.. I tried the windows way... Clicked on that blue star that caused the whole problem in my taskbar. It took me to a windows page where I had the option to download a
tool for updating my license key. So I just downloaded that tool and it asked me for my license key, I entered the license key from the new CD.. The sticker that was stuck behind the cover of the cd and voila.. My problems were solved!..

I stoved the new cd away and now am writing this blog to you all..

If this helps anybody or if something is not clear.. feel free to add ur comments here...