I leave that to others. I am using a VHP upgrade edition that I bought for
my grandson. I told him it takes weeks for delivery.

In any case,
naturally I don't want to mess up and activate it. I have been using an
MSDN image and it certainly true that the media makes no difference
whatsoever. It is all in the product key.
"Jane C" <jellybean@NOSPAMxjgarage.org> wrote in message
news:E7E5D067-D5FF-48BC-96D9-BB80EF48899F@microsoft.com...
> Great stuff. The only thing left to determine is if such an 'upgrade'
> could then be activated, considering that it didn't actually 'upgrade' the
> qualifying OS.
>
> --
> Jane, not plain
64 bit enabled :-)
> Batteries not included. Braincell on vacation ;-)
> "Colin Barnhorst" <colinbarharst@msn.com> wrote in message
> news:AF4C12A8-3CF1-4028-AA4E-A9DC46AB9A9D@microsoft.com...
>>I have been running tests today with an upgrade edition product key. It
>> turns out that an upgrade edition product key is sufficient for setting
>> up
>> dual boot systems. A dual boot system even when the upgrade option is
>> enabled is possible.
>>
>> The results of x86 scenarios with upgrade enabled (green dots in the
>> upgrade matrix) so far are:
>>
>> Dual drive system with Windows XP Home SP2 on drive 0, drive 1
>> empty. 768MB ram. No updates or patches post SP2 installed.
>>
>> I ran Vista x86 Setup with an upgrade edition pk for VHP from the XP Home
>> SP2 desktop.
>> The disk options are not available, therefore modifications to the disks
>> are not
>> possible from Setup (no ability to format the target from within Setup).
>> Any disk modifications need to be made in XP prior to running (or
>> resuming) Vista Setup. See the tip below if you don't know how to do
>> this.
>>
>> UPGRADE OPTION:
>>
>> The upgrade option is enabled as long as XP Home is at service pack level
>> 2 or above. Updates and patches subsequent to SP2 are not necessary.
>> There is no choice of target when the upgrade option is selected
>> (expected). If you are installing XP Home SP2 explicitly to perform an
>> upgrade-in-place to Vista, turn off Automatic Updates in XP Home after
>> installation. Anything past SP2 is a waste of time. Defrag the drive
>> before starting the Vista Setup to minimize the Vista installation time
>> if you are retaining your files, settings, and apps by means of the
>> upgrade option.
>>
>> CUSTOM OPTION:
>>
>> The custom option permits a choice of disk 0 or disk 1.
>> Selection of disk 1 results in installation of Vista to drive E: and a
>> dual boot options menu. Both XP Home and VHP boot as expected.
>>
>> If Vista Setup does not see drive 1 (the second drive) you need to create
>> a partition on it. A raw partition is sufficient since Vista Setup will
>> perform a quick format on a blank partition.
>>
>> Since you are running Setup from the desktop you do not have the disk
>> editing tools but you can use the tools in XP Home.
>>
>> TIP: To access the legacy system desktop while Vista Setup is running on
>> it, press the WinKey. The XP Home taskbar and Start menu will come to
>> the front and you can perform disk operations on drive 1 the usual way
>> using Disk Management in XP. When disk preparation is complete, click on
>> the Vista Setup screen to resume and click the refresh button to the
>> lower left of the target volume selector (pane, if you like). You will
>> then see drive 1 and can proceed with the custom installation.
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------
>> This appears to violate the EULA since it permits the continued use of
>> the legacy system after its license has been tied to the Vista system
>> which is supposed to have replace it, but the procedure is not blocked.
>>
>>
>