Windows 2000 Professional Evaluation Version Upgrades

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This article was previously published under Q253523

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SYMPTOMS

When you attempt to upgrade Windows 2000 Professional Evaluation Version, you may receive the following error message:

Setup cannot upgrade your current installation to Windows 2000. Your copy of Windows 2000 does not support upgrading from an evaluation copy of Windows. Setup cannot continue.

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CAUSE

The Windows 2000 Professional Product Upgrade and Version Upgrade versions cannot upgrade Windows 2000 Professional Evaluation Version.

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RESOLUTION

To upgrade Windows 2000 Professional Evaluation Version by using the Windows 2000 Professional Product Upgrade or Version Upgrade CD-ROM:

If you have installed any service packs, you must remove them before you attempt to upgrade. The utility will not work when there are service packs installed on the computer.
Download and install the Windows 2000 Evaluation Upgrade utility from the following Microsoft Web site:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727075.aspx (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727075.aspx)
Start Setup again by inserting the Windows 2000 Product Upgrade CD-ROM or the Version Upgrade CD-ROM.
Follow the instructions in the Evaluation Upgrade Wizard to finish Setup.

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MORE INFORMATION

To determine if you are running Windows 2000 Professional Evaluation Version:

Click Start, and then click Run.
Type winver.exe, and then press ENTER.

If you have an Evaluation version, "Evaluation Copy" is displayed with the expiration date. The Evaluation version of Windows 2000 is used to evaluate Windows 2000; it has a 120-day expiration period from the date of installation.

You can upgrade the Evaluation version of Windows 2000 to remove the 120-day expiration period either by using the Windows 2000 Professional Full version or by running the Windows 2000 Evaluation Upgrade utility and then upgrading with the Windows 2000 Professional Product Upgrade or Version Upgrade CD-ROM.

If you do not run the Windows 2000 Evaluation Upgrade utility, the upgrade products prompt for qualifying media only when you install in a new folder. They do not prompt for qualifying media for an upgrade installation. In addition, you must run Winnt32.exe to upgrade. You cannot upgrade by booting from the Windows 2000 CD-ROM or the Windows 2000 boot disks.

After you run the Windows 2000 Evaluation Upgrade utility, you can initiate an upgrade by using the Windows 2000 Upgrade CD-ROM. To perform the upgrade, insert your Windows 2000 Upgrade CD-ROM and then follow the instructions in the Evaluation Upgrade Wizard. You must provide your previous Windows operating system CD-ROM (Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98, or Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.51 or 4.0) to complete the wizard and continue Setup. If you insert a CD-ROM that is not recognized as a qualifying CD-ROM, you receive the following error message:

The wizard did not find a valid CD. Please insert a valid qualifying Windows CD, and then click next to try again.

NOTE: Only Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and retail CD-ROMs are accepted. However, OEM System Restore Disks do not pass as qualifying media since these are disk images. The Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN), Evaluation, and Not for Resale (NFR) CD-ROMs do not qualify as well. For additional information about what happens when the Evaluation version expires, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

250920 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/250920/EN-US/ ) Windows 2000 Evaluation Copy Expiration Behavior

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