-- Posted by Themakingofagod at 7:19 pm on July 24, 2008 I am running Windows XP Professional on a custom built computer. I bought the upgrade disk for Vista figuring I already have an operating system installed, so I don't need to pay the extra $100 to buy the full version. I put in the CD, it reads, reads, reads, then spits it back out. Basically like its not recognizing it. I talked to a friend that said it was because it was an non-genuine copy of windows so its not going to upgrade, but I can't get it to actually upgrade, its running the disk, but not loading. My question is... basically how do I get the Windows Vista to recognize the copy of XP and upgrade it without having to spend the extra $100 to get the full version. -- Posted by h a t t at 7:20 pm on July 24, 2008 It sounds like a problem with the CD drive or disk. I'm pretty sure that if it was the problem that your friend described, you'd get an error telling you that. Question: Are you sure that you're putting the disk into a DVD drive and not a CD driver? -- Posted by Themakingofagod at 7:25 pm on July 24, 2008 I have dual drives.  Both are CD/DVD/Rom drives, I've tried in both drives and they've both done the same thing.  They read the disk, then don't recognize it as anything.  I click on the actual disk drive while the disk is in, and it comes up empty.  I know the drives still work, I use them every day. -- Posted by h a t t at 7:30 pm on July 24, 2008 Does it read in Safemode? Or if you just try to boot directly to the DVD? -- Posted by Themakingofagod at 7:33 pm on July 24, 2008 I completely forgot about safe mode.  I'll have to try that when I find the CD. lol (I know I didn't lose it, just have to unbury it) -- Posted by h a t t at 10:14 am on July 27, 2008 Whatever happened with this? -- Posted by Themakingofagod at 10:15 am on July 27, 2008 I finally found the disk, but I didn't try it yet because my monitor is badly messed up.