>I'm attempting to upgrade from Win98SE to WinXP. After confirming that my hardware and software are compatible and ready for the upgrade, the installer presents me with a blue-screen error: "Cannot locate qualifying operating system."
>
>I experimented with starting a new install after booting on the CD, and found that I got the same error. However, if I inserted the Win98SE CD, I got passed the error. Unfortunately, there seems to be no way of doing this successfully during the upgrade process.
>
>At this point, a new install is not a comfortable option, because I want to have Win98 ready to return to, in case things go wrong.
>
>Does anyone have any ideas about what's going on? I called MS, and was cut off just as the tech answered, after waiting for over 45 minutes. And that was after the average hold time rose to 77 minutes!!
>

If you're trying to upgrade to Win XP Pro, Win9x is not a qualifying operating system; it is a qualifying OS for XP Home. Unfortunately, that limits use in business domain environments.