Upgrading from Vista to Weven?
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Okay, I have a bright and shiny little Windows 7 disc and am giving serious consideration to upgrading a box in the studio that's currently running Vista (the only one in the house that is). The thing is, I actually need this box up and running, and don't want to spend the entire weekend doing a wipe & reinstall if Weven hoses me. And so, with some trepidation I ask, "Is it safe to go back in the water?" Seriously, any of you hit any snags upgrading from Vista to 7 or has it been smooth sailing?
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting Servicesmodified on Monday, March 15, 2010 1:49 PM
I've not heard of anyone having a bad time when upgrading Vista to 7. Well - as long as you don't include "waiting 9 hrs for the upgrade to complete" as a bad time. (no, not exxagerating). Upgrades were always a nightmare but from what I've heard it's a different story this time round. Still - I've never actually done an upgrade, preferring a reinstall because it has so many other benefits (mostly: trimming down my hoarding mentality by nuking anything I can't easily find and therefor don't actually need)
cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP
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I've not heard of anyone having a bad time when upgrading Vista to 7. Well - as long as you don't include "waiting 9 hrs for the upgrade to complete" as a bad time. (no, not exxagerating). Upgrades were always a nightmare but from what I've heard it's a different story this time round. Still - I've never actually done an upgrade, preferring a reinstall because it has so many other benefits (mostly: trimming down my hoarding mentality by nuking anything I can't easily find and therefor don't actually need)
cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP
Chris Maunder wrote:
waiting 9 hrs for the upgrade to complete
Honestly, does anyone ever test this stuff before it goes out the door? Oh, yeah, I forgot. They're a monopoly dominant company. They don't have to care.
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting Services -
The box having Vista on it is enough of a reason to change - to ANYTHING.
.45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly
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"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"The staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - J. Jystad, 2001Oh, I don't know. I still haven't found it necessary to buy one of those bunny hugging Macs. :)
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting Services -
Okay, I have a bright and shiny little Windows 7 disc and am giving serious consideration to upgrading a box in the studio that's currently running Vista (the only one in the house that is). The thing is, I actually need this box up and running, and don't want to spend the entire weekend doing a wipe & reinstall if Weven hoses me. And so, with some trepidation I ask, "Is it safe to go back in the water?" Seriously, any of you hit any snags upgrading from Vista to 7 or has it been smooth sailing?
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting Servicesmodified on Monday, March 15, 2010 1:49 PM
I did an in-place upgrade months ago, no issues yet. In fact I have not migrated to my clean 64-bit install yet. If it ain't broken, no need to fix it :)
xacc.ide
IronScheme - 1.0 RC 1 - out now!
((λ (x) `(,x ',x)) '(λ (x) `(,x ',x))) The Scheme Programming Language – Fourth Edition -
Okay, I have a bright and shiny little Windows 7 disc and am giving serious consideration to upgrading a box in the studio that's currently running Vista (the only one in the house that is). The thing is, I actually need this box up and running, and don't want to spend the entire weekend doing a wipe & reinstall if Weven hoses me. And so, with some trepidation I ask, "Is it safe to go back in the water?" Seriously, any of you hit any snags upgrading from Vista to 7 or has it been smooth sailing?
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting Servicesmodified on Monday, March 15, 2010 1:49 PM
I did several upgrades on non-critical systems and all except one worked perfectly. The only problem was with a test system that had done XP-Vista-W7Beta-W7RC. (I had to resort to hacks to upgrade from Beta to RC). The final upgrade (with hack) from RC to RTM failed. I think it was entitled to ... I was finally brave enough to upgrade a critical system and then eventually three critical systems (with appropriate backups and so on) and all has worked excellently. The result is in every case a far better system than I had with Vista. While I agree with all the cautions and "it's better to do a clean install"s that others have expressed there are times when you just want to go for it... (The critical systems I am talking about are only critical to me ... I am not risking others' lives, safety or livelihood.)
Phil
The opinions expressed in this post are not necessarily those of the author, especially if you find them impolite, inaccurate or inflammatory.
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Seems to be the conventional wisdom. Glad I asked!
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting Services -
Seems to be the conventional wisdom. Glad I asked!
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting ServicesHard drives are cheap. Buy another drive, do the fresh install on that. Once it's working, store the old drive as permanent backup.
Software Zen:
delete this;
Fold With Us![^] -
That's what I did, no point in messing about.
Join the cool kids - Come fold with us[^]
I did that the first chance i had and never looked back! :)
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I did several upgrades on non-critical systems and all except one worked perfectly. The only problem was with a test system that had done XP-Vista-W7Beta-W7RC. (I had to resort to hacks to upgrade from Beta to RC). The final upgrade (with hack) from RC to RTM failed. I think it was entitled to ... I was finally brave enough to upgrade a critical system and then eventually three critical systems (with appropriate backups and so on) and all has worked excellently. The result is in every case a far better system than I had with Vista. While I agree with all the cautions and "it's better to do a clean install"s that others have expressed there are times when you just want to go for it... (The critical systems I am talking about are only critical to me ... I am not risking others' lives, safety or livelihood.)
Phil
The opinions expressed in this post are not necessarily those of the author, especially if you find them impolite, inaccurate or inflammatory.
I upgraded and have not been sorry. I used the Vista disk management tools to shrink the primary (Vista) partition. I then created a new partition and installed 7 on the new partition. This automatically creates a menu at boot that allows you to choose to boot into Vista or 7, allowing you to boot back into your old setup if you run into problems. And since the Vista partition appears as a secondary drive in 7, it makes it much easier to copy documents from Vista to 7. I still have the Vista partition on my machine, but haven't booted into Vista for couple months now.
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Okay, I have a bright and shiny little Windows 7 disc and am giving serious consideration to upgrading a box in the studio that's currently running Vista (the only one in the house that is). The thing is, I actually need this box up and running, and don't want to spend the entire weekend doing a wipe & reinstall if Weven hoses me. And so, with some trepidation I ask, "Is it safe to go back in the water?" Seriously, any of you hit any snags upgrading from Vista to 7 or has it been smooth sailing?
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting Servicesmodified on Monday, March 15, 2010 1:49 PM
Everyone has their own story and own views, but I have UPGRADED two desktops and one laptop from Vista to Seven without any problems. My systems are high end, loaded with a variety of web programming and design applications. At the end of the day, it all worked just as it was suppose to. Merely one more voice in the water.
jimatjude
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I had a horror story, but that was because I did an upgrade rather than a clean install. SERIOUS ADVICE>>>> Copy all that which you feel important, and do a clean install. DO NOT UPGRADE!!! There are people yet unborn that would tell you that.
------------------------------------ I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave
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Okay, I have a bright and shiny little Windows 7 disc and am giving serious consideration to upgrading a box in the studio that's currently running Vista (the only one in the house that is). The thing is, I actually need this box up and running, and don't want to spend the entire weekend doing a wipe & reinstall if Weven hoses me. And so, with some trepidation I ask, "Is it safe to go back in the water?" Seriously, any of you hit any snags upgrading from Vista to 7 or has it been smooth sailing?
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting Servicesmodified on Monday, March 15, 2010 1:49 PM
You might consider doing a dual boot system with a clean install of 7 on the second partition. That way you could revert back quickly if you discover problems down the road. Alternatively you could make an image of the Vista installation before you start so you can back up to a known good configuration. There are free imaging and partitioning tools available. Or if you want a 15% speed increase for most tasks, you could go back to XP and install one of the Win 7 skins that give you most of the pretty stuff without all the overhead.
Melting Away www.deals-house.com www.innovative--concepts.com
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If that's all you have, I'd still wipe and install Vista from scratch, and then immediately upgrade to Weven before installing anything else.
.45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly
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"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"The staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - J. Jystad, 2001 -
I did an in-place upgrade months ago, no issues yet. In fact I have not migrated to my clean 64-bit install yet. If it ain't broken, no need to fix it :)
xacc.ide
IronScheme - 1.0 RC 1 - out now!
((λ (x) `(,x ',x)) '(λ (x) `(,x ',x))) The Scheme Programming Language – Fourth Editionleppie wrote:
If it ain't broken, no need to fix it
First time I've heard anyone say that and Vista in the same post. Although you technically you didn't say Vista, so that doesn't count.
Mike Devenney
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You can do a clean install with an upgrade disk. Just install it without the windows key, then before activating you have to change a registry key for windows to accept an upgrade key. Carlos
There's a way to do it without even having to delve into the registry editor (or so I've heard) - requires a half install and then an install over (I think) which does sound a little untidy when I type it like that, but I suspect it's actually very neat. Maybe somebody has a link?
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Okay, I have a bright and shiny little Windows 7 disc and am giving serious consideration to upgrading a box in the studio that's currently running Vista (the only one in the house that is). The thing is, I actually need this box up and running, and don't want to spend the entire weekend doing a wipe & reinstall if Weven hoses me. And so, with some trepidation I ask, "Is it safe to go back in the water?" Seriously, any of you hit any snags upgrading from Vista to 7 or has it been smooth sailing?
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting Servicesmodified on Monday, March 15, 2010 1:49 PM
Went smoothly for me. I'd been using Vista for about 6 months and had a lot of stuff on it, so I was careful to backup. But the upgrade ran without a problem and the one or two programs that wouldn't run directly under W7 went fine under compatibility mode.
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There's a way to do it without even having to delve into the registry editor (or so I've heard) - requires a half install and then an install over (I think) which does sound a little untidy when I type it like that, but I suspect it's actually very neat. Maybe somebody has a link?
Here it goes http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/clean\_install\_upgrade\_media.asp Carlos
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There's a way to do it without even having to delve into the registry editor (or so I've heard) - requires a half install and then an install over (I think) which does sound a little untidy when I type it like that, but I suspect it's actually very neat. Maybe somebody has a link?
-
Okay, I have a bright and shiny little Windows 7 disc and am giving serious consideration to upgrading a box in the studio that's currently running Vista (the only one in the house that is). The thing is, I actually need this box up and running, and don't want to spend the entire weekend doing a wipe & reinstall if Weven hoses me. And so, with some trepidation I ask, "Is it safe to go back in the water?" Seriously, any of you hit any snags upgrading from Vista to 7 or has it been smooth sailing?
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting Servicesmodified on Monday, March 15, 2010 1:49 PM
When has the upgrade ever worked? I can remember lots of messes from Win95 on up. There is just too much baggage. Do a file backup of your Doc, Code, etc. Do a new Win7 install and reinstall your apps and files. Overall some of the Vista apps are not needed with Win7, some apps are not compatible, some devices are not supported, the LAN/WAN stacks are different, etc. MS usually just says you need to move forward when things do work also. All reports I have seen and what friends and associates say, it is worth it. I will be doing what you are doing soon. I am planning that it will take an entire weekend to settle it down. I already know I will gain somethings and lose others. The gains are greater than the loses. One thing I lose is my HP PSC 500 driver support (at the present). Not much considering how old it is, I guess. But it has been a reliable unit for me. I will just have to access it via my Gentoo server with Samba and a best case driver. May be able to find a Win7 driver in the near future.
"Coding for fun and profit ... mostly fun"
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Okay, I have a bright and shiny little Windows 7 disc and am giving serious consideration to upgrading a box in the studio that's currently running Vista (the only one in the house that is). The thing is, I actually need this box up and running, and don't want to spend the entire weekend doing a wipe & reinstall if Weven hoses me. And so, with some trepidation I ask, "Is it safe to go back in the water?" Seriously, any of you hit any snags upgrading from Vista to 7 or has it been smooth sailing?
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting Servicesmodified on Monday, March 15, 2010 1:49 PM
First and foremost, find out the exact model number of your machine, and check the manufacturer's site to see if Windows 7 32/64 bit drivers are available. If not, then don't bother wiping out Vista. Windows 7 is good at obtaining drivers from Windows update but the process is far from perfect. You will not be able to get optimized performance without specific drivers. Few people realize this but within the PC world, drivers make or break your experience with the machine. If you need any one-on-one correspondence regarding this, please feel free to mail me.