Read the fine print - UGH
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I upgraded my almost brand new Dell (new at Christmas) last night from XP to Vista. I ignored practically every piece of common sense and lessons learned over the years and pretty much plowed straight ahead... well, ok, I didn't ignore EVERYTHING. I did backup my files and I have all of my Dell installation CD's. That's more than most people probably. I even went ahead and removed a few applications ahead of time that weren't critical so I wouldn't have to bother with that during the upgrade. What I didn't do was really prepare myself outside of the Dell Upgrade Assistance DVD and the Vista pre-check. I also let it do an upgrade without really understanding fully what I was getting and losing in the process. Long story short, I went from Media Center Edition XP SP2 cashing in my Free Dell upgrade to apparently Vista Home Premium. Oops - now I can't Remote Desktop into my PC. Well, that's practically at the top of my list of requirements. I can't believe my upgrade LOST me functionality but... I guess it shows that you should read the fine print always. Other than that: I had Tivo Desktop 2.4 Preview installed. It doesn't work under Vista and wasn't flagged as problemtatic by Dell or the Vista Upgrade. Here's the kicker: it's installer specifically requires XP SP2, any flavor. So when I try to UNINSTALL it, it pops up and tells me it requires XP SP2 to install (of course installer/uninstaller - same thing). So, other than manually hacking it out, there's no way to remove it. The same thing occurs with several other installations, including the Microsoft Zune Theme (from Microsoft itself). This machine is a Core 2 Duo, Intel viiv and IT won't upgrade either, because it can't remove the old version. After all this, I'm just going to tag out. Dell Support had no idea how to fix it. I have a backup so hopefully wiping the hard drive and starting over will go ok, though I'm of an equal mind to actually hold off until I can afford to upgrade to a version with Remote Desktop support OR I may attempt to dual boot XP and Vista so I don't loose things I need that don't work yet with Vista. Man, I shoulda known better. :sigh:
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I upgraded my almost brand new Dell (new at Christmas) last night from XP to Vista. I ignored practically every piece of common sense and lessons learned over the years and pretty much plowed straight ahead... well, ok, I didn't ignore EVERYTHING. I did backup my files and I have all of my Dell installation CD's. That's more than most people probably. I even went ahead and removed a few applications ahead of time that weren't critical so I wouldn't have to bother with that during the upgrade. What I didn't do was really prepare myself outside of the Dell Upgrade Assistance DVD and the Vista pre-check. I also let it do an upgrade without really understanding fully what I was getting and losing in the process. Long story short, I went from Media Center Edition XP SP2 cashing in my Free Dell upgrade to apparently Vista Home Premium. Oops - now I can't Remote Desktop into my PC. Well, that's practically at the top of my list of requirements. I can't believe my upgrade LOST me functionality but... I guess it shows that you should read the fine print always. Other than that: I had Tivo Desktop 2.4 Preview installed. It doesn't work under Vista and wasn't flagged as problemtatic by Dell or the Vista Upgrade. Here's the kicker: it's installer specifically requires XP SP2, any flavor. So when I try to UNINSTALL it, it pops up and tells me it requires XP SP2 to install (of course installer/uninstaller - same thing). So, other than manually hacking it out, there's no way to remove it. The same thing occurs with several other installations, including the Microsoft Zune Theme (from Microsoft itself). This machine is a Core 2 Duo, Intel viiv and IT won't upgrade either, because it can't remove the old version. After all this, I'm just going to tag out. Dell Support had no idea how to fix it. I have a backup so hopefully wiping the hard drive and starting over will go ok, though I'm of an equal mind to actually hold off until I can afford to upgrade to a version with Remote Desktop support OR I may attempt to dual boot XP and Vista so I don't loose things I need that don't work yet with Vista. Man, I shoulda known better. :sigh:
Yep. You should have known better. :) I'm thinking about doing the same thing. The smartest thing I ever did was listen to another consultant on backups. In my Dell, I have a 60GB drive. I bought the extra chassis, dropped an identical drive in it and clone weekly with Acronis. Perfect backups every time. The drives are just too inexpensive not to do backups anymore. When I get close to doing this Vista thing, I'll go ahead and do it on a copy... just to be safe. Hope it all works out.
Charlie Gilley Will program for food... Whoever said children were cheaper by the dozen... lied. My son's PDA is an M249 SAW. My other son commutes in an M1A2 Abrams
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I upgraded my almost brand new Dell (new at Christmas) last night from XP to Vista. I ignored practically every piece of common sense and lessons learned over the years and pretty much plowed straight ahead... well, ok, I didn't ignore EVERYTHING. I did backup my files and I have all of my Dell installation CD's. That's more than most people probably. I even went ahead and removed a few applications ahead of time that weren't critical so I wouldn't have to bother with that during the upgrade. What I didn't do was really prepare myself outside of the Dell Upgrade Assistance DVD and the Vista pre-check. I also let it do an upgrade without really understanding fully what I was getting and losing in the process. Long story short, I went from Media Center Edition XP SP2 cashing in my Free Dell upgrade to apparently Vista Home Premium. Oops - now I can't Remote Desktop into my PC. Well, that's practically at the top of my list of requirements. I can't believe my upgrade LOST me functionality but... I guess it shows that you should read the fine print always. Other than that: I had Tivo Desktop 2.4 Preview installed. It doesn't work under Vista and wasn't flagged as problemtatic by Dell or the Vista Upgrade. Here's the kicker: it's installer specifically requires XP SP2, any flavor. So when I try to UNINSTALL it, it pops up and tells me it requires XP SP2 to install (of course installer/uninstaller - same thing). So, other than manually hacking it out, there's no way to remove it. The same thing occurs with several other installations, including the Microsoft Zune Theme (from Microsoft itself). This machine is a Core 2 Duo, Intel viiv and IT won't upgrade either, because it can't remove the old version. After all this, I'm just going to tag out. Dell Support had no idea how to fix it. I have a backup so hopefully wiping the hard drive and starting over will go ok, though I'm of an equal mind to actually hold off until I can afford to upgrade to a version with Remote Desktop support OR I may attempt to dual boot XP and Vista so I don't loose things I need that don't work yet with Vista. Man, I shoulda known better. :sigh:
Matt Philmon wrote:
Vista Home Premium. Oops - now I can't Remote Desktop into my PC
I know, that is the most absurd limitation I've found in the Vista Editions. Quite clearly it is to force people to upgrade to Ultimate when all they want is remote desktop. For a Media PC remote desktop is critical as you rarely have a full keyboard and mouse attached and using the remote to configure it, install updates, etc, is virtually impossible. If you can live without RD, or afford the upgrade, then there are unsupported (and probably illegal) ways to install an upgrade version from a fresh Vista install. Google for it on the Internet to find out more.
Ðavid Wulff What kind of music should programmers listen to?
Join the Code Project Last.fm group | dwulff
I'm so gangsta I eat cereal without the milk -
I upgraded my almost brand new Dell (new at Christmas) last night from XP to Vista. I ignored practically every piece of common sense and lessons learned over the years and pretty much plowed straight ahead... well, ok, I didn't ignore EVERYTHING. I did backup my files and I have all of my Dell installation CD's. That's more than most people probably. I even went ahead and removed a few applications ahead of time that weren't critical so I wouldn't have to bother with that during the upgrade. What I didn't do was really prepare myself outside of the Dell Upgrade Assistance DVD and the Vista pre-check. I also let it do an upgrade without really understanding fully what I was getting and losing in the process. Long story short, I went from Media Center Edition XP SP2 cashing in my Free Dell upgrade to apparently Vista Home Premium. Oops - now I can't Remote Desktop into my PC. Well, that's practically at the top of my list of requirements. I can't believe my upgrade LOST me functionality but... I guess it shows that you should read the fine print always. Other than that: I had Tivo Desktop 2.4 Preview installed. It doesn't work under Vista and wasn't flagged as problemtatic by Dell or the Vista Upgrade. Here's the kicker: it's installer specifically requires XP SP2, any flavor. So when I try to UNINSTALL it, it pops up and tells me it requires XP SP2 to install (of course installer/uninstaller - same thing). So, other than manually hacking it out, there's no way to remove it. The same thing occurs with several other installations, including the Microsoft Zune Theme (from Microsoft itself). This machine is a Core 2 Duo, Intel viiv and IT won't upgrade either, because it can't remove the old version. After all this, I'm just going to tag out. Dell Support had no idea how to fix it. I have a backup so hopefully wiping the hard drive and starting over will go ok, though I'm of an equal mind to actually hold off until I can afford to upgrade to a version with Remote Desktop support OR I may attempt to dual boot XP and Vista so I don't loose things I need that don't work yet with Vista. Man, I shoulda known better. :sigh:
And what is Vista going to get you? Why upgrade? The presumption is "newer is better". This time around Microsoft is teaching everyone that that's not always the case :D
Todd Smith
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I upgraded my almost brand new Dell (new at Christmas) last night from XP to Vista. I ignored practically every piece of common sense and lessons learned over the years and pretty much plowed straight ahead... well, ok, I didn't ignore EVERYTHING. I did backup my files and I have all of my Dell installation CD's. That's more than most people probably. I even went ahead and removed a few applications ahead of time that weren't critical so I wouldn't have to bother with that during the upgrade. What I didn't do was really prepare myself outside of the Dell Upgrade Assistance DVD and the Vista pre-check. I also let it do an upgrade without really understanding fully what I was getting and losing in the process. Long story short, I went from Media Center Edition XP SP2 cashing in my Free Dell upgrade to apparently Vista Home Premium. Oops - now I can't Remote Desktop into my PC. Well, that's practically at the top of my list of requirements. I can't believe my upgrade LOST me functionality but... I guess it shows that you should read the fine print always. Other than that: I had Tivo Desktop 2.4 Preview installed. It doesn't work under Vista and wasn't flagged as problemtatic by Dell or the Vista Upgrade. Here's the kicker: it's installer specifically requires XP SP2, any flavor. So when I try to UNINSTALL it, it pops up and tells me it requires XP SP2 to install (of course installer/uninstaller - same thing). So, other than manually hacking it out, there's no way to remove it. The same thing occurs with several other installations, including the Microsoft Zune Theme (from Microsoft itself). This machine is a Core 2 Duo, Intel viiv and IT won't upgrade either, because it can't remove the old version. After all this, I'm just going to tag out. Dell Support had no idea how to fix it. I have a backup so hopefully wiping the hard drive and starting over will go ok, though I'm of an equal mind to actually hold off until I can afford to upgrade to a version with Remote Desktop support OR I may attempt to dual boot XP and Vista so I don't loose things I need that don't work yet with Vista. Man, I shoulda known better. :sigh:
With www.logmein.com you can get a free account all it takes is email and password. You can use it on up to 3 machines and it's awesome. I've licensed about 250 of the IT Reach copies from them and love it. For Vista you need the beta from the "labs" section but it works just dandy. It will let you remote on from anywhere in the world which is nice and it imposes 256bit encryption. I love it.
My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, Commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered process, husband to a murdered thread. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next. - Gladiator I work to live. I do not live to work. My clients do not seem capable of grasping this fact.
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And what is Vista going to get you? Why upgrade? The presumption is "newer is better". This time around Microsoft is teaching everyone that that's not always the case :D
Todd Smith
Todd Smith wrote:
The presumption is "newer is better". This time around Microsoft is teaching everyone that that's not always the case
:) When it comes to Windows Media Centre though, Vista really is worth the upgrade. The whole app is much smoother to use in Vista.
Ðavid Wulff What kind of music should programmers listen to?
Join the Code Project Last.fm group | dwulff
I'm so gangsta I eat cereal without the milk -
Matt Philmon wrote:
Vista Home Premium. Oops - now I can't Remote Desktop into my PC
I know, that is the most absurd limitation I've found in the Vista Editions. Quite clearly it is to force people to upgrade to Ultimate when all they want is remote desktop. For a Media PC remote desktop is critical as you rarely have a full keyboard and mouse attached and using the remote to configure it, install updates, etc, is virtually impossible. If you can live without RD, or afford the upgrade, then there are unsupported (and probably illegal) ways to install an upgrade version from a fresh Vista install. Google for it on the Internet to find out more.
Ðavid Wulff What kind of music should programmers listen to?
Join the Code Project Last.fm group | dwulff
I'm so gangsta I eat cereal without the milk -
Am I the only one here who uses VNC extensively? If all you want is a remote keyboard and mouse, VNC is perfect and quite free.
Faith is a fine invention For gentlemen who see; But microscopes are prudent In an emergency! -Emily Dickinson
David Kentley wrote:
Am I the only one here who uses VNC extensively?
Yes. ;P Ok, so I can't really answer that, but with RD you have something that works right out of the box and, for me anyway, is nice and easy to manage. Why should I need to install anything else? Does VNC support sharing host drives across public networks for remote installations and the like?
Ðavid Wulff What kind of music should programmers listen to?
Join the Code Project Last.fm group | dwulff
I'm so gangsta I eat cereal without the milk -
Matt Philmon wrote:
Vista Home Premium. Oops - now I can't Remote Desktop into my PC
I know, that is the most absurd limitation I've found in the Vista Editions. Quite clearly it is to force people to upgrade to Ultimate when all they want is remote desktop. For a Media PC remote desktop is critical as you rarely have a full keyboard and mouse attached and using the remote to configure it, install updates, etc, is virtually impossible. If you can live without RD, or afford the upgrade, then there are unsupported (and probably illegal) ways to install an upgrade version from a fresh Vista install. Google for it on the Internet to find out more.
Ðavid Wulff What kind of music should programmers listen to?
Join the Code Project Last.fm group | dwulff
I'm so gangsta I eat cereal without the milkI tried using VNC (tightVNC and realVNC) between my 2k and xp box at home a year ago, but it would randomly stop working and require app reinstalls on both ends to fix every 2 or 3 accesses. Since I needed to plug a keyboard and monitor in to fix VNC so often I just went back to the manual method for everything. MY 2ndary box is an unattended crunchbox that I only need access to when something goes wrong. It's running XP now but I've never setup RD for it.
-- Rules of thumb should not be taken for the whole hand.