Advice on migrating from MS Vista to 7

Bocete · #1 11-11-2009, 03:33 PM

Hi,

So I'd like to install 7 instead of Vista on my Toshiba laptop. The drivers worry me the most; they haven't been updated in more than a year and I'm not sure they are compatible with 7. I'd have to try and see if they work.

The question here is, I wouldn't proceed with the installation unless I'm absolutely sure I could boot Vista in case I don't find drivers compatible with 7. My plan is to dual-boot a test instance of 7 on my D:\ partition and see if I can find all the drivers and if they work.

I'm not sure if you can even dual-boot two MS OSs installed on different partitions. If you can, I haven't done it and how hard is it?

Then, if I've installed 7 on D:\ and if I find all the drivers, could I format C:\ and install a fresh 7 there (as Bill intended), and remove the test 7 and all it's junk from D:\ by unistalling dual-boot and deleting the D:\Windows\ directory? Would there be any leftover junk? I don't like junk.

Thank you,
Bocete

Matt Dean · #2 11-11-2009, 03:50 PM

DON'T DO IT!

**Pacman** · #3 11-11-2009, 04:46 PM

MS has a compatibility tool as a free download. It will tell you what will be affected by the switch. It was pie with my system. My wife has a Toshiba laptop and hers was less easy. But, once we found out that her laptop needed a bios flash, all problems were solved.

**lowendfriend** · #4 11-11-2009, 05:56 PM

7 is way more stable than Vista....you've probably already done the hard part moving off XP.

Philbiker · #5 11-11-2009, 07:02 PM

Sounds like a whole lot of bother. I'd backup my files and just do the "upgrade" install from Vista to 7. There's no reason you'll ever want Vista again. Seven works with Vista drivers; if your stuff works under Vista it will work under Seven.

Atoz · #6 11-11-2009, 11:08 PM

The only advice I'd offer is to do it right away.

**bassybill** · #7 11-12-2009, 12:28 AM

I did this at the weekend on my non-music PC and it was pretty straightforward. So far, I haven't really noticed that much difference, but then Vista always ran pretty sweet on this machine.

Make sure you check the MS info on upgrade paths. You can do an in-place upgrade between equivalent editions (say, Vista Home Premium to 7 Home Premium), but to change to a different edition they say you need to start from scratch.

I'm still using XP on my recording machine - fast, stable and doing the job I want it to. I can't see me switching that until I decide to go 64 bit.

**Pacman** · #8 11-12-2009, 01:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Philbiker

Sounds like a whole lot of bother. I'd backup my files and just do the "upgrade" install from Vista to 7. There's no reason you'll ever want Vista again. Seven works with Vista drivers; if your stuff works under Vista it will work under Seven.

This is not exactly true. SOME Vista drivers will work with 7, but not all. Again, check MS's upgrade advisor.

FreaqyFrequency · #9 11-12-2009, 01:41 AM

I've noticed a world of difference. Everything is faster, less faculties are used while more is processed. Online gamers and people who download large files, take heed: make the switch.

Absentia · #10 11-12-2009, 04:13 AM

Back up the PC and do a fresh install.

It's not hard to dual boot different instances of windows if you already have another partition but can be a pain in the ass but it sounds like you already have a spare partition.

Just pop the disk in and install to that partition, When you reboot the computer press F8 and you can switch between the two windows installs. Simple easy

when in doubt load linux.

I'm still having a hard time understanding what the big deal about 7 is...
Far as I can tell it's vista with a few bug updates and added bells and whistles... meh I'll keep running it on a few machines see where it goes.

Bocete · #11 11-12-2009, 04:20 AM

I've checked the update advisor. A great tool I didn't know about.

I have Vista Home Premium, and will upgrade to 7 Professional. Got it for free at college. I've heard I can also upgrade to Ultimate for free as well once I install this. But I'll need a clean install.

All the devices will work (my primary concern), most software will as well. The problematic software is VMWare Workstation 6.0, which I'll need to update to 7.0; and all the Toshiba spam that I couldn't remove that I got with the laptop. I'll be happy without those. As soon as I get the new VMWare Workstation, I upgrade

EDIT:

7 Ultimate doesn't have anything important that Professional doesn't have. Apart that it looks fancy, all black and all.

Are there any minor differences that might matter? I think I remember XP Home edition having a limit to the number of computers in a network, or a limit in a number of TCP/IP connections or some other networking limit that XP Professional didn't have.

Jazz Ad · #12 11-12-2009, 04:31 AM

The update from Vista to 7 is painless, just very long. It can take several hours for the install to complete.

playinpearls · #13 11-12-2009, 05:11 AM

i've never trusted "upgrades" i'd just wipe and do a clean install...

my wife was running vista, and 7 loaded on her laptop fine....i had to download a touchpad driver from acer, that was the only problem..

Absentia · #14 11-12-2009, 06:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bocete

I've checked the update advisor. A great tool I didn't know about.

I have Vista Home Premium, and will upgrade to 7 Professional. Got it for free at college. I've heard I can also upgrade to Ultimate for free as well once I install this. But I'll need a clean install.

All the devices will work (my primary concern), most software will as well. The problematic software is VMWare Workstation 6.0, which I'll need to update to 7.0; and all the Toshiba spam that I couldn't remove that I got with the laptop. I'll be happy without those. As soon as I get the new VMWare Workstation, I upgrade

EDIT:

7 Ultimate doesn't have anything important that Professional doesn't have. Apart that it looks fancy, all black and all.

Are there any minor differences that might matter? I think I remember XP Home edition having a limit to the number of computers in a network, or a limit in a number of TCP/IP connections or some other networking limit that XP Professional didn't have.

XP home cannot be added to a domain

and missing alot of options for local group policies.
I hate that they intentionally remove options just to market it as a different product, just make 1 PC os and 1 Server OS and save the rest of us the headache.

but yep fresh install upgrades are rough.
I updated a handycap kids netbook to pro so we could put it on the domain and I'm having loads of problems with printers, mapped and shared drives and group policy.

Philbiker · #15 11-12-2009, 07:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassybill

Make sure you check the MS info on upgrade paths. You can do an in-place upgrade between equivalent editions (say, Vista Home Premium to 7 Home Premium), but to change to a different edition they say you need to start from scratch.

I upgraded from Vista "Home Basic" to Seven "Home Premium" with no problems.

L-A · #16 11-12-2009, 10:28 AM

Use the compatibility tool. It will output a precise summary of what needs to be done, if there is any.

Quote:

Originally Posted by playinpearls

i've never trusted "upgrades" i'd just wipe and do a clean install...

my wife was running vista, and 7 loaded on her laptop fine....i had to download a touchpad driver from acer, that was the only problem..

If you buy a 7 upgrade, a clean install has to be a "custom installation". It does not offer formatting of the drive unless you're running a legit copy of Windows XP or 2000/ME. It's a bit more of a hassle to get Vista to wipe clean, but numerous methods are available online.

TrooperFarva · #17 11-12-2009, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by L-A

It's a bit more of a hassle to get Vista to wipe clean, but numerous methods are available online.

That's exactly what I did, it wasn't a hassle at all. I booted off the DVD, chose Custom Installation, did a quick format of the Vista partition, and Windows 7 installed. The whole thing took about 25 minutes.

L-A · #18 11-12-2009, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrooperFarva

That's exactly what I did, it wasn't a hassle at all. I booted off the DVD, chose Custom Installation, did a quick format of the Vista partition, and Windows 7 installed. The whole thing took about 25 minutes.

Oh. Color me wrong, then. I didn't know the choice was also available to Vista users.

Bocete · #19 11-12-2009, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by L-A

Oh. Color me wrong, then. I didn't know the choice was also available to Vista users.

Well, if it weren't, you could format the partition with your old XP cd or maybe even CD-booted Linux and install 7 to the clean partition.

L-A · #20 11-12-2009, 03:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bocete

Well, if it weren't, you could format the partition with your old XP cd or maybe even CD-booted Linux and install 7 to the clean partition.

The upgrade CD doesn't allow that. You have to start the install from a Windows partition to use it. Of this I'm sure.