[Grav!ty]

Windows Vista: "Upgrade" Install over Windows XP


The principle is a sound one. Simply use the upgrade functionality built into the "Setup" process of Windows Vista so that one does not need to reinstall the programs one uses. All one's personalized settings can also be "transferred" to the new operating system using this process.

Windows XP and Windows Vista are entirely different computer operating systems however. They are built on entirely different code and the fundamental workings of the operating systems are like chalk and cheese. In practice therefore, we cannot recommend that the "Upgrade" installation method is used as it has been shown that users doing so experience many problems with driver and program compatibility even after using the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor

In our view, one is better off with a clean installation and an operating system which is "unfettered" by the inherent differences in the earlier version of Windows.


The Upgrade Installation Process

Should one choose to follow the Upgrade Installation path, we recommend that one backs up all ones important data to external media like a CD/DVD or USB drive before proceeding with the upgrade installation.

From within Windows XP and with all programs and windows closed, insert the Windows Vista DVD and let it autorun. This setup screen below will appear and simply click on Install now




It's not really necessary to check for updates online at this stage but one may if one chooses to and then insert the product key




Accept the Licence Agreement and then select the Upgrade option. A Compatibility Report will appear with information about software and drivers which are not supported by Windows Vista. At this stage it is safe to abort the setup process if the Compatibility Report indicates that most of ones programs will not be compatible. One can do so by simply clicking the red "Close" button on the dialog window of the Compatibility Report. If one wishes to proceed with setup then simply select "Next" and the upgrade process will commence.




The setup process follows clear stages. These can be seen below. Once "Expanding files" has progressed for a while the system will restart.




On the system booting up again, "Expanding files" will continue, followed by another restart after "Installing features and updates" is complete. On restart "Completing upgrade" will continue and then the system will restart for a final time before booting into Windows.




Problems Experienced

With the specific upgrade installation under review, the following problems were experienced on finally booting into Windows Vista:

1. The system hanged for about 10 minutes on final restart at a pale blue entirely blank screen and from there it hanged again for about 15 minutes at a dark blue screen with only a mouse pointer and this text in the bottom right hand corner visible:

Windows Vista(TM) Beta 2
Evaluation copy. Build 5384

A hard restart from the power reset switch was necessary and then the system booted fully into Windows Vista for the first time.

2. Audio was very bad and scratchy and all attempts at rectifying this with a driver update failed. The Intel Audio Studio icon on the desktop failed to open the program too.

3. The Avast! AntiVirus icon on the desktop failed to open the program although the AntiVirus itself was active, despite it being known that Avast! is fully functional and compatible in Windows Vista.

4. The ATi Control Panel failed to open the program but in all fairness this had been indicated by the Compatibility Report.

5. Each and every time a Office 2007 application was opened, it first went into a "setup" mode before the application would open. Word was opened repeatedly and this occured on every occasion.



6. The system went into a BSOD while trying to update the sound drivers. On Restart sound was still bad and the system was left on for four or 5 hours. Out of the blue (pun intended) the system restarts randomly and I only become aware of this when I hear the really bad startup audio. This error message has been found on the desktop a number of times now and looking for a solution to the problem, unspecified drivers were identified as being the cause:




Conclusion

Below you will find the "Upgrade Install" experience of another member, with equally unsatisfactory results. The decision to use this method to install Windows Vista must be yours and based on the probability of your experiencing similar problems.

[shreader]

Here is what I experienced with using the "Upgrade" installation method to install Windows Vista Beta2 (Build 5384) Home Basic.

A clean installation of Windows XP Home Edition SP2 to a partition on an IDE drive was used for this excercise.

The following software progams were installed:

Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007 Beta2
MS Encarta Encyclopedia 2000 with all upgrades added


Installation

The Windows Vista Beta 2 (Build 5384 x86) DVD was placed in the DVD drive and when the setup screen appeared, the "Install now" button was pressed.





Installation HUNG, so Ctrl+ Alt+ Del was used to open Task Manager and the Windows Vista setup program was closed. After closing Task Manager, the Windows Vista setup window was back up so the "Install now" button was pressed again. This time the next screen was arrived at and the "Upgrade" option selected. The rest of the setup process was the same as that above.

There were three items in the Compatibility Report which were indicated as not being compatible.

"Expanding files" started out slowly but as it progressed past 35% it got a lot faster.

At "Installing Features" the description flickered several times and then the system restarted.

Towards the end of the installation a "window" got a broken corner for a few seconds then the screen went black and came back with a higher resolution.

Just before the aurora screen, there was a black screen for one minute then a grey screen for two minutes (the HDD light was active and flickered). This was followed by the blue Aurora screen with the "preparing your desktop" message.

The installation process took 55 minutes to get to finally boot to the desktop. The first desktop was light blue and there was no opportunity to change it. At this point it was decided to restart the system.


First Desktop




Start Menu>All Programs




Results

The same Office 2007 Beta2 BUG was experienced, with the little "Configuring Office" dialog box appearing every time before any of the Office applications opened. Activating Windows Vista didn

[jwanner]

I upgraded my Acer Ferrari 4005 laptop from XP to Vista. Everything went very smoothly. The only issue I have is that it saved my XP stuff in anothe directory , created shortcuts to old XP things and left the boot.ini file and boots up asking me which os to run. I deleted the old XP folder and am deleting the shortcuts which I don't need. I copied everthing I wanted to keep to a second drive in my system. What I want to know is can I delete the boot.ini file and have Vist boot up using its BCD. I want to end up with no visible refences to or folder structures from XP.

[augie]

I upgraded my Acer Ferrari 4005 laptop from XP to Vista. Everything went very smoothly. The only issue I have is that it saved my XP stuff in anothe directory , created shortcuts to old XP things and left the boot.ini file and boots up asking me which os to run. I deleted the old XP folder and am deleting the shortcuts which I don't need. I copied everthing I wanted to keep to a second drive in my system. What I want to know is can I delete the boot.ini file and have Vist boot up using its BCD. I want to end up with no visible refences to or folder structures from XP.

Welcome aboard jwanner, it's good to see that your upgrade went smoothly however this thread was made in relation to beta 2 and dates from last summer. Thanks for your input!

[jwanner]

Thats ok, I found a different thread that discusses my problem.