I'm thinking about getting Vista and doing the upgrade to it.

In the past MS has sucked significantly at upgrading from one OS to the new version. I'm thinking about doing just a total format and a fresh install but I wanted to see if people were running into issues first.

It would save me a lot of time if I didn't have to reinstall everything but I would like to avoid the headache of half of my shit not running right after an upgrade.

1/31/2007 12:03:37 PM

try a dual boot on a different partion from XP first. If you don't like Vista just format and delete that partion and you're back to just XP. I'm in the process of doing this myself sometime tonight or tomorrow. You'll need at least 15Gigs on the Vista partion though.

1/31/2007 12:06:10 PM

Upgrade versions of vista require that the OS you're upgrading from be installed on the computer already.

Its fucking gay.

1/31/2007 12:28:19 PM

isnt that how an upgrade usually works?

1/31/2007 12:29:27 PM

im confused too, i thought thats what upgrades were

1/31/2007 12:32:10 PM

well either I buy the full version or the upgrade version. I just want to know if people going from XP are having problems.

1/31/2007 12:33:02 PM

Quote :

"isnt that how an upgrade usually works?"

With previous versions of windows you could throw the upgrade cd into the drive, boot to it, and then it would ask you to point it to the location of the old OS files. Now this could be a preinstalled os, or the install cd of the previous os.

Now you cant use the install cd. So if you're installing an upgrade on a new machine, you must first install a copy of xp on that machine and then upgrade it. So it takes twice as long.

1/31/2007 12:38:24 PM

oic

1/31/2007 12:39:11 PM

and I don't need O/S problems in the middle of a semester

[Edited on January 31, 2007 at 12:39 PM. Reason : fuck it, might just wait ti'll the service pack]

1/31/2007 12:39:37 PM

if you're worried about problems, i wouldnt buy an OS during its first release.

1/31/2007 12:40:48 PM

Thats a new policy of Microsofts'. To install the upgrade version of Vista you have to have the OS installed when installing Vista. Makes sense, so people aren't buying upgrade versions (instead of the pricier full version) and just carrying around an older CD to do installs with (on a new/homebuilt pc)


There are two possible outcomes of this new policy:

1) Vista is installed over XP, making the install last longer and resulting in a dirty installation.

2) Vista still formats and installs a clean copy just like you could do with XP Upgrade...they just wanted to be sure you actually had the OS installed first.


A tech pundit was saying the result was #1, so I'd be inclined to think hes right. Moral of the story, don't buy the upgrade version of Vista.

1/31/2007 12:55:23 PM

Clean vista install from upgrade disc

http://tinyurl.com/33yao7

1/31/2007 6:45:04 PM

Unless its a business-critical system, take the extra time to do a fresh install. You'll thank for not having to deal with file / registry / etc. headaches that didn't go quite as smoothly as they should have during the upgrade.

And wait for the first service pack if this is going to be your main system. A LOT of companies didn't go from Windows2000 to 2003 until SP1 was released. XP itself wasn't really complete until SP2 came out. Again, save yourself the headaches unless you enjoy having the latest and greatest out there and tinkering with it (in which case I'd point you to a Linux distro).

1/31/2007 6:54:40 PM

i was about to buy Vista Ultimate from best buy but they don't carry that edition in stores...only compusa does

1/31/2007 6:59:59 PM

see the chart to see if a clean install or in-place install is an option:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/upgradepaths.mspx

1/31/2007 9:16:33 PM

http://www.tomcoyote.org/tech/vista-upgrade-invalidates-your-xp-key/74/

[Edited on January 31, 2007 at 9:21 PM. Reason : also interesting: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5932]

1/31/2007 9:20:09 PM

If you're buying a new laptop, would you recommend getting Vista or sticking with an XP OS?

2/5/2007 9:33:40 PM

This guy tried to do an upgrade from XP on a brand new high-end Dell XPS to Vista. Here is how it turned out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54ypt_FzRAk

2/5/2007 10:08:40 PM

what version of vista do you need to link to an xbox

2/12/2007 10:25:44 AM

^AIDS

2/12/2007 12:07:31 PM

I tried to do an upgrade instead of a clean install, I could never get it to finish installation. Thankfully I had an old drive that I could do a clean install on and was able to pull all my old files off the upgrade-install drive.

In short, do a clean install.

Once I did a clean install I haven't had it crash on me once. The only thing I really have a problem with is that I can't find any mouse software that works with my standard logitech wheel mouse that will let me use my wheel button to go "back" on webpages. Other than that, I like it.

[Edited on February 12, 2007 at 12:29 PM. Reason : ]

2/12/2007 12:28:26 PM

did your windows vista upgrade come with a product key? Or when it asks you for a key, you need to use your old windows xp key?

2/15/2007 3:44:19 PM

doing an upgrade is asking for trouble and lots of it. people on other forums have had major complaints and issues with doing the upgrade function. it's also interesting that if you purchased an upgrade copy you can work around it to do a full installation. so basically you can get a full Vista install at an upgrade price.

2/15/2007 3:55:36 PM

my co-worker claims that you can't do the full install with the upgrade now because MS checks the validity of the product code... He said that the upgrade doesn't give you a key and u must use your old xp key. That doesn't sound right, but I can't find anything about it on the websites that have info about doing clean installs of the upgrade cd.

2/15/2007 6:04:08 PM

clean install w/ format worked fine for me

used that workaround

format, install without key from startup, install with key from desktop

i just activated it and it works fine, i mean it said it activated and all

2/15/2007 6:30:16 PM

http://keznews.com/2302_Cheap_Vista_for_everyone_-_how_to

2/15/2007 6:41:39 PM

looks easy enough

2/15/2007 7:24:28 PM

i dont know if it has been mentioned.. but i believe if you do a vista upgrade from xp, then it will invalidate your xp key. just something to keep in mind...

2/15/2007 11:33:30 PM

i know this has to be old, but i had to see what others had to say since this is the first time i have ever seen this: http://video.stumbleupon.com/#p=udzie60xsg ' http://video.stumbleupon.com/#p=eqjptzl6xu

2/28/2007 7:34:17 PM

ok from what i've found on google...i was trying to install Vista Ultimate on a Raid 0 setup...didn't work...it installed fine but on only one of the drives, didn't recognize them as a Raid. (Even with drivers loaded)...so i disabled the Raid in bios and it booted just fine etc...

what i'm getting at is from what i've read, you have to have XP installed first with Raid then do an upgrade. Of course these instructions were pre-release and i'm using the release edition. Would have thought they'd fix that shit by now.

2/28/2007 7:45:48 PM

I LIKE HOW THOSE FAG FUCKS AT MICROSOFT DO NOT OFFER A STUDENT DISCOUNT ON THE FULL VERSION JUST THE UPGRADE

2/28/2007 8:53:11 PM

why are you complaining? you can use the upgrade CD to install a full version by doing a work-around.

2/28/2007 9:02:47 PM