Windows 7/Uninstalling Vista

[Gameplayer]

Got a new Acer Aspire Notebook that came with Windows Vista Home Edition. Planning on picking up Windows 7 to install and doing away with Vista. The Notebook is still new in the box and has never been used. The system consists of:

Acer Aspire AS4810TZ-4011

MS Windows Vista Home Premium

Intel Pentium SU2700 1.3GHz Processor 2MB L2 cache

3 GB DDR3 SDRAM 2 DIMMM

320GB Hard Drive, Integrated DVD-Writer (DVD-RAM/R/RW)

14.0" WXGA (1366 x 768)

Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500

802.1.1b/g/n WiFi

Six-cell battery

I believe I have the requirements for Windows 7. How do I uninstall Windows Vista?

[cconn]

If you buy the Windows 7 Upgrade it will do it automatically when you install Windows 7. Just put disk in and click all the little "ok" and "accept" boxes.

[Gameplayer]

If you buy the Windows 7 Upgrade it will do it automatically when you install Windows 7. Just put disk in and click all the little "ok" and "accept" boxes.

So...Windows 7 is just an upgrade and not a new OS?

[D.Hayden]

If you buy the Windows 7 Upgrade it will do it automatically when you install Windows 7. Just put disk in and click all the little "ok" and "accept" boxes.

So...Windows 7 is just an upgrade and not a new OS?

It is a new OS.. it's just upgrading the OS. Windows 7 is actually: Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600]

lol - who knows where they get these release names from.

Depending on the Windows 7 disk you have.. you may be able to do a fresh install. and there's different degrees of that. You can format the whole drive and start from scratch or just write the new OS onto the drive.. it depends on how many of the programs and settings you want to reinstall.

I used to always back up my files, and format the drive, I liked starting fresh. This time (to Windows 7), I didn't have some of the install disks that came with my new HP desktop, so I had it upgrade Vista.

[cconn]

If you buy the Windows 7 Upgrade it will do it automatically when you install Windows 7. Just put disk in and click all the little "ok" and "accept" boxes.

So...Windows 7 is just an upgrade and not a new OS?

Basically there should be 2 versions of Windows 7 you can get. One will be cheaper and will say something like Windows 7 Upgrade. This disc will take Windows Vista (and XP I think) and install Windows 7 over it, keeping some of the files and settings on the computer.

The other option is a Full Install Disc, which requires no prior operating system on the computer, but may cost more.

[larry cazes]

If you buy the Windows 7 Upgrade it will do it automatically when you install Windows 7. Just put disk in and click all the little "ok" and "accept" boxes.

So...Windows 7 is just an upgrade and not a new OS?

It is a new OS.. it's just upgrading the OS. Windows 7 is actually: Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600]

lol - who knows where they get these release names from.

Depending on the Windows 7 disk you have.. you may be able to do a fresh install. and there's different degrees of that. You can format the whole drive and start from scratch or just write the new OS onto the drive.. it depends on how many of the programs and settings you want to reinstall.

I used to always back up my files, and format the drive, I liked starting fresh. This time (to Windows 7), I didn't have some of the install disks that came with my new HP desktop, so I had it upgrade Vista.

Dave, how does the new version look so far?

[Gameplayer]

I will be purchasing it from the bookstore at Indiana University. I just noticed this information as I was surfing through their Hardware/Software web page.

Warning:

The DVDs require that a genuine version of Windows (XP, Vista, or 7) is already installed on the computer. They will not install on a blank hard drive.

An in-place upgrade can be performed from any existing version of Windows 7 or Vista.

Upgrading from Windows XP requires a clean (custom) install which deletes all existing data from the computer during the installation.

[D.Hayden]

7 is very nice.. takes a while to get used to it.. since I did very little with Vitsa.. but it seems comfortable form the start.

So far.. the only thing I don't have figured out is the search.. the Desktop Search in XP found more stuff for me.. I don't think I have Windows 7 search configured right?

I don't run much store bought software.. so I can't comment on compatibilty issues, the stuff I have, all works 100%

[Cactustactical]

7 is very nice.. takes a while to get used to it.. since I did very little with Vitsa.. but it seems comfortable form the start.

So far.. the only thing I don't have figured out is the search.. the Desktop Search in XP found more stuff for me.. I don't think I have Windows 7 search configured right?

I don't run much store bought software.. so I can't comment on compatibilty issues, the stuff I have, all works 100%

I have 4 less than 1 yr old pc's running XP that I am considering converting to Windows 7. Yesterday I got an email fromLaplink advertising their mover product which is supposed to take pc's from XP to 7 painlessly.

Does anyone have any experience with this or have heard good / bad things about it? I have used PC Mover twice in the past on XP machines, once flawlessly and once crashed and burned because Norton security was installed.

Copy of email ad follows:

Dear Laplink Customer,

On October 22, 2009, earlier than originally expected, Microsoft® will release worldwide its newest operating system Windows®7. Unlike the release of Windows Vista, the press and early testers seem to be in agreement that this version of Windows is the best yet.

Headlines and Reality

Public opinion has markedly changed towards Windows recently, and now even the most cautious analysts recommend upgrading to Windows 7 sooner rather than later. Whether you want to benefit from superior performance, improved ease-of-use, or new multimedia functionality, the biggest question is how to “get” to Windows 7. The easiest solution is to buy a new PC with Windows 7 pre-installed. But for many users, their hardware isn’t too old and will run Windows 7 just fine. In fact, one of the major improvements of Windows 7 over Vista is the need for less “horsepower“ – a PC that is working just fine with Windows XP or Vista will probably handle Windows 7 without any problems.

That’s why I expect many users will choose to upgrade their PC rather than buy a new one. Our data suggests that around 70% of computers are still running XP and a majority have PC’s that are Windows 7 compatible – they may not have upgraded to Vista in the past because it required greater hardware resources.

There is one catch, however. Microsoft does not support upgrading from XP to Windows 7.

If upgrading from Vista to Windows 7 and if you’re choosing a “like version” (say, Vista Home Premium 32-bit to Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit), then the upgrade Microsoft provides is smooth, easy and effective.

However, if you choose an “unlike version” of Vista (or any version of XP), you may have a problem. For example, let’s say you have Vista 32-bit and want to add RAM to your PC as part of the upgrade. You need a 64-bit version of Windows 7 to address more than 4 GB of RAM, which means you are upgrading to an “unlike version.” Or perhaps you want to move from Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional. Again, this is an “unlike version.” In these situations (and many more), Microsoft will allow you to install an upgrade version of Windows 7, at the upgrade price, but requires you to do a “custom” install (not "upgrade"). This means you must copy all your data and applications to a safe place (external storage), install Windows 7, and then reinstall all your applications and copy back all your data.

I think there will be many confused and frustrated customers, because out of the 66 upgrade scenarios outlined by Microsoft, only 14 are supported by Windows 7 as an in-place upgrade. In reality, there are many other scenarios – even more than Microsoft has outlined, but the big issue will be XP to Windows 7. All of these “unsupported” scenarios require a custom install; no easy upgrade path available from Microsoft.

The Solution

That’s why we just released PCmover® Windows 7 Upgrade Assistant. It is the ONLY software program available that is able to facilitate a complete in-place upgrade to Windows 7 on a computer running Windows XP (or most other Windows versions as well). All programs, files and settings will remain the same as they were on the old operating system.

As you probably know, PCmover is the #1 selling software in the world to help move from an old PC to a new PC – all your programs, files, and settings are automatically transferred over. Since we have this “complete move” technology, we decided to modify it to handle an in-place upgrade scenario, which is similar to a normal migration – the old PC just becomes the new PC.

We will be selling PCmover Windows 7 Upgrade Assistant for about US $30, but we are offering “Windows 7 pre-release” pricing of $14.95 until October 22. (That’s about €12 or £10.) I am confident that if you buy this product, you will agree that it is money well spent!

My Personal Experience

Last week, I upgraded my business laptop from XP Professional to Windows 7 Ultimate. Naturally I used Laplink PCmover. Before I actually started the migration, I created an image of my hard drive to archive the entire PC. I used our new disk imaging software (Laplink DiskImage, which will be released publicly later this month) and saved a perfect copy of my system to an external hard drive. Using PCmover, I decided not to “move everything”, but de-selected those applications that I did not want to have anymore or that I knew were not going to work on Windows 7. I also de-selected some folders where I stored multimedia files that I had already copied to a portable hard drive.

Installing Windows 7 on the PC took nearly 20 GB of hard drive space (seemed like a lot to me). Then I ran PCmover again which restored my applications, settings and data automatically. It was pretty quick – and I didn’t have to find all my CDs, serial numbers or find the various programs I have downloaded off the Internet the past few years. Not having to reinstall 30-40 applications probably saved me 4-8 hours.

[vluc]

Hmm, not sure how they will move items seamlessly from XP to Win7 when the structure is different. For example, Microsoft's Easy Transfer will transfer compatible program settings, your files, folders and important documents, but not all programs and settings are going to transfer to your new OS.

I tried using mozbackup to transfer my settings for Firefox from xp to 7 when I installed it. XP stores the data in one place, Win7 another so I got a good bit of corruption, but was eventually able to get all my extensions and bookmarks back in, but it was in no way seamless.

Extremetech

Now the upgrade of the OS itself from Vista seems to go much better. Winxpcentral

Edited October 7, 2009 by vluc

[Cactustactical]

Yeah, I was skeptical of the emails claims and hope that someone here has been able to play with it and provide some insight. My Plan A was to first upgrade the XP pc's to Vista and the Win 7.

Here is the link to Laplink's web site:

PcMover.

[ajg308]

Windows 7 will not "upgrade" from XP. You will need to backup files so that you can restore them when 7 installs. When you install 7 on an XP computer it will format the drive and install a complete and fresh copy of seven. At that point you will have to install any application software that you had on it with XP. If you have programs that run only on XP you need 7 Professional as it as a Windows XP emulation program that will allow your old programs to run. The lower versions do not have this.

Installing 7 over Vista is a lot easier. You can do a clean install or a true upgrade. The upgrade will not affect files and most programs will works after the upgrade.

For the OP. I would strongly reccomend that you take the computer out and get the initial setup done. This will allow you to do the easy upgrade to 7 and you can make the recovery DVD's that are not included in the box. With those DVD's you can easily take the computer back to Vista and factory configuration. This is good espcially if you want to sell your laptop later on but you want to keep your copy of 7. Upgrading from Vista also makes it so you won't be looking for drivers for hardware that 7 may not recognize.

[Cactustactical]

Well, I went ahead and used the LapLink Windows 7 upgrader to convert from XP to 7.

It worked well, a few applications did not transfer ( virus scanner, Itunes) but they tell you those sorts of apps wont. The software lets you select the software, settings, HD's, file, etc that you want to move over and it builds a huge file of those. Then after 7 has been installed, you run the software again and it loads the saved stuff.

The download and load took about 2 hours in total.. If I would have had to re-install all the settings and apps it moved for me, it would have taken days.

So, for one experience with the Lap Link Windows 7 mover, it was a great success and it cost us $14 or so. No reason Microsoft could not have included something like this with 7, but I am glad LapLink did.