Over the last 20 years the procedure for installing Windows has improved in
virtually every respect. We have now reached the point where I recommend breaking the last techie's taboo, put aside the clean install and
go for an upgrade from Vista to Windows 7. If this
sounds like heresy, my riposte is to say 'examine the
evidence'.
The worry of any in-place upgrade is that old baggage will slow down the new
system. My conclusion from 5 upgrades from Vista is a resounding, 'No it won't'.
Part of my faith in this upgrade technique is that the
difference between Vista and Windows 7 is version 6.0 compared
with 6.1. I would be so bold as to suggest that in other
circumstances Windows 7 could be considered a service pack of
Vista.
If I am wrong then it will cost you 30 minutes of tweaking the
Windows 7 settings, before you conclude that a clean install was
required after all. But if I am right an upgrade will save you a day
of your life, which is what it can cost to complete a migration
to Windows 7. This is because unless you are Mr Organized,
and know where to find not only all of the DVDs for your current
application, but also all their service packs, product keys and
maybe passwords, then it will take a much longer than you think
to perform a
clean install.
Yet, I concede that in the case of XP (version 5.1) a clean
install is the way to go. There is no direct in-place
upgrade from XP to Windows 7, therefore a double shuffle from XP to
Vista, and then to Windows would be pushing this upgrade concept
too far.
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Remember that with Windows installs the past does not equal the present.
My greatest desire is encourage you to keep an open mind, think for yourself
and seek out real evidence.
Forget prejudice; avoid those with an axe to grind or a buck to make.
Here are some of the developments that successive generations of
Windows operating systems have introduced to their setup
procedure. One of Microsoft's most annoying developments
was to break the backwards compatibility pledge of the
Windows 3.11 / Windows 95 era; yet this uncoupling may be
the very factor that makes a Windows 7 in-place upgrade work
without causing the new machine to slow down.
Back in 1988 I installed Windows 2.0 using floppy disks (I forget if it was
4,6, or 8). What a joke. For Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 I
used an ISO image.
Even as late as the year 2002, installing XP or Windows Server 2000 required
considerable user input, whereas now with Windows 7 and W2K8 R2 you just kick-off
setup, check 3 menus then go away. Come back 90 minutes and
enjoy your upgraded computer. One confusing change of procedure is that
you don't need to enter the product key until the end of the installation.
All of this means that times are a changing, thus I urge you to
consider an in-place upgrade, rather than a clean install.
Whether you go for an upgrade or clean install, your best friend
is the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. My only concern with
this free utility is that it's getting frighteningly clever.
Rather like those bridge programs that seem to read my mind
and beat me mercilessly, so the Upgrade Advisor understands our
machine better than we do. Please do read its concise
findings carefully.
Learn from my mistake, I ignored the Upgrade Advisor when it said, 'You
will need to re-install this program'. I didn't; and the
program refused to work until I dutifully performed the
uninstall, reinstall routine.
For this upgrade you need Vista. If you have XP then opt for
a custom / new install of Windows 7. If you have a 64-bit
processor be sure you know which is the 32-bit DVD in your box.
You also need the same edition of Windows 7 that you had in Vista. It maybe possible to upgrade to higher version of Windows, for example,
Ultimate Windows 7 over Home Vista, but this did not work for
me. Incidentally, setup only asks you for a product key
for AFTER the install. Get the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor
from Microsoft's site.
Guy
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For the rest of the article I want to reassure you that it's
almost impossible for an in-place upgrade to screw up your
system, in the worst case that I have heard about, all that
happened was that the
installer baled-out and made a controlled roll-back to
Vista.
There is no need to boot from the DVD, therefore I booted Vista normally, and even left program links in my
Startup folder.
I interrupted the early stage of installation to print out a
product key I obtained from MSDN. In retrospect this was especially stupid
as we don't need the product key until AFTER the upgrade has
completed. One conclusion of my upgrade was avoid over-think,
if in doubt do nothing, just trust the install process will sort
it out.
The best thing I did during the upgrade was to leave the
installer alone, and go out and watch a rugby game, when I came back 2 hrs later the upgrade
was complete - magic. 98% of my settings worked first time, and
Windows 7 even found the link in my Startup folder to open
Outlook and downloaded my new emails.
A hidden benefit of the in-place upgrade is that you are fresh
and keen. Whereas re-installing all those applications
needed by a migration can
leave you frazzled. My
point is that tweaking the new operating system will be a labor
of love and not a chore.
Guy's Law says that after any
upgrade there will always be 7 things that need fixing. My
list was:
Mastering the new Taskbar.
Finding a driver for a webcam.
Tweaking the Windows sounds.
Seeking the Add Windows features.
Installing
IE8.
Adjusting settings such as the new Library.
Finally
changing my product key in the Control Panel.
Your list
will be different from mine, but I bet there will be seven
tasks that you need to do before Windows 7 is upgraded to your
liking. Good news; each configuration will take only 5 minutes.
Windows Update Rides to My Rescue
After
one of my Windows 7 upgrades I had a show-stopper, a faulty
network card driver, 'What a disgrace' I thought, 'it worked
fine in Vista'. Then I looked at that little white flag in the
notification area, probably because it had a red cross, anyway, a few
clicks took me through the Action Center into the Maintenance
section. There I saw a link to download a new NIC driver.
Windows 7 went from zero to hero in my reckoning. Perhaps
this is where my own words return to haunt me, 'With Windows
installs the past does not equal the present'.
The procedure to upgrade from plain Windows Server 2008 to R2 is almost identical
to the method for upgrading Vista to
Windows 7, it just took twice as long; 4
hours. Incidentally, Winver reports W2K8 R2 as being
version 6.1.
However, once again you could leave the install, and get on with other jobs,
no human interaction is required despite several reboots.
I suggest that it would take at least a day for clean install of
a Windows server, especially if you have to re-configure all
those roles and services from scratch.
For me the end result was much as Window7, the R2 server runs at
least as fast as the original Windows Server 2008, I have had no
server related problems since making the upgrade.
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