Ok, so I have a Technet subscription and yesterday they released Windows 7 RTM (Release To Manufacturing) for us subscribers. I downloaded Windows 7 Ultimate and decided to upgrade my primary Windows Vista 64-bit machine. Here are my first impressions.
Upgrading is never what I would recommend to anyone. A clean install is much preferable and will result in a spanking new "virgin" system. Old problems do not migrate to the new system, as can be the case with upgrading. None the less, I looked at all of the crap I would have to save and re-install and decided to try to upgrade first to see if that would work and save me the hours of time that a clean install requires, when you migrate your stuff to a new system. And, I have to say that my Vista has been acting up. of late..... problem boot-ups and freezes.
I popped in the disk at boot up and it told me that if I wanted to upgrade, I would need to insert the DVD while Vista was running. Hmmmm... that is new. Anyways, I rebooted my system (took three times to get a good reboot) and inserted the disk. It scanned my system and said that it wouldn't go further until updated my Realtek AC'97 Audio driver. The install closed itself and I went to search for the correct driver. Found it in about 10 minutes. I installed it and inserted the disk again. This time it scanned my system and said the audio driver was good but two other peripherals might not work properly (Canon Pixma MX700 printer and my Logitech Webcam). I understand that since Windows 7 is so new, some software is not available yet.
I chose to go ahead with the upgrade install. It took (seriously) 2 hours to do all of the file transferring and all. And this is on a 64 bit machine. At the end of the install, it rebooted and there it was.... my spanking new desktop.
Did it save everything? Yes! Did the programs work? Yes! All except the ones they warned me about. I dowloaded new drivers for my printer, and it works fine. My webcam.... well, I will wait until the new drivers come out.
I think that this is a rock solid OS...... quick, intuitive, and easy to manipulate through. I'd recommend it for anyone interested in trying it out, or changing their Windows set-up. I still love Linux first, but I take my hat off to the guys at Microsoft for this outstanding effort.
Thanks Barney!! Still thinking I'll do the 'clean-install' when my Windows7 arrives in October. This computer has too much 'build-up' that I don't want to bring to the new installation. Appreciate your thoughts.
Well, on the third install on my wife's laptop (this is from my Technet account), I did run into a snag....... I upgraded her Dell laptop and all went well until the reboot at the end, It boot to the log in screen then the whole screen went black........... with no return to the desktop. Damn... and I told my wife that it would be an easy install with nothing wiped out
I had to reboot to the Last Known Good Configuration (it actually worked this time) and I ran a Windows Start-Up Repair from the install disk. Rebooted..... same crap. I figured that it had to be something with the video driver, so I went to Device Manager after another Last Known Good Configuration boot. I had some ATI card driver, so I Googled it and saw that there was another set someone put together for Windows 7. Followed the instructions there, downloaded the RAR file, dowloaded WinRAR, extracted the file, updated the driver, rebooted and voila... no doghouse for me!
-- Edited by barney on Sunday 9th of August 2009 11:31:15 PM
