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Upgrading to Windows 7


ppgrainbow

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Hello everyone!

I have few questions regarding doing a in-place upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 and keeping all of the files.

1. I currently have the 64-bit version of Windows Vista Ultimate with Service Pack 2 installed and I'm getting close to planning on upgrading to the 64-bit version of Windows 7 RTM.

Is possible doing a in-place upgrade to 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate RTM using the full retail version of the Windows 7 Ultimate RTM DVD (SKU: GLC-00182)? The lowest that I can find on eBay is $85 for the in-place upgrade version, but this is the last one that cheap. The full version only cost $89. If I officially get it, I'm gonna have to find a way to spend the remaining $115 out of the $200 budget elsewhere if I can. :)

2. I heard that I will lose disk space and Windows upgrade have always been a bit iffy by nature. I have concerns that applying Windows updates during the Windows 7 installation may not work as intended, especially since I updated Windows Vista via Windows Update for the past couple of years.

Would it be possible to turn Windows Updates off when upgrading to Windows 7?

3. The Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor has found at least four issues that I may need to address.

Here's a screenshot of what it looks like:

Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor Results.png

The Upgrade Advisor is unable to find any compatibility information with Adobe SVG Viewer, EVGA Precision 2.0.0 and PlayReady PC Runtime x64.

Also, the Upgrade Advisor is telling me that action is recommended if I want to update the Linksys WMP54G v4.1 PCI adapter to make it compatible with Windows 7. What should I do? :(

Let me know your thoughts, because if miss out in upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7, it's too late after this year and I will risk being on a unsupported operating system come April.

Update 2016-11-27: Updated PlayReady PC Runtime x64 to version 1.3 and uninstalled Adobe SVG Viewer. Two remaining issues will be dealt with when I plan to upgrade to Windows 7.

Edited by ppgrainbow
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the incompatibility will be solved when you do it "run as vista" via properties
if it works on your current vista, it will work on 7

drivers should work from vista (even xp if i'm not mistaken)
but usually you'll get generic ones, so again if it works on vista, it will work on 7

since you aim for 7 RTM, SP1 installation is a must

unsupported ?
win 7 will come to same phase very soon ...
you ain't gonna miss anything, except garbage updates -_-

Edited by vinifera
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3 hours ago, vinifera said:

the incompatibility will be solved when you do it "run as vista" via properties
if it works on your current vista, it will work on 7

drivers should work from vista (even xp if i'm not mistaken)
but usually you'll get generic ones, so again if it works on vista, it will work on 7

since you aim for 7 RTM, SP1 installation is a must

unsupported ?
win 7 will come to same phase very soon ...
you ain't gonna miss anything, except garbage updates -_-

Thank you for telling me! I think that I will get the go ahead and purchase Windows 7! :D

I will install Windows 7 SP1 after upgrading to Windows 7. :)

By the way, can you provide a list of updates that we all must stay away from? I'm sure that it caused nothing but problems to Windows 7 SP1 users. :(

After installing Windows 7 RTM and updating to Windows 7 SP1, I'm sure that there will be features updates that were published before Windows 7 lost Mainstream Support in January 2015.

Edited by ppgrainbow
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SVG Viewer is pretty much deprecated. If you are still using an application that uses (functional) SVGs, you might have problems in Windows 7. By now, at least Firefox can use some of the SVG functions (drawing, fill and motion) but does not support others such as gradient... which I think that functionality came directly from IE's gradient function anyways. That just covers the basics. If you are not using any advanced SVG that do things such as linking or any full SVG applications, you can get away with not using it anymore.

When doing an in-place upgrade, make sure you can find the drivers you need ahead of time for the new OS. The important ones are chipset, video, audio and lan. You should download these before doing the upgrade, and also perhaps put them on a CD or USB drive.

If you have a RAID array, it is advised that you do NOT do an in-place upgrade.

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Thanks for the heads up. That's why I removed SVG Viewer in the first place. I'm gonna be downloading the drivers for the chipset, video, audio and LAN before upgrading and install the drivers after.

Why is it very important that you do not do a in-place upgrade if you have a RAID array installed?

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21 hours ago, ppgrainbow said:

Why is it very important that you do not do a in-place upgrade if you have a RAID array installed?

Because of the risk of data loss. I've seen scenarios where the volume becomes corrupted, changed to RAW, doesn't appear anymore, array broken, Windows using the wrong driver in the new OS, the RAID software not working with the new OS and/or driver, etc.

It is not impossible, but you can't know what the outcome is before-hand. So many variables in play. The safe way is to make a full backup of the array to another disk set. The easiest is if you are using a controller card and your OS is not on it. Then you simply remove the card from the board, then do the upgrade (or change the OS entirely). After the new OS is set, then you put the card back in and install the driver and software and it should be just fine. This is the safest example I can think of, because if you remove the card from the system (but leave the disks connected to SATA but not power) you shouldn't have any problems since no changes were done with the array at all. Even in this case, it is best to make a backup of the data, in case something happens, then you can just copy it back to a fresh array.

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3 hours ago, Tripredacus said:

Because of the risk of data loss. I've seen scenarios where the volume becomes corrupted, changed to RAW, doesn't appear anymore, array broken, Windows using the wrong driver in the new OS, the RAID software not working with the new OS and/or driver, etc.

It is not impossible, but you can't know what the outcome is before-hand. So many variables in play. The safe way is to make a full backup of the array to another disk set. The easiest is if you are using a controller card and your OS is not on it. Then you simply remove the card from the board, then do the upgrade (or change the OS entirely). After the new OS is set, then you put the card back in and install the driver and software and it should be just fine. This is the safest example I can think of, because if you remove the card from the system (but leave the disks connected to SATA but not power) you shouldn't have any problems since no changes were done with the array at all. Even in this case, it is best to make a backup of the data, in case something happens, then you can just copy it back to a fresh array.

Thank you very much for the clarification! I appreciate it. It's one of these reasons why I should never use RAID software to upgrade to Windows 7. :)

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Oh yes, thanks for reminding me. If you have set up a software mirror from within Windows using Device Manager, that can turn out even worse. In that case, you should still do a full backup before hand, with the idea that you'll be restoring data. And if it survives, you'll have less headache and at least you'll have a backup of everything. :)

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5 hours ago, Tripredacus said:

Oh yes, thanks for reminding me. If you have set up a software mirror from within Windows using Device Manager, that can turn out even worse. In that case, you should still do a full backup before hand, with the idea that you'll be restoring data. And if it survives, you'll have less headache and at least you'll have a backup of everything. :)

You're welcome! That's why I don't use RAIDS in the first place. I run the hard drives without any RAID support. :)

The full version of Windows 7 Ultimate has already been ordered and it should arrive by next Wednesday. eBay had it on sale for just $79 and it's one of the few copies that are brand new and unused. I can't wait to get the copy of it on Christmas Day! :D

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