Re: Vista (was Re: Re: [MAGNet] Dual-booting Macs in computer labs)

Roy,

Can you comment on reports I've heard that Vista, when booted from
the CD, will only do a clean install, and that upgrade is only
available from a hard-drive booted OS?

This is very important to me because I get lots of XP machines that
don't boot or which get into a loop when booting, which can usually
be fixed by doing a "repair" (upgrade over itself) from the CD. The
ability to freshen the OS this way saves hours of time, especially
when programs like SPSS and Matlab, with their license management
schemes, are installed.

I doubt that Vista is any less prone to this kind of failure than XP.

-Ted Crum

At 11:42 AM 3/18/2007, Roy A. Barill wrote:

>[snip]
>
> I ran the Microsoft upgrade tool that lets you know about things you
>might need to replace or encounter if you decide to move to Vista. It
>told me that my video card would not work at all (built-in to the 2.4
>GHz motherboard), that I would need more RAM (went from 512 MB to 2
>Gigs) and that a gaggle of programs would not work at all (my Kaspersky
>Antivirus, a whole bunch of MS programs, half of my Adobe programs,
>etc.). So, you see why I was a bit miffed. So.... I did everything the
>upgrade tool told me to do (the machine I was upgrading was my testbed
>unit). I decided I would be "upgrading" instead of buying the full
>product to try and save some money. After finding out that I would not
>be able to purchase either of the Home editions and seeing that the
>Business edition did not have all the features (my old OS was MS XP Pro
>and incompatible as an upgrade for Vista Home), I was forced to
>purchase the much more expensive Vista Ultimate Upgrade.
> Now, things get interesting. I proceeded with the upgrade. All things
>seemed to be going smoothly. When it completed, I booted up into Vista,
>discovered that, just like the Apple commercial, I had to answer a
>million questions and click the mouse a million times to get anything to
>function. I found that a lot of my remaining programs had problems,
>either with loading or functioning properly. I, surprisingly, did not
>have any problems with drivers. When I tried to use Control Panel to
>remove some of the problem programs, it hung up and failed. When I tried
>to load new software (ie., the newest Roxio Media Creator or the newest
>Adobe Reader), the whole machine hung up and I got the black kernal
>screen of death referring me to the system admin.... which is me!
>
> After playing with this for nearly a whole day, I decided to reload the
>OS using the clean install path offered near the beginning of the
>install process. Here I encountered a major problem. A catch-22, if you
>will. I booted off the original CD. I chose the clean install path.
>When it came time to enter my registration number, I got an error
>stating that I could only use this number for "upgrading". Hmmmm....
>was that not what I was doing? It gave me the option to add the number
>later and move on. This is what I did. The install continued without
>incident. When it was finished, I brought up Vista and started testing.
>I now found that previous hardware that used to work (sound card) now
>did not work (driver wiped out). No worries, I downloaded a new one.
>The rest of the OS worked just fine. I was able to load software and
>for the most part had no problems.
>
> Finally, I tried to "Activate Windows" now, as it would cease to
>function after 30 days. Again, I recieved the error that my registration
>number was for Upgrade only. I decided to call Microsoft as I have a
>TechNet subcription. After being moved from tech to tech and put on hold
>many times, I was told that I had two choices. First, since I purchased
>the "Upgrade" version, I would have to reload my former OS so I could
>upgrade again (you can not run a clean install or a re-upgrade off of
>Vista with the upgrade package). I explained that my former OS was an
>Upgrade, too. And, that I would actually have to make sure I had my
>Windows 2000 Pro disks handy. (In the past, if you had to re-install or
>do a clean install, Microsoft only asked you to insert the old OS CD to
>authenticate.... those days are gone.) He was sympathetic and offered me
>choice number two. This choice was to wait until Monday when a
>upper-echelon tech would call me to determine if I was worthy of
>recieving a new or reset registration number to allow my software to
>work. I chose option two and am now waiting for Microsoft to call. I am
>not optimistic that things will work out, but then stranger things have
>happened. I guess I should thrown caution to the wind, budgets be damned
>and put out the money for the Vista Ultimate Full first time load.
>
> My point here is, that why should we be put into this position
>everytime Microsoft makes a change. And, by the by, in my opinion, this
>Vista is only a flowery, extremely locked=down version of it's everyday
>"broken-ware".
>
> That's my story and I am sticking to it!! =;-)
>
>Best,
>
>Roy
>
>

------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following was automatically added to this message by the list server:

For information about Micronet, including subscribing to
or unsubscribing from its mailing list and finding out
about upcoming meetings, please visit the Micronet Web site:
<http://micronet.berkeley.edu/>.
Received on Sun Mar 18 2007 - 12:23:30 PDT