Upgrade current XP with old Vista CD

L

LarCrow

New Member
I purchased a new PC in early 2007 that came with XP. A month or so later I received the Vista upgrade CD which I have never installed. I intend to buy Windows 7 when it becomes available and wish to minimize my system upgrade problems as much as possible. Based on my understanding I would have to do a complete harddrive erase to install Win 7 and then reinstall all my applications. If possible and practical I'd like to upgrade XP to Vista and then Vista to Windows 7.

My question am I likely to have problems going from a current up to date version of XP to a 2+ year old version of Vista which would require many updates to bring up to the current level?.
 

My Computer

System One

You would be better doing that format you were talking about. let me think... back up everything you want backed up ie programs etc. save it to external HDD burn it to dvd etc. before you want to install 7 download virtual box install xp on the virtual box and install your programs into there... Its not worth doing, just backup and format your harddrive and then clean install 7
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    Core2Quad Q9550 @ 2.83Ghz O.C'd to 3.86Ghz
    Motherboard
    XFX Nvidia 790i Ultra SLI
    Memory
    4x2GB Corsair DDR3@ 1333Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus Nvidia GTX 280
    Sound Card
    Creative PCI Express X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Benq 24in 1920x1080, Viewsonic 22in 1680x1050
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1200 + 1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    Samsungx2 750GB SATA II 32MB SATA Hard Drive RAID 0 array
    PSU
    Antec 850Watt
    Case
    Cooler Master Cosmo S 1100 Extended ATX No PSU Aluminium Blk
    Cooling
    7x 120mm Fans
    Keyboard
    Logitech Dinovo Edge, Logitech Dinovo Mini
    Mouse
    Logitech G7, Logitech G9
    Internet Speed
    24Mbit p/s
alexdagr8est said:
You would be better doing that format you were talking about. let me think... back up everything you want backed up ie programs etc. save it to external HDD burn it to dvd etc. before you want to install 7 download virtual box install xp on the virtual box and install your programs into there... Its not worth doing, just backup and format your harddrive and then clean install 7
Click to expand...

True, but you can also upgrade to Vista and then upgrade that to 7. Most importantly what are the specs of the PC you are upgrading? XP vintage might have problems.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Sony Vaio Z46GDU
    CPU
    [email protected] w/6MB L2 cache 1066MHz FSB
    Memory
    6GB DDR3 1066MHz SDRAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    9300M GS 256MB + Intel Integrated 4500MHD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    13.1" WXGA True Colour Tough
    Screen Resolution
    1600x900
    Hard Drives
    320GB SATA 7200RPM
    Internet Speed
    1MB/s
Thanks, I was afraid that might be the answer. I hadn't heard of the Virtual Box but it sounds like it might be a useful tool especially if it's free. I like the idea of having both versions of the OS available for awhile.
 

My Computer

System One

LarCrow said:
Thanks, I was afraid that might be the answer. I hadn't heard of the Virtual Box but it sounds like it might be a useful tool especially if it's free. I like the idea of having both versions of the OS available for awhile.
Click to expand...

Virtualization requires a lot of resources. You'll need 1GB (preferably 3GB) just for Vista, and 1GB for XP. The faster your cpu is the better. Aslo defrag your hard drive before you install a virtual machine.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Sony Vaio Z46GDU
    CPU
    [email protected] w/6MB L2 cache 1066MHz FSB
    Memory
    6GB DDR3 1066MHz SDRAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    9300M GS 256MB + Intel Integrated 4500MHD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    13.1" WXGA True Colour Tough
    Screen Resolution
    1600x900
    Hard Drives
    320GB SATA 7200RPM
    Internet Speed
    1MB/s
True, but you can also upgrade to Vista and then upgrade that to 7. Most importantly what are the specs of the PC you are upgrading? XP vintage might have problems.[/QUOTE]

It's a Dell 2.8 GHZ 530E with 3GB memory and a 250GB harddrive with XP at SP3.
My plan was to follow the path you suggest but I was a bit worried that my old version of Vista might cause more problems than it would solve.
 

My Computer

System One

That should be enough for Vista x86. Is the RAM DDR2, the CPU Intel, and what is the GPU? Take a look at Belarc Advisor:

www.belarc.com/free_download.html
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Sony Vaio Z46GDU
    CPU
    [email protected] w/6MB L2 cache 1066MHz FSB
    Memory
    6GB DDR3 1066MHz SDRAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    9300M GS 256MB + Intel Integrated 4500MHD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    13.1" WXGA True Colour Tough
    Screen Resolution
    1600x900
    Hard Drives
    320GB SATA 7200RPM
    Internet Speed
    1MB/s
LarCrow said:
Frostmourne said:
That should be enough for Vista x86. Is the RAM DDR2, the CPU Intel, and what is the GPU? Take a look at Belarc Advisor:

www.belarc.com/free_download.html
Click to expand...

Ram is DDR, Intel CPU and NVIDIA GeForce9400GT
Click to expand...

Then you should have no problems. :)

Then again, Windows 7 advises all Windows users to do a clean install (backup everything, then reformat...) when intalling Windows 7, even VISTA users. So maybe your best choice would be a clean install.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 640m Notebook MXCO61
    CPU
    Intel Core Duo T2080 @ 1.73GHz
    Memory
    Dell Memory 2GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Mobile Intel 945GM Graphics Accelerator
    Sound Card
    Dell High Def. Sound
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 14.1" High Res. UltraSharp Notebook Display
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    One Hard Drive
    120GB
    Keyboard
    Dell Inspiron 640m Stock
    Mouse
    Logitech V4500 Wireless Notebook Laser Mouse
    Internet Speed
    54MB/s
Ojaser6 said:
LarCrow said:
Frostmourne said:
That should be enough for Vista x86. Is the RAM DDR2, the CPU Intel, and what is the GPU? Take a look at Belarc Advisor:

www.belarc.com/free_download.html
Click to expand...

Ram is DDR, Intel CPU and NVIDIA GeForce9400GT
Click to expand...

Then you should have no problems. :)

Then again, Windows 7 advises all Windows users to do a clean install (backup everything, then reformat...) when intalling Windows 7, even VISTA users. So maybe your best choice would be a clean install.
Click to expand...

I'll be getting an upgrade disc in October and I don't think 7 will choke on a Vista upgrade that is 3 months old.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Sony Vaio Z46GDU
    CPU
    [email protected] w/6MB L2 cache 1066MHz FSB
    Memory
    6GB DDR3 1066MHz SDRAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    9300M GS 256MB + Intel Integrated 4500MHD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    13.1" WXGA True Colour Tough
    Screen Resolution
    1600x900
    Hard Drives
    320GB SATA 7200RPM
    Internet Speed
    1MB/s
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