Vista Tutorial - Upgrading from Beta to Gold?

I just installed RC1 on my new system to try it out, and see if it works with
all my applications and programs. I am just wondering how far I should go
with my testing, and how many programs I should install, in the event that I
will have to do it all over again when Vista goes Gold and public, which I
hear will be this January.

So, will I need to trash everything, reformat, and reinstall with Gold, or
will I be able to upgrade from Beta to Gold and save all my programs, data,
and settings?

--
Paul

Hi Paul,

The goal was to allow upgrading from RC1 to gold, but there's been no
acknowledgement yet as to whether or not this will work. I would hedge on
the side of caution and be prepared to do a clean install in case it does
not, though I suspect chances are good that you will be able to.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

"Paul" <Paul@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:71887BBD-843F-4DF2-96C4-58515F2967FD@microsoft.com...
>I just installed RC1 on my new system to try it out, and see if it works
>with
> all my applications and programs. I am just wondering how far I should go
> with my testing, and how many programs I should install, in the event that
> I
> will have to do it all over again when Vista goes Gold and public, which I
> hear will be this January.
>
> So, will I need to trash everything, reformat, and reinstall with Gold, or
> will I be able to upgrade from Beta to Gold and save all my programs,
> data,
> and settings?
>
> --
> Paul

I guess I should have checked first:

From: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvist...y/preview.mspx
---------------
Upgrade limitations
You may not be able to upgrade your installation of Windows Vista RC1 to the
final, commercially available edition of Windows Vista. To upgrade, you will
need to acquire the final edition of Windows Vista and you may have to do a
clean installation.

Time-limited software
Windows Vista RC1 is time-limited, pre-release software that will expire on
June 1, 2007.
---------------

Which brings me to my next questions:

Is there a RC2 around? I see several mentions of it in these forums?

And since MS announced that the final version has already been shipped to
production and is expected to be generally available in January 2007, is
there any point in my continuing to test RC1 (until June 2007) and report on
any bugs I find?

--
Paul


"Rick Rogers" wrote:

> Hi Paul,
>
> The goal was to allow upgrading from RC1 to gold, but there's been no
> acknowledgement yet as to whether or not this will work. I would hedge on
> the side of caution and be prepared to do a clean install in case it does
> not, though I suspect chances are good that you will be able to.
>
> --
> Best of Luck,
>
> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
>
> "Paul" <Paul@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:71887BBD-843F-4DF2-96C4-58515F2967FD@microsoft.com...
> >I just installed RC1 on my new system to try it out, and see if it works
> >with
> > all my applications and programs. I am just wondering how far I should go
> > with my testing, and how many programs I should install, in the event that
> > I
> > will have to do it all over again when Vista goes Gold and public, which I
> > hear will be this January.
> >
> > So, will I need to trash everything, reformat, and reinstall with Gold, or
> > will I be able to upgrade from Beta to Gold and save all my programs,
> > data,
> > and settings?
> >
> > --
> > Paul
>
>

There was RC2 but the only way to get it is off the net somewhere.

"Paul" <Paul@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:F5B985E3-68E3-4A63-B62B-ACA56AD2B41C@microsoft.com...
>I guess I should have checked first:
>
> From: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvist...y/preview.mspx
> ---------------
> Upgrade limitations
> You may not be able to upgrade your installation of Windows Vista RC1 to
> the
> final, commercially available edition of Windows Vista. To upgrade, you
> will
> need to acquire the final edition of Windows Vista and you may have to do
> a
> clean installation.
>
> Time-limited software
> Windows Vista RC1 is time-limited, pre-release software that will expire
> on
> June 1, 2007.
> ---------------
>
> Which brings me to my next questions:
>
> Is there a RC2 around? I see several mentions of it in these forums?
>
> And since MS announced that the final version has already been shipped to
> production and is expected to be generally available in January 2007, is
> there any point in my continuing to test RC1 (until June 2007) and report
> on
> any bugs I find?
>
> --
> Paul
>
>
> "Rick Rogers" wrote:
>
>> Hi Paul,
>>
>> The goal was to allow upgrading from RC1 to gold, but there's been no
>> acknowledgement yet as to whether or not this will work. I would hedge on
>> the side of caution and be prepared to do a clean install in case it does
>> not, though I suspect chances are good that you will be able to.
>>
>> --
>> Best of Luck,
>>
>> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
>> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
>> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
>>
>> "Paul" <Paul@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:71887BBD-843F-4DF2-96C4-58515F2967FD@microsoft.com...
>> >I just installed RC1 on my new system to try it out, and see if it works
>> >with
>> > all my applications and programs. I am just wondering how far I should
>> > go
>> > with my testing, and how many programs I should install, in the event
>> > that
>> > I
>> > will have to do it all over again when Vista goes Gold and public,
>> > which I
>> > hear will be this January.
>> >
>> > So, will I need to trash everything, reformat, and reinstall with Gold,
>> > or
>> > will I be able to upgrade from Beta to Gold and save all my programs,
>> > data,
>> > and settings?
>> >
>> > --
>> > Paul
>>
>>

Paul wrote:
> I guess I should have checked first:
>
> From: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvist...y/preview.mspx
> ---------------
> Upgrade limitations
> You may not be able to upgrade your installation of Windows Vista RC1 to the
> final, commercially available edition of Windows Vista. To upgrade, you will
> need to acquire the final edition of Windows Vista and you may have to do a
> clean installation.
>
> Time-limited software
> Windows Vista RC1 is time-limited, pre-release software that will expire on
> June 1, 2007.
> ---------------
>
> Which brings me to my next questions:
>
> Is there a RC2 around? I see several mentions of it in these forums?
>
> And since MS announced that the final version has already been shipped to
> production and is expected to be generally available in January 2007, is
> there any point in my continuing to test RC1 (until June 2007) and report on
> any bugs I find?
>
RC2 is Only Available if you are an MSDN or Microsoft Tech Net Plus
Subscriber, Just FYI.

Hi Paul,

RC2 is no longer publicly available except via MSDN/Technet subscriptions,
and was only available very briefly to the general public. As RTM is
shipping, the beta is shutting down, but there is no harm in continuing to
report bugs, as I can pretty safely state that not all of them were fixed
before release code was issued (and that's probably an understatement).

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

"Paul" <Paul@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:F5B985E3-68E3-4A63-B62B-ACA56AD2B41C@microsoft.com...
>I guess I should have checked first:
>
> From: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvist...y/preview.mspx
> ---------------
> Upgrade limitations
> You may not be able to upgrade your installation of Windows Vista RC1 to
> the
> final, commercially available edition of Windows Vista. To upgrade, you
> will
> need to acquire the final edition of Windows Vista and you may have to do
> a
> clean installation.
>
> Time-limited software
> Windows Vista RC1 is time-limited, pre-release software that will expire
> on
> June 1, 2007.
> ---------------
>
> Which brings me to my next questions:
>
> Is there a RC2 around? I see several mentions of it in these forums?
>
> And since MS announced that the final version has already been shipped to
> production and is expected to be generally available in January 2007, is
> there any point in my continuing to test RC1 (until June 2007) and report
> on
> any bugs I find?
>
> --
> Paul
>
>
> "Rick Rogers" wrote:
>
>> Hi Paul,
>>
>> The goal was to allow upgrading from RC1 to gold, but there's been no
>> acknowledgement yet as to whether or not this will work. I would hedge on
>> the side of caution and be prepared to do a clean install in case it does
>> not, though I suspect chances are good that you will be able to.
>>
>> --
>> Best of Luck,
>>
>> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
>> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
>> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
>>
>> "Paul" <Paul@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:71887BBD-843F-4DF2-96C4-58515F2967FD@microsoft.com...
>> >I just installed RC1 on my new system to try it out, and see if it works
>> >with
>> > all my applications and programs. I am just wondering how far I should
>> > go
>> > with my testing, and how many programs I should install, in the event
>> > that
>> > I
>> > will have to do it all over again when Vista goes Gold and public,
>> > which I
>> > hear will be this January.
>> >
>> > So, will I need to trash everything, reformat, and reinstall with Gold,
>> > or
>> > will I be able to upgrade from Beta to Gold and save all my programs,
>> > data,
>> > and settings?
>> >
>> > --
>> > Paul
>>
>>

A clean install is always the best way to go, regardless of the OS.
You'll probably be ABLE to upgrade, but you'll have fewer problems overall
if you don't.

I'd do a fresh install, add-in any "must have" utilities, and Ghost the
image. That way, you'll have a simple recovery should your HD take a dive.


"Paul" <Paul@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:71887BBD-843F-4DF2-96C4-58515F2967FD@microsoft.com...
>I just installed RC1 on my new system to try it out, and see if it works
>with
> all my applications and programs. I am just wondering how far I should go
> with my testing, and how many programs I should install, in the event that
> I
> will have to do it all over again when Vista goes Gold and public, which I
> hear will be this January.
>
> So, will I need to trash everything, reformat, and reinstall with Gold, or
> will I be able to upgrade from Beta to Gold and save all my programs,
> data,
> and settings?
>
> --
> Paul