Needs advice: upgrade or clean install?

Hi!
I'll soon make the transition from XP to Vista. Until now I've always made
clean installs for all previous Windows versions because the upgrade
functionality never been that safe as the clean install.
My question now is: is the upgrade better in Vista? Or shall I make a clean
install as usually?
My pc is a developer machine with tons of installed databases, development
tools, office, adobe collections, epr etc. This will take at least one week
to reinstall on a clean vista. An upgrade would definitely save me time if it
works!
The UpgradeAdvisor reports only a few manageble issues, can I trust this
report?

Please let me hear your opinion!
--
Regards,
Lars Jönson

In general, an upgrade of Vista is a pretty painless experience, though you
will want to be sure you update device drivers ASAP after the upgrade. The
Upgrade Advisor can only report on what it knows, what it doesn't know may
bite you in the ... ah, on the ankles ... and there's no way to know. Not
every hardware or software manufacturer has chosen to submit known-problem
data to Microsoft.

I'd be 100% sure I have a trusted and working full backup of the system
before upgrading.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User]
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
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"LarsJ" <> wrote in message
news:67816E3E-249F-4D85-9AB4-...
> Hi!
> I'll soon make the transition from XP to Vista. Until now I've always made
> clean installs for all previous Windows versions because the upgrade
> functionality never been that safe as the clean install.
> My question now is: is the upgrade better in Vista? Or shall I make a
> clean
> install as usually?
> My pc is a developer machine with tons of installed databases, development
> tools, office, adobe collections, epr etc. This will take at least one
> week
> to reinstall on a clean vista. An upgrade would definitely save me time if
> it
> works!
> The UpgradeAdvisor reports only a few manageble issues, can I trust this
> report?
>
> Please let me hear your opinion!
> --
> Regards,
> Lars Jönson

"LarsJ" <> wrote in message
news:67816E3E-249F-4D85-9AB4-...
> Hi!
> I'll soon make the transition from XP to Vista. Until now I've always made
> clean installs for all previous Windows versions because the upgrade
> functionality never been that safe as the clean install.

I suggest you do the same here is to wipe out XP and do a fresh install of
Vista.

> My question now is: is the upgrade better in Vista? Or shall I make a
> clean
> install as usually?

The upgrade for Vista doesn't allow you to format the HD and lay down Vista.

> My pc is a developer machine with tons of installed databases, development
> tools, office, adobe collections, epr etc. This will take at least one
> week
> to reinstall on a clean vista. An upgrade would definitely save me time if
> it
> works!

You should abondon the upgrade, otherwise, you'll be facing some software
compatibilty issues.

> The UpgradeAdvisor reports only a few manageble issues, can I trust this
> report?
>

All you have to do is go to some of these other Vista NG(s), even this one,
and see them howl about the UpgradeAdvisor told me I was fine I am using XP,
but I am stuck in the middle of the install and can't install the upgrade or
I did the upgrade but apps are blowing up to Hell and back.

If you're doing Web development work, then you'll want to get Vista
Business, Enterprise or Ultimate, because IIS 7 on those O/S(s) have the
full version of IIS that matches IIS 6.0. If you get anything less like Home
Premium, then IIS 7 is not a full version.

Upgrade Vista over Vista is ok, which I did coming from Premium that was
already on the laptop to Ultimate was fine.

From one developer to another, I suggest you wipe that machine out with a
fresh install of Vista.

http://kb.wisc.edu/helpdesk/page.php?id=5175

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Window....mspx?mfr=true

If you need XP on the machine, then you can go this route instead of some
dual boot situation, which doesn't seem to pan out good for some.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pro...c/default.mspx

One other thing, you should be careful about what you install like driver,
BIOS, that kind of thing, because it can knock out Vista in a heart beat, if
they are not Vista compatible.

If your XP system is in good condition AND you do a full backup first, there
is no downside whatsoever to trying the upgrade. The odds are it will work
fine. The upgrade advisor is not 100% reliable, but is certainly of some
value.

"LarsJ" <> wrote in message
news:67816E3E-249F-4D85-9AB4-...
> Hi!
> I'll soon make the transition from XP to Vista. Until now I've always made
> clean installs for all previous Windows versions because the upgrade
> functionality never been that safe as the clean install.
> My question now is: is the upgrade better in Vista? Or shall I make a
> clean
> install as usually?
> My pc is a developer machine with tons of installed databases, development
> tools, office, adobe collections, epr etc. This will take at least one
> week
> to reinstall on a clean vista. An upgrade would definitely save me time if
> it
> works!
> The UpgradeAdvisor reports only a few manageble issues, can I trust this
> report?
>
> Please let me hear your opinion!
> --
> Regards,
> Lars Jönson

Having attempted the upgrade only to end up with a frozen mouse that
Microsoft could not resolved after over a month I would say do a clean
install. I ended up replacing my hard drive as it was older and using the
upgrade disk to do a format and clean install. Then I fished off any files
that I needed from the old drive. You can do this by booting from the upgrade
disk and installing Vista. Do not enter the key the first time around. Also,
Vista will format the drive first, but it won't tell you that it is doing it.
Once installed and working, place the Vista disk back in the drive and
install from within the now working Vista, now enter your key and then choose
clean install, not upgrade. Vista will install over itself. It is faster that
way and also eliminates any possible problems with trying to upgrade if an
update was installed during the initial installation. This assumes of course
that you have a legitimate copy of XP. Vista won't check for it as in prior
versions and I am not advocating using an upgrade when someone is not
entitled to it. In my opinion, Microsoft should put back the "insert XP disk"
upgrade check instead of having people do these workarounds.

"LarsJ" wrote:

> Hi!
> I'll soon make the transition from XP to Vista. Until now I've always made
> clean installs for all previous Windows versions because the upgrade
> functionality never been that safe as the clean install.
> My question now is: is the upgrade better in Vista? Or shall I make a clean
> install as usually?
> My pc is a developer machine with tons of installed databases, development
> tools, office, adobe collections, epr etc. This will take at least one week
> to reinstall on a clean vista. An upgrade would definitely save me time if it
> works!
> The UpgradeAdvisor reports only a few manageble issues, can I trust this
> report?
>
> Please let me hear your opinion!
> --
> Regards,
> Lars Jönson

Hi there,
I have just upgraded from XP Home to Vista Ultimate and found it relatively
straightforward, but there were a couple of points you might want to consider.
Make sure XP is completely up-to-date first via Windows Update.
Run the Vista Upgrade Advisor, in my case I needed Vista drivers for my
Epson printer and scanner, which I downloaded to an external hard drive.
It also reported a couple of minor issues with existing software, but these
were dealt with by configuring them to run in the XP compatibility mode after
I had upgraded to Vista.
Also, deselect the option to "Automatically activate Vista when online" and
only activate when you are satisfied that everything is working OK. That way
you can return the software should it prove to be problematic .
Broadly speaking I found the Upgrade option was relatively painless and I am
well satisfied with the new operating system.
The only major problem I have discovered is that my internet connection
drops when re-starting from Sleep or Hibernate and I have to re-boot to get
my connection back, which rather defeats the option of using Sleep or
Hibernate.
It would appear that Microsoft is aware of this issue, which will be dealt
with by the issue of SP1 later this year, but I did find a workaround on
Google.
Also, my computer is new, so hardware compatibility wasn't an issue for me.
Existing software was left intact after the upgrade and the whole operation
took around 4 hours.
Andy W


"patruns" wrote:

> Having attempted the upgrade only to end up with a frozen mouse that
> Microsoft could not resolved after over a month I would say do a clean
> install. I ended up replacing my hard drive as it was older and using the
> upgrade disk to do a format and clean install. Then I fished off any files
> that I needed from the old drive. You can do this by booting from the upgrade
> disk and installing Vista. Do not enter the key the first time around. Also,
> Vista will format the drive first, but it won't tell you that it is doing it.
> Once installed and working, place the Vista disk back in the drive and
> install from within the now working Vista, now enter your key and then choose
> clean install, not upgrade. Vista will install over itself. It is faster that
> way and also eliminates any possible problems with trying to upgrade if an
> update was installed during the initial installation. This assumes of course
> that you have a legitimate copy of XP. Vista won't check for it as in prior
> versions and I am not advocating using an upgrade when someone is not
> entitled to it. In my opinion, Microsoft should put back the "insert XP disk"
> upgrade check instead of having people do these workarounds.
>
> "LarsJ" wrote:
>
> > Hi!
> > I'll soon make the transition from XP to Vista. Until now I've always made
> > clean installs for all previous Windows versions because the upgrade
> > functionality never been that safe as the clean install.
> > My question now is: is the upgrade better in Vista? Or shall I make a clean
> > install as usually?
> > My pc is a developer machine with tons of installed databases, development
> > tools, office, adobe collections, epr etc. This will take at least one week
> > to reinstall on a clean vista. An upgrade would definitely save me time if it
> > works!
> > The UpgradeAdvisor reports only a few manageble issues, can I trust this
> > report?
> >
> > Please let me hear your opinion!
> > --
> > Regards,
> > Lars Jönson