Upgrade to Vista

I purchased a laptop running XP with a free upgrade to Vista. The Vista
upgrade is on a DVD that I need to run, however, I want to make sure my files
and settings transfer. The installation DVD says it is "a new installation
and any personal files or programs will be overwritten as a result of the
upgrade." I have looked into using Windows Easy Transfer, but since it is on
the same computer I have had difficulty getting it to work. I tried the easy
transfer program to save to DVDs, but it didn't work. Looking for suggestions

On Jul 21, 7:38 am, Andrew <And...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> I purchased a laptop running XP with a free upgrade to Vista. The Vista
> upgrade is on a DVD that I need to run, however, I want to make sure my files
> and settings transfer. The installation DVD says it is "a new installation
> and any personal files or programs will be overwritten as a result of the
> upgrade." I have looked into using Windows Easy Transfer, but since it is on
> the same computer I have had difficulty getting it to work. I tried the easy
> transfer program to save to DVDs, but it didn't work. Looking for suggestions

When upgrading with a 'Windows Vista DVD' or 'Anytime Upgrade
DVD' (note, these are two different dvds that sometimes come packed
with computers). You'll be presented with an auto-play screen with two
main options.

1. Install Now
2. Check compatibility online.

I'd choose 'Install Now'. On the following screen, it will ask you to
enter your product key, accept the lisence agreement, etc. Finally
you'll get sent to a place asking you for your installation type and
presented with two options. 'Upgrade' and 'Custom (Advanced)'
installation. An upgrade installation is designed to copy your files,
programs and settings into Windows Vista. This means if you had
Microsoft Word installed in xp for example, it would be installed in
Windows Vista after your upgrade.

A 'Custom (Advanced)' installation tries to copy all your data from
your My Documents, My Pictures, My etc, to the directory 'Windows.Old'
and put a fresh installation of Windows Vista on the machine. The
downside is, you would need to reinstall the majority of the programs
on your machine.

Ideally, both installation types are designed to result in no-data
loss. However, I'd recommend backing up any crucial data files onto a
DVD or CD. One DVD can hold 4.7GB worth of your documents. It sounds
like you may have tried this, but, you could just consider copying it
onto blank CDs:

1. Insert a CD.
2. Open your start menu and choose 'My Computer' on the right hand
side.
3. Open your CDR/RW drive
4. Choose 'Write files to CD' option on the left hand side pane.
5. Copy files to CD
6. Hit eject button and your CD will automatically finalize so its
readable in another computer (or your vista installation) after
upgrading.

This is a nice, simple, easy way to backup your data onto CD using the
built in IMAPI V1 Engine included with Windows XP for burning cds.
Note that DVD burning in this method is not available in Windows XP
but is available in Windows Vista that uses the IMAPI V2 Engine for
making cds and now dvds.

On Jul 21, 8:05 am, wburchn...@hotmail.com wrote:
> On Jul 21, 7:38 am, Andrew <And...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> > I purchased a laptop running XP with a free upgrade to Vista. The Vista
> > upgrade is on a DVD that I need to run, however, I want to make sure my files
> > and settings transfer. The installation DVD says it is "a new installation
> > and any personal files or programs will be overwritten as a result of the
> > upgrade." I have looked into using Windows Easy Transfer, but since it is on
> > the same computer I have had difficulty getting it to work. I tried the easy
> > transfer program to save to DVDs, but it didn't work. Looking for suggestions
>
> When upgrading with a 'Windows Vista DVD' or 'Anytime Upgrade
> DVD' (note, these are two different dvds that sometimes come packed
> with computers). You'll be presented with an auto-play screen with two
> main options.
>
> 1. Install Now
> 2. Check compatibility online.
>
> I'd choose 'Install Now'. On the following screen, it will ask you to
> enter your product key, accept the lisence agreement, etc. Finally
> you'll get sent to a place asking you for your installation type and
> presented with two options. 'Upgrade' and 'Custom (Advanced)'
> installation. An upgrade installation is designed to copy your files,
> programs and settings into Windows Vista. This means if you had
> Microsoft Word installed in xp for example, it would be installed in
> Windows Vista after your upgrade.
>
> A 'Custom (Advanced)' installation tries to copy all your data from
> your My Documents, My Pictures, My etc, to the directory 'Windows.Old'
> and put a fresh installation of Windows Vista on the machine. The
> downside is, you would need to reinstall the majority of the programs
> on your machine.
>
> Ideally, both installation types are designed to result in no-data
> loss. However, I'd recommend backing up any crucial data files onto a
> DVD or CD. One DVD can hold 4.7GB worth of your documents. It sounds
> like you may have tried this, but, you could just consider copying it
> onto blank CDs:
>
> 1. Insert a CD.
> 2. Open your start menu and choose 'My Computer' on the right hand
> side.
> 3. Open your CDR/RW drive
> 4. Choose 'Write files to CD' option on the left hand side pane.
> 5. Copy files to CD
> 6. Hit eject button and your CD will automatically finalize so its
> readable in another computer (or your vista installation) after
> upgrading.
>
> This is a nice, simple, easy way to backup your data onto CD using the
> built in IMAPI V1 Engine included with Windows XP for burning cds.
> Note that DVD burning in this method is not available in Windows XP
> but is available in Windows Vista that uses the IMAPI V2 Engine for
> making cds and now dvds.

I would also like to clarify that's how the offical Windows Vista DVDs
and Anytime Upgrade DVDs work. I can't say for sure how a third party
upgrade disc would work for certain. If your presented with different
options telling you that all your data will be lost, its possible it
may just erase your hard drive and copy a pre-installed Windows Vista
image on your machine in whichcase backup everything.

On Sat, 21 Jul 2007 07:38:05 -0700, Andrew wrote:

> I purchased a laptop running XP with a free upgrade to Vista. The Vista
> upgrade is on a DVD that I need to run, however, I want to make sure my files
> and settings transfer. The installation DVD says it is "a new installation
> and any personal files or programs will be overwritten as a result of the
> upgrade." I have looked into using Windows Easy Transfer, but since it is on
> the same computer I have had difficulty getting it to work. I tried the easy
> transfer program to save to DVDs, but it didn't work. Looking for suggestions

Backup to an external USB hard drive or flash drive.

I'd also think twice about doing the vista install. Lots of folks seem to
be having problems. IMHO there is a fairly high liklihood of significant
issues.

Hi Andrew,

You have to transfer to something other than the current system drive, like
a removable, external drive, or writeable CD/DVD media.

--
Best of Luck,

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

"Andrew" <> wrote in message
news:BEC0ECA5-7714-41EE-9FAA-...
>I purchased a laptop running XP with a free upgrade to Vista. The Vista
> upgrade is on a DVD that I need to run, however, I want to make sure my
> files
> and settings transfer. The installation DVD says it is "a new
> installation
> and any personal files or programs will be overwritten as a result of the
> upgrade." I have looked into using Windows Easy Transfer, but since it is
> on
> the same computer I have had difficulty getting it to work. I tried the
> easy
> transfer program to save to DVDs, but it didn't work. Looking for
> suggestions

"" wrote:

> On Jul 21, 8:05 am, wburchn...@hotmail.com wrote:
> > On Jul 21, 7:38 am, Andrew <And...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> >
> > > I purchased a laptop running XP with a free upgrade to Vista. The Vista
> > > upgrade is on a DVD that I need to run, however, I want to make sure my files
> > > and settings transfer. The installation DVD says it is "a new installation
> > > and any personal files or programs will be overwritten as a result of the
> > > upgrade." I have looked into using Windows Easy Transfer, but since it is on
> > > the same computer I have had difficulty getting it to work. I tried the easy
> > > transfer program to save to DVDs, but it didn't work. Looking for suggestions
> >
> > When upgrading with a 'Windows Vista DVD' or 'Anytime Upgrade
> > DVD' (note, these are two different dvds that sometimes come packed
> > with computers). You'll be presented with an auto-play screen with two
> > main options.
> >
> > 1. Install Now
> > 2. Check compatibility online.
> >
> > I'd choose 'Install Now'. On the following screen, it will ask you to
> > enter your product key, accept the lisence agreement, etc. Finally
> > you'll get sent to a place asking you for your installation type and
> > presented with two options. 'Upgrade' and 'Custom (Advanced)'
> > installation. An upgrade installation is designed to copy your files,
> > programs and settings into Windows Vista. This means if you had
> > Microsoft Word installed in xp for example, it would be installed in
> > Windows Vista after your upgrade.
> >
> > A 'Custom (Advanced)' installation tries to copy all your data from
> > your My Documents, My Pictures, My etc, to the directory 'Windows.Old'
> > and put a fresh installation of Windows Vista on the machine. The
> > downside is, you would need to reinstall the majority of the programs
> > on your machine.
> >
> > Ideally, both installation types are designed to result in no-data
> > loss. However, I'd recommend backing up any crucial data files onto a
> > DVD or CD. One DVD can hold 4.7GB worth of your documents. It sounds
> > like you may have tried this, but, you could just consider copying it
> > onto blank CDs:
> >
> > 1. Insert a CD.
> > 2. Open your start menu and choose 'My Computer' on the right hand
> > side.
> > 3. Open your CDR/RW drive
> > 4. Choose 'Write files to CD' option on the left hand side pane.
> > 5. Copy files to CD
> > 6. Hit eject button and your CD will automatically finalize so its
> > readable in another computer (or your vista installation) after
> > upgrading.
> >
> > This is a nice, simple, easy way to backup your data onto CD using the
> > built in IMAPI V1 Engine included with Windows XP for burning cds.
> > Note that DVD burning in this method is not available in Windows XP
> > but is available in Windows Vista that uses the IMAPI V2 Engine for
> > making cds and now dvds.
>
> I would also like to clarify that's how the offical Windows Vista DVDs
> and Anytime Upgrade DVDs work. I can't say for sure how a third party
> upgrade disc would work for certain. If your presented with different
> options telling you that all your data will be lost, its possible it
> may just erase your hard drive and copy a pre-installed Windows Vista
> image on your machine in whichcase backup everything.
>
>

I have done the backup of files and am confident about that and there was an
outlook email .pst file, but will that contain contacts and all my email
folders as well?

Thanks Rick - I have writable DVDs, but i saw that you can't use dvds to
perform the windows easy transfer from XP to vista. I have backed up my
files and hopefully my outlook files, and it wouldn't be the end of the world
if i had to reinstall some programs, but would all of the programs that came
installed on my laptop with XP still be there when i upgrade to vista, namely
Office?

Thanks,
Andrew

"Rick Rogers" wrote:

> Hi Andrew,
>
> You have to transfer to something other than the current system drive, like
> a removable, external drive, or writeable CD/DVD media.
>
> --
> Best of Luck,
>
> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
> My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
>
> "Andrew" <> wrote in message
> news:BEC0ECA5-7714-41EE-9FAA-...
> >I purchased a laptop running XP with a free upgrade to Vista. The Vista
> > upgrade is on a DVD that I need to run, however, I want to make sure my
> > files
> > and settings transfer. The installation DVD says it is "a new
> > installation
> > and any personal files or programs will be overwritten as a result of the
> > upgrade." I have looked into using Windows Easy Transfer, but since it is
> > on
> > the same computer I have had difficulty getting it to work. I tried the
> > easy
> > transfer program to save to DVDs, but it didn't work. Looking for
> > suggestions
>
>

Hi Andrew,

No, these vendor upgrades do a clean install of Vista on the system. They
should have supplied an application recovery disk as well.

--
Best of Luck,

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

"Andrew" <> wrote in message
news:79A12273-7C8F-4E5B-8465-...
> Thanks Rick - I have writable DVDs, but i saw that you can't use dvds to
> perform the windows easy transfer from XP to vista. I have backed up my
> files and hopefully my outlook files, and it wouldn't be the end of the
> world
> if i had to reinstall some programs, but would all of the programs that
> came
> installed on my laptop with XP still be there when i upgrade to vista,
> namely
> Office?
>
> Thanks,
> Andrew
>
> "Rick Rogers" wrote:
>
>> Hi Andrew,
>>
>> You have to transfer to something other than the current system drive,
>> like
>> a removable, external drive, or writeable CD/DVD media.
>>
>> --
>> Best of Luck,
>>
>> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
>> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
>> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
>> My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
>>
>> "Andrew" <> wrote in message
>> news:BEC0ECA5-7714-41EE-9FAA-...
>> >I purchased a laptop running XP with a free upgrade to Vista. The Vista
>> > upgrade is on a DVD that I need to run, however, I want to make sure my
>> > files
>> > and settings transfer. The installation DVD says it is "a new
>> > installation
>> > and any personal files or programs will be overwritten as a result of
>> > the
>> > upgrade." I have looked into using Windows Easy Transfer, but since it
>> > is
>> > on
>> > the same computer I have had difficulty getting it to work. I tried
>> > the
>> > easy
>> > transfer program to save to DVDs, but it didn't work. Looking for
>> > suggestions
>>
>>

My opinion:

I would wait until the first SP is released before upgrading to Vista. There
are too many compatibility issues at present.

--

Bob Eyster
MS Windows Vista Home Premium



"Andrew" <> wrote in message
news:BEC0ECA5-7714-41EE-9FAA-...
>I purchased a laptop running XP with a free upgrade to Vista. The Vista
> upgrade is on a DVD that I need to run, however, I want to make sure my
> files
> and settings transfer. The installation DVD says it is "a new
> installation
> and any personal files or programs will be overwritten as a result of the
> upgrade." I have looked into using Windows Easy Transfer, but since it is
> on
> the same computer I have had difficulty getting it to work. I tried the
> easy
> transfer program to save to DVDs, but it didn't work. Looking for
> suggestions

DO NOT UPGRADE.

XP is a good reliable fully working system.

Vista is a new, buggy, un-reliable system.

Suppose you had a car with a good reliable engine that worked well and gave
you no problems.

The car company comes to you and says "we have this new unreliable engine
that we have not really finished testing yet, and it may give you probems,
would you like to install this new engine?".

Would you upgrade, or course you would not.

DO NOT UPGRADE FROM XP TO VISTA.