upgrading from Vista Ultimate to SP1..

[Abdallah A. A.]

Hi
I'd like to ask about installing Vista Ultimate SP1 which i downloaded from
Microsoft official website.

When i was using XP Pro SP2 & downloaded SP3 from Microsoft, i didn't have
to backup my files on Drive C or backup the registry to install the newer SP.

My question is; when installing Vista Ultimate SP1 on a previous Vista
Ultimate version (SP1 downloaded from Microsoft) will this affect on my
registry and documents?
& do i have to move my documents & important stuff to an external hard disk
before installing SP1? (i mean do i have to move my stuff because the
installation will delete the previous setting and documents..etc.)

best regards..

Abdallah Alshraify ..

 

[Dwarf]

Hi Abdallah,

There is no need to do anything other than to run the upgrade. All existing
files and settings will be unaffected. If you have any documents that are
important, then I recommend that you back these up before hand, just in case
something goes wrong (unlikely, but better to be safe than sorry). Please
note that the installation of SP1 can take a while, so allow it to complete.
For your information, both the 5-language 32-bit version of Vista SP1 and the
Office 2007 SP1 service packs can fit on one 700MB CD.
Dwarf

 

[Malke]

Abdallah A. A. wrote:

Comments inline:

I'd like to ask about installing Vista Ultimate SP1 which i downloaded
from Microsoft official website.

When i was using XP Pro SP2 & downloaded SP3 from Microsoft, i didn't have
to backup my files on Drive C or backup the registry to install the newer
SP.

This was not a smart choice and you were lucky.

My question is; when installing Vista Ultimate SP1 on a previous Vista
Ultimate version (SP1 downloaded from Microsoft) will this affect on my
registry and documents?
& do i have to move my documents & important stuff to an external hard
disk before installing SP1? (i mean do i have to move my stuff because the
installation will delete the previous setting and documents..etc.)

You do not *have* to back up your data before applying a Service Pack to an
operating system, whether it is Windows XP or Vista or some other
non-Microsoft operating system, but it is very wise to do so. A Service
Pack makes major changes to your operating system and any time you do that,
you take a chance of something going wrong.

You should be doing regular backups anyway to safeguard your precious data
against loss. Depending on your needs, burn data to CD/DVD-R and also
consider getting an external hard drive.

Malke

 

[GTS]

I heartily second Malke's comments. SP1 completely trashed one machine I
ran it on a few days ago, and it would have been a disaster and professional
embarrassment had I not made a full backup first. (Thank you Acronis!).
(And, BTW, that computer was malware free, clean and stable and met all
requirements for SP1. There's always a risk and backup is always a wise
precaution.)
--