If activated upgrade to Vista, what are recovery options?

[Mickey Segal]

I did a (non-clean) upgrade from XP to Vista, and find that Vista is hanging
and crashing a lot. I'm not sure how much of this is bugginess of Vista
itself and how much is the problems of non-clean upgrades. If this gets any
worse I'll need to start again. Since I've already activated my copy of
Vista, what are my options?

Do I need to do a recovery install of XP first, and can I even do a recovery
install of XP if I used my copy of XP for the upgrade?

Can I do a clean installation using my current Vista installation?

Does a clean installation wipe out just Windows or wipe out all information
on the hard drive?

 

[Richard G. Harper]

If you have a full version of Vista, I'd just wipe and reinstall and forget
upgrading from XP unless it's necessary. Personally I have had no problems
with Vista crashing, either upgrade or clean install; but depending on how
"dirty" your base XP system was you could have some problems.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

 

[Mickey Segal]

If you have a full version of Vista, I'd just wipe and reinstall and
forget upgrading from XP unless it's necessary. Personally I have had no
problems with Vista crashing, either upgrade or clean install; but
depending on how "dirty" your base XP system was you could have some
problems.

I am asking about the option with an upgrade copy of Vista.

 

[Donald McDaniel]

I did a (non-clean) upgrade from XP to Vista, and find that Vista is hanging
and crashing a lot. I'm not sure how much of this is bugginess of Vista
itself and how much is the problems of non-clean upgrades. If this gets any
worse I'll need to start again. Since I've already activated my copy of
Vista, what are my options?

Do I need to do a recovery install of XP first, and can I even do a recovery
install of XP if I used my copy of XP for the upgrade?

Can I do a clean installation using my current Vista installation?

Does a clean installation wipe out just Windows or wipe out all information
on the hard drive?

All you have to do is reinstall it. Microsoft guarantees Activation of our
products as often as needed, as long as we abide by the EULA.

You may or may not have to reactivate it, depending on whether any major
hardware modifications were made since the last activation.

Don't worry, my friend, Microsoft is committed to its paying customers, and
will work with us. They aren't the thieves and demons people make them out to
be. Just business folks, like the majority of us.

 

[Rock]

I did a (non-clean) upgrade from XP to Vista, and find that Vista is
hanging and crashing a lot. I'm not sure how much of this is bugginess of
Vista itself and how much is the problems of non-clean upgrades. If this
gets any worse I'll need to start again. Since I've already activated my
copy of Vista, what are my options?

Do I need to do a recovery install of XP first, and can I even do a
recovery install of XP if I used my copy of XP for the upgrade?

Can I do a clean installation using my current Vista installation?

Does a clean installation wipe out just Windows or wipe out all
information on the hard drive?

If what you have is an upgrade version then you'll need to reinstall XP,
activate it, and then you can do a custom install starting from the XP
desktop.

This issue about the XP license is for some reason confusing some folks when
it shouldn't be. When you use XP as a qualifying OS for using a Vista
upgrade version, you cannot have both the XP and Vista installed at the same
time. That doesn't mean you can't then do a clean install of XP, removing
Vista from the computer. The activation will either go through on the
internet or you have to make a phone call. The point is either XP or Vista
can be installed but not both at that same time.

There is a published work around to install an upgrade version of Vista
without the qualifying OS installed. If you do have a qualifying OS then
there is no license problem doing it, but it is a newly published work
around, so all the ramifications of it down the road are not known. Use at
your own risk.

http://windowssecrets.com/comp/070201

Whether Vista is installed from within an installed OS as an in place
upgrade, or a custom install, or installed with no qualifying OS present,
Vista is put down by a type of image or block copy. So there are no bits of
the old OS lying around. For an in place upgrade, after Vista is installed
then the programs and data and drivers are migrated and that's when problems
can happen. For a custom install from the XP desktop, the XP installation
is wrapped up into the windows.old folder but no data or programs are
migrated. If needed salvage data from windows.old, and then delete it. For
the install without a qualifying OS, you actually do two installs, first the
install without a product key, then an upgrade from that, so settings could
be migrated and the first install is wrapped up in the windows.old folder.

Clear as mud, eh?

 

[Chad Harris]

You can pop in that Upgrade DVD and access the Win RE recovery tools. All
upgrade Vista DVDs are bootable, except one--the volume license upgrade DVD.
You can find the Win RE tools on the DVD on the setup screen after Language
choice in the lower left corner and you can search the Win RE tools at
http://support.microsoft.com using startup as search term. You do not have
to have a no boot situation to use them. You can also use SFC to repair a
number of problems.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925810/en-us

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392/en-us

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927525/en-us

SFC (System
File Checker) Run SFC (System File Checker) from an elevated command prompt.
It replaces files that are damaged with intact ones:

Start>right click cmd>run as admin>type at the prompt sfc /scannow.

It is run this way--and it fixes more
things than no boot Vista:

You can run Startup Repair by putting your Vista DVD in after the
language screen in setup. You can also run System Restore from the same
location.

You run the startup repair tool this way (and system restore from here is
also sometimes effective):

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925810/en-us

How To Run Startup Repair In Vista Ultimate (Multiple Screenshots)
http://www.windowsvista.windowsreinstall.com/vistaultimate/repairstartup/index.htm

Note The computer must be configured to start from a CD or from a DVD. For
information about how to configure the computer to start from a CD or from a
DVD, see the information that came with the computer.
2. Restart the computer. To do this, click Start, click the arrow next to
the Lock button, and then click Restart.

This usually means that you enter bios setup by whatever key or keys
(sometimes there is more than one key that will do it for your model--go to
pc manufacturer site) and configure CD to be first in the boot order.

See for ref:
Access/Enter Motherboard BIOS
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

Note If you cannot restart the computer by using this method, use the power
button to turn off the computer. Then, turn the computer back on.

3. Set your language preference, and then click Next.

Note In most cases, the startup repair process starts automatically, and you
do not have the option to select it in the System Recovery Options menu.

4. Click Repair your computer.

5. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click the operating system
that you want to repair, and then click Next.

6. In the System Recovery Options menu, click Startup Repair to start the
repair process.

7. When the repair process is complete, click Finish.

Additional References for Startup Repair With Screenshots:

How to Use Startup Repair:

***Accessing Windows RE (Repair Environment):***

1) Insert Media into PC (the DVD you burned)

2) ***You will see on the Vista logo setup screen after lang. options in the
lower left corner, a link called "System Recovery Options."***

Screenshot: System Recovery Options (Lower Left Link)
http://blogs.itecn.net/photos/liuhui/images/2014/500x375.aspx

Screenshot: (Click first option "Startup Repair"
http://www.leedesmond.com/images/img_vista02ctp-installSysRecOpt2.bmp

How To Run Startup Repair In Vista Ultimate (Multiple Screenshots)
http://www.windowsvista.windowsreinstall.com/vistaultimate/repairstartup/index.htm

3) Select your OS for repair.

4) Its been my experience that you can see some causes of the crash from
theWin RE feature:

You'll have a choice there of using:

1) Startup Repair
2) System Restore
3) Complete PC Restore

Good luck,

CH




http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927523/en-us

http://blogs.msdn.com/winre/default.aspx

 

[Scott]

I did a (non-clean) upgrade from XP to Vista, and find that Vista is hanging
and crashing a lot. I'm not sure how much of this is bugginess of Vista
itself and how much is the problems of non-clean upgrades. If this gets any
worse I'll need to start again. Since I've already activated my copy of
Vista, what are my options?

Do I need to do a recovery install of XP first, and can I even do a recovery
install of XP if I used my copy of XP for the upgrade?

Can I do a clean installation using my current Vista installation?

Does a clean installation wipe out just Windows or wipe out all information
on the hard drive?

A clean install is just that. Clean. No trace of your previous OS. I
thought that was an option with the upgrade version (everything from
the old install is moved to an "old" folder (but I could be wrong).

On the other hand if you have the upgrade version and want to do an
install with no trace of a previous version of Windows on your hard
drive, then check this out:

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5932

 

[Alias]

Don't worry, my friend, Microsoft is committed to its paying customers,
and will work with us. They aren't the thieves and demons people make
them out to be.

LOL! Now *that's* funny!

Alias

 

[Mickey Segal]

A clean install is just that. Clean. No trace of your previous OS. I
thought that was an option with the upgrade version (everything from
the old install is moved to an "old" folder (but I could be wrong).

On the other hand if you have the upgrade version and want to do an
install with no trace of a previous version of Windows on your hard
drive, then check this out:

Does this mean that program files remain or are they wiped out? Are data
files in My Documents retained?

 

[Scott]

Does this mean that program files remain or are they wiped out? Are data
files in My Documents retained?

No. It's GONE.

You need to do a backup if you want to preserve any previous data.

Even if you do an upgrade, you STILL should back up your files first.
You never know what might go wrong in the process.

 

[Mickey Segal]

No. It's GONE.

You need to do a backup if you want to preserve any previous data.

Even if you do an upgrade, you STILL should back up your files first.
You never know what might go wrong in the process.

Good. I was looking for a fresh start. Everything is backed up. I'll
report back with how it goes.

 

[Mickey Segal]

Good. I was looking for a fresh start. Everything is backed up. I'll
report back with how it goes.

The clean install went quite nicely. My Documents and Program Files had no
remnants of previous files, but several old folders in the root directory
remained with their contents apparently untouched (dell, drivers, i386,
temp, wutemp, and a folder I had created previously named oldprogs). I
don't know if these folders are important, but since they take only 1 GB I'm
in no rush to experiment.

I recovered 10-15 GB of space, not counting programs I haven't reinstalled.
The most important effect is that the computer is much faster now. Most of
the speed increase came as I prepared for the clean install, when I created
a new profile for myself and deleted the old profile. However, it was
significantly faster after the clean install, and I don't get any of the
long pauses doing routine operations.

During the clean install I was asked for my product key, and I just put in
the key I had used earlier from the upgrade box. Later I activated the
installation and the activation went through fine.

 

[Mickey Segal]

The clean install went quite nicely. My Documents and Program Files had
no remnants of previous files, but several old folders in the root
directory remained with their contents apparently untouched (dell,
drivers, i386, temp, wutemp, and a folder I had created previously named
oldprogs). I don't know if these folders are important, but since they
take only 1 GB I'm in no rush to experiment.

I recovered 10-15 GB of space, not counting programs I haven't
reinstalled. The most important effect is that the computer is much faster
now. Most of the speed increase came as I prepared for the clean install,
when I created a new profile for myself and deleted the old profile.
However, it was significantly faster after the clean install, and I don't
get any of the long pauses doing routine operations.

During the clean install I was asked for my product key, and I just put in
the key I had used earlier from the upgrade box. Later I activated the
installation and the activation went through fine.

I did have one problem preparing for a clean install after my Vista upgrade.
After deleting the CD writing program, my CD and DVD drives stopped working,
and an external CD/DVD drive was not recognized either. The problem sounds
similar to that described at
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314060. I got the
drives working with some combination of uninstalling the drives in Device
Manager, scanning for hardware changes, rebooting and adding back the
drivers that were listed in Device Manager before I started deleting things.
(I'm not sure what action or combination was important, but the CD and DVD
drives were recognized again and I could do the clean install).

The take home message is to be careful about deleting CD / DVD writing
programs or AntiVirus programs, and go back to a backup point if necessary
if a problem occurs after deletion. If you are doing a clean upgrade, let
the upgrade get rid of these programs for you.