the new computer we just bought is infected with Vista and it will not
recognize the files from the XP machine it replaced. Every year we buy a new
computer. (Alternating between my wife and I.) The old ones go down to the
kids and theirs go to charity. We ran the files and settings transfer wizard
on the old computer and saved the files to a network drive. then fired up the
Vista POC and after much effort finally got into the network drive. (had to
upgrade the drivers on all of the computers in the house!) Then Vista would
not accept the transfer files. As a result My wife lost all of her settings
in Ie and we had to reinstall all of her peripheral software. I have been
using my machine with settings trasfered for years and do not want to start
from scratch. especially since so many setting are buried in system files and
not in .bat files like they used to be. We also tried to dump the entire
contents of the old drive onto a common server and then have access to them
from the new machine but yet again the system files hung up the copy. Is this
going to be a permanent problem with VISTA that we will have to go through
each time we buy a new computer or is there a way to effectively transfer
those setup files to a new computer?
Personally, what I think is a damn shame and mostly a old wives tale
perputated by many so-called "experts" that always swear on a stack of
bible you have to do a clean install or your asking for trouble is,
surprise, 99% of the time that's just hogwash. A clean install of
course means you start over, from scratch and have the "fun" of
reinstalling all your applications, again messing with setting and
hope you don't lose any of your data files you can't replace.
Well, that's not a option for me with 2 TB's worth of files. So I do
what I always have for years, actually decades,, install in place.
That means you simply put the Vista DVD in your drive while XP is
still running and just sit back and wait for it to do its thing.
There are some precautions:
First of course, you do a full backup. This term too is often
confused. While you can burn a "image" of your system just in case,
that can get old fast if you do it religiously. For me backing up
means having copies of your data files (what your applications
produce),ie your spreadsheets, photos, videos, music, tax records,
database files, business records, stuff you don't want to lose. For
me, the best way to manage the near 1 TB of data I have is copy it to
external drives. So when I say I have nearly 2 TB of stuff, I really
mean I have about 1 TB of actual data and another 1 TB backup of that
stuff.
Now when you install a new OS the absolutely safest way is you have
your "stuff" protected from harm on external drives. Simply turn them
off or better yet disconnect them and put them in a safe place where
the kids or dog can't get to them. No way can Windows no matter how
bad a nervous break down it has mess with my "stuff" doing this.
But wait... You don't want to lose your stuff or have to reinstall it
if you can avoid doing it. So what I did so far is just an insurance
policy, if disaster strikes.
I go to BIOS and turn off everything I don't need to install Vista.
Disable all the bells and whistles, like UBS hubs/controllers, SATA
controllers (unless your boot drive in SATA, then don't!) turn off any
overclocking setting, stuff like that. Also disconnet any toys like
your scanner, printer, all of it except for your mouse or some other
pointing device and your keyboard. That's all your'll need to install
Vista when it ask for your product key, to set time zone and name
users, and set up a administrator pass word.
Now just put your Vista DVD in your drive, (you still have XP running
on your system) sit back or take a break and in about 60 minutes Vista
with a little luck (assuming you also disabled all the things Vista
Advisor may have nagged about no matter how slightly) beforehand,
Vista will all by itself image EVERYTHING on your system.
Like before early on you'll be asked to agree to the license terms,
you'll be asked to enter the product key, once that's is done, you can
get up and walk around or whatever. Near the end of the install you'll
be asked for the other stuff I mentioned. It is normal for Vista to
reboot and appear it is hung several times during the install process.
Unless it brings up a BSOD (blue screen of death) don't worry about
these brief periods where it looks like the install process stopped.
It probably hasn't.
That includes files it needs to "borrow" from your install of XP, yep,
its Registry, plus all your software, plus all your data. Duh! Isn't
this a better way? Once it is finished you'll have (with some luck) a
system now running Vista with all your data, all your applications,
all your setting in tack and totally unharmed.
In case something does go wrong you at least have your "stuff"
protected as backup. That's why it is critical to have backups, just
in case. If you don't have a lot of "stuff" you can probalby spend
just a little time and burn a data DVD of it or again just make
duplicates of data files, ALL OF IT, at least stuff you won't want to
risk losing and copy to another drive (better) or at least to a
different partition than where you plan to install Vista to. This
works if you don't have lots of stuff and don't have or want external
drives.
Assuming everything went ok spend the next couple days testing that
everything works as it should before you trash your extra backups you
made. You may have to reinstall a couple applications. I did. No big
deal, far better then trying to reinstall 1 TB of stuff.
Do NOT try a install in place if:
1. Your current XP system is unstable. If you do a install in place
on a system that is already giving your fits you will likely make
things worse, not better. That's because Vista will copy all the
goofed-up settings in the XP Registry and carry them over. You
obviously don't want that. So be sure before doing a install in
place your current OS (probably XP) is working as it should. If
not, fix it first. Don't say I didn't warn ya!
2. Listen to the Vista Upgrade Advisor. A quick download and it just
takes minutes for it to scan your system. Its buggy for sure, but
if it nags about anything and I mean ANYTHING, no matter how slight
like claiming it don't understand this driver, but its
shouldn't present any problem, take that to mean it likely WILL
present a problem once you start the actual install. So either fix,
disable, or remove all drivers, all hardware, all software that the
Upgrade Advisor mentions. ALL OF IT. You were warned. Once
Vista is up and running you put back or replace these problem
items one at a time, and surpise, what the Advisor may have
nagged about and may also have caused a BSOD, now often painlessly
will be self-corrected by Vista or automatically repalced with new
drivers it has on the Vista DVD, but it has to be installed
for it do that! <wink>
3. Until you find all your install CD's plus product codes,
serial numbers for ALL the software you plan to have on your
updated system. Again this is just insurance. If the install in
placed worked, fine, you won't need any of of it. Everything
will still be there. If something goes wrong and you have to
reinstall one or two applications you'll need their install CD's
and the code to unlock. Best to have handy just in case.
4. If you use a dial-up connection to the Internet. Right now,
don't forget, network setting right down all the current IP
address, password, log-in etc. you need. If you have broadband
and a typical cable connect you shouldn't need to do anything
except plug in and your provider's system will find your computer
again without you doing anything.
