Ultimate Version's unnecessary stuff

[Guest]

As I prepared to upgrade our three computers, I purchased my first Windows
Vista Home Premium and got as far as "Upgrade is disabled", telling me I MUST
do a clean install. Uhhh... not in THIS lifetime! It went on to explain
that I CANNOT upgrade XP Pro to Home Premium, but this is NOT on the package
or any info in the Staples store (which has agreed to take it back). My
question is: If I am FORCED to buy Vista Ultimate, can I avoid installing all
the stuff I DON'T need? Otherwise, I will stay with XP for a few more years.
THANK YOU for any info!

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

You can only upgrade Windows XP Professional
to either Windows Vista Business or Ultimate.
You can always uninstall certain Vista components in
the "Programs and Features" > "Turn Windows
features on or off" applet located in Vista's
new Control Panel.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

---------------------------------------------------------------

As I prepared to upgrade our three computers, I purchased my first Windows
Vista Home Premium and got as far as "Upgrade is disabled", telling me I MUST
do a clean install. Uhhh... not in THIS lifetime! It went on to explain
that I CANNOT upgrade XP Pro to Home Premium, but this is NOT on the package
or any info in the Staples store (which has agreed to take it back). My
question is: If I am FORCED to buy Vista Ultimate, can I avoid installing all
the stuff I DON'T need? Otherwise, I will stay with XP for a few more years.
THANK YOU for any info!

 

[Guest]

Thank you, Carey... that's HALF good news! Being able to "turn off" unwanted
features is good, but it would be better if we could simply NOT INSTALL them,
rather than having them sit there and occupy disc space while being about as
useful as last week's newspaper. I DO appreciate your courtesy of replying.
It just upsets me that Microsoft is FORCING me to spend an extra hundred
bucks for features I wouldn't buy! The "Home Premium" version has everything
I want or need. Best wishes.

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

A custom upgrade will allow you to select what features you do and do not
want. Is there something in particular that you are trying to avoid? A
typical of Ultimate is fairly lean, so I'm curious.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Windows XP Pro to Windows Vista is a kind of downgrade and is not new
with Windows Vista.
Similar to windows 2000 will not upgrade to Windows XP Home:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/upgrading/matrix.mspx
That is because you are going from a version intended for use in a
business environment to a home environment and has not been a valid
path..

Did you purchase Windows Vista Home Premium or upgrade?
If it is Upgrade, what is written on the front, top of the box under
"Upgrade"?
I think that explains the upgrade paths although I do not have that
version in front of me now.

If you post which features you do not want, you may be given specific
answers for removing/disabling those features..

Exactly what features in Windows Vista is driving your upgrade?
Some can be removed in the Programs and Features section in the
Control Panel.

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Rick...

I DON'T need the "business backup", or the "BitLocker and Drive encryption"
There is so much security stuff on our computers that it's becoming
ridiculous. The extra networking capability MIGHT be useful, because we DO
have a LAN (three computers). But I was told that Home Premium has no
trouble with a home-based LAN. It just bugs me that we are told we MUST pay
an extra hundred dollars (THREE hundred dollars in my case).

I like your answer better than the first response, because NOT installing
unwanted features is preferable to installing them and then turning them off
(which doesn't UNinstall them!).

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

The business backup in Ultimate is essentially the same as in Home Premium,
the only difference being that you have an option of doing a full image
backup, not just a file backup. It occupies no additional space or memory
unless you actually choose to use it (and actually, I would recommend that
you take advantage of this feature as a safeguard).

Bitlocker and Drive Encryption is a downloadable extra that you will qualify
for, but is not installed by default. Simply don't download it if you don't
want it. I don't use it either. Same goes for the rest of the Ultimate
extras.

The extra networking capability is in the additional capacity to connect to
a domain, something unlikely to be used in a home environment. The
capabilities of connecting to a workgroup lan is the same in all versions.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[John Inzer]

As I prepared to upgrade our three computers, I purchased my first
Windows Vista Home Premium and got as far as "Upgrade is disabled",
telling me I MUST do a clean install. Uhhh... not in THIS lifetime!
It went on to explain that I CANNOT upgrade XP Pro to Home Premium,
but this is NOT on the package or any info in the Staples store
(which has agreed to take it back). My question is: If I am FORCED
to buy Vista Ultimate, can I avoid installing all the stuff I DON'T
need? Otherwise, I will stay with XP for a few more years. THANK YOU
for any info!

===================================
Maybe installing Vista on a separate partition
and dual booting would be attractive to you.

I'm no expert on dual-booting but the
following info worked for me. One
other point...when I first installed Vista
I constantly received errors...updating my
BIOS solved that.

Doesn't have to be a second hard drive...
if your main drive is large enough you can
install on a separate partition. 15 to 20 GB
is considered to be adequate for the install
but 40 GB or more would be better.

First...hook up all your hardware and run
the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor...just
to see where you stand.

Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor
http://tinyurl.com/27pekc

Also..."Important"...backup all of your personal
files...My Documents / My Pictures / E-mail /
Everything...etc...you never know what might
go wrong.

You may need to reduce the size of
your Primary Active partition to create
some unallocated space.

I used Acronis Disk Director Suite 10
to accomplish this but there are other
options such as the app. mentioned
in the following article.

How to dual-boot Vista with XP -
step-by-step guide with screenshots
http://tinyurl.com/ysh8hy

Gnome Partition Editor
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

Once you have the unallocated space
available...you may need to enter your
BIOS and change the boot order so
you can boot from the Vista disk. From
that point just follow the onscreen
instructions. To access the BIOS on my
machine...I have to press and hold the
Delete key when it's powering up.

When Vista installs it will create it's own
partition on the unallocated space.

The following links may be useful also:

Dual-Booting Vista and XP
http://www.windowstalk.org/dual_boot_vista.htm

Dual-Booting Vista and XP (Part 2)
http://www.windowstalk.org/dual_boot_part2.htm

Also the following freebie is very useful in
managing your Boot options.

VistaBootPRO
http://www.vistabootpro.org/index.php
(scroll down to the download link)

--

John Inzer
MS Picture It! -
Digital Image MVP

Digital Image
Highlights and FAQs
http://tinyurl.com/aczzp

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

 

[Guest]

Jupiter: Thank you (and others) for replying to my query about my failed
Vista upgrade. There is nothing about the prohibition on the front of the
box, but you are absolutely correct; there IS fine print on the back which
says a clean install is necessary. Staples has agreed to take back my
uninstalled Home Premium. Except for IE7 crashing 10 to 12 times a day, XP
runs perfectly on my main computer, so I've decided to KEEP XP Pro for a long
time, rather than buy a version of Vista I don't need or want. I was looking
forward to improved multimedia features, but I'm having no trouble handling
my photography stuff in XP. This has been a lesson in "Be happy with what
you've got"!