Vista on Vista

[Crispy500]

Dear All,

I have a fairly new HP a6110 desktop that has its own special restore partition on the "C" drive that can be accessed from the boot menu.

My issue is that I have a legitimate version of Vista Ultimate that I would like to install, but I have heard some horror stories that the way the HP is set up, that it will not allow this - Indeed that it will not even allow a "clean" install of the Vista Ultimate and will crash the HD id I try?

Is this true and also, is it possible to upgrade to Vista Ultimate by an upgrade over the Home Premium?

If it is possible - what do I need to do to install Vista Ultimate?

Kind Regards

David

 

[John Barnes]

Unless you are using the latest edition of Partition Magic, which is Vista
compatible, do your partition creating and formatting using the install
disk. You may need to go into F8 and safe mode during the last part of the
install, and install the proper video driver.

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

You can upgrade, certainly, but these are the caveats:

a) The proprietary bootloader that HP installs to make that recovery
partition accessible at boot will be overwritten. You will no longer be able
to access it and would need to contact HP for instructions on how to get it
back or obtain a set of recovery disks should you ever need to restore to
factory state

b) Do no install by booting the Ultimate disk. HP, like most OEM's, use
proprietary drivers for the hardware that are often not included in the
retail version of Windows. Instead, install as an upgrade from within the
working installation to have these migrated as part of the upgrade. Do not
count on being able to do a clean install with the retail disk in the event
of system failure.

I have heard some horror stories that the way the HP is set up, that it
will not allow this - Indeed that it will not even allow a "clean" install
of the Vista Ultimate and will crash the HD id I try?

No such block exists, and it will not crash the hard drive. As to allowing
for a clean install from a retail disk, it's not something that is blocked
so much as it boils down to the retail disk not having appropriate drivers
for the proprietary hardware.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

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

Dear All,

I have a fairly new HP a6110 desktop that has its own special restore
partition on the "C" drive that can be accessed from the boot menu.

My issue is that I have a legitimate version of Vista Ultimate that I would
like to install, but I have heard some horror stories that the way the HP is
set up, that it will not allow this - Indeed that it will not even allow a
"clean" install of the Vista Ultimate and will crash the HD id I try?

Is this true and also, is it possible to upgrade to Vista Ultimate by an
upgrade over the Home Premium?

If it is possible - what do I need to do to install Vista Ultimate?

Kind Regards

David

 

[Crispy500]

Hi,

Does that mean that Ultimate will not auto upgrade the Home Premium without a full and clean install?

All I want it to do is overwrite what I already have and for the install to give me Ultimate.

I had understood that the full version is actually installed on all PC's - It is just the code that unlocks different versions

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[Crispy500]

Thanks fort that - Sounds rather complicated to me....and the system runs fine now - So I think I will let it be - Although being an inveterate "tinkerer", I really want to get the Vista Ultimate running - Perhaps a full clean install would be better and just bite the bullet and reinstall everything

 

[John Barnes]

No, but depending on your video card, you may be best off uninstalling the
driver before attempting the upgrade. You can install the proper driver
later.



Hi,

Does that mean that Ultimate will not auto upgrade the Home Premium without
a full and clean install?

All I want it to do is overwrite what I already have and for the install to
give me Ultimate.

I had understood that the full version is actually installed on all PC's -
It is just the code that unlocks different versions

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[John Barnes]

Also, some have had to unplug any unnecessary peripherals during the
install, especially USB devices. If you continue to hang it may be usefull
to try disconnecting unnecessary devices and if you have one, use PS2
connected mouse and keyboard, especially if you are using a wireless USB
set.

 

[Chris Cowles]

Hi,

Does that mean that Ultimate will not auto upgrade the Home Premium
without a full and clean install?

All I want it to do is overwrite what I already have and for the
install to give me Ultimate.

I had understood that the full version is actually installed on all
PC's - It is just the code that unlocks different versions

Thanks in advance for the help.

==================================

I just upgraded HP WHPx64 to retail WUx64 by running setup from the
desktop. It worked fine. I have not tried the F11 recover option from
the boot menu but did make my recovery DVDs before starting anything.
I assume (hope) I can boot from those DVDs, but have no expectation of
needing to. The utility in windows\sminst (or is it swinst?) to
restore individual apps seems to run okay. I didn't actually try to
restore the apps themselves.

 

[Crispy500]

But I am still not sure if I can do just an upgrade or does it have to be a clean install?

Cheers
Dear All,

I have a fairly new HP a6110 desktop that has its own special restore partition on the "C" drive that can be accessed from the boot menu.

My issue is that I have a legitimate version of Vista Ultimate that I would like to install, but I have heard some horror stories that the way the HP is set up, that it will not allow this - Indeed that it will not even allow a "clean" install of the Vista Ultimate and will crash the HD id I try?

Is this true and also, is it possible to upgrade to Vista Ultimate by an upgrade over the Home Premium?

If it is possible - what do I need to do to install Vista Ultimate?

Kind Regards

David

 

[Chris Cowles]

But I am still not sure if I can do just an upgrade or does it have to be a clean install?

Cheers
Dear All,

I have a fairly new HP a6110 desktop that has its own special restore partition on the "C" drive that can be accessed from the boot menu.

My issue is that I have a legitimate version of Vista Ultimate that I would like to install, but I have heard some horror stories that the way the HP is set up, that it will not allow this - Indeed that it will not even allow a "clean" install of the Vista Ultimate and will crash the HD id I try?

Is this true and also, is it possible to upgrade to Vista Ultimate by an upgrade over the Home Premium?

If it is possible - what do I need to do to install Vista Ultimate?

Kind Regards

David

You can do an upgrade by running the VU DVD setup from the VHP desktop. That assumes both are the same "bitness", ie, 32 or 64. I did a VHP x64 to VU x64 upgrade last night. It was flawless. (I have not attempted the F11 recover seen on the boot screen. The recovery partition is intact.)

 

[AJR]

OK - now my two cents - good advice from Rick and mkprilliman. You can upgrade to Utlimate (Have done it several times including HP). Keep in mind that after the upgrade the recovery partition is obsolete - HP provides a utility to copy the recovery partition to removeable media (CD/DVD) and to remove the MBR (Master boot record) modification (Hit F--- to restore).
The recovery disks may be of future use in reinstalling drivers.

Check the documentation.

Dear All,

I have a fairly new HP a6110 desktop that has its own special restore partition on the "C" drive that can be accessed from the boot menu.

My issue is that I have a legitimate version of Vista Ultimate that I would like to install, but I have heard some horror stories that the way the HP is set up, that it will not allow this - Indeed that it will not even allow a "clean" install of the Vista Ultimate and will crash the HD id I try?

Is this true and also, is it possible to upgrade to Vista Ultimate by an upgrade over the Home Premium?

If it is possible - what do I need to do to install Vista Ultimate?

Kind Regards

David

 

[Crispy500]

Will all this still work if my copy of Vista Ultimate is an OEM version?

Cheers
OK - now my two cents - good advice from Rick and mkprilliman. You can upgrade to Utlimate (Have done it several times including HP). Keep in mind that after the upgrade the recovery partition is obsolete - HP provides a utility to copy the recovery partition to removeable media (CD/DVD) and to remove the MBR (Master boot record) modification (Hit F--- to restore).
The recovery disks may be of future use in reinstalling drivers.

Check the documentation.

Dear All,

I have a fairly new HP a6110 desktop that has its own special restore partition on the "C" drive that can be accessed from the boot menu.

My issue is that I have a legitimate version of Vista Ultimate that I would like to install, but I have heard some horror stories that the way the HP is set up, that it will not allow this - Indeed that it will not even allow a "clean" install of the Vista Ultimate and will crash the HD id I try?

Is this true and also, is it possible to upgrade to Vista Ultimate by an upgrade over the Home Premium?

If it is possible - what do I need to do to install Vista Ultimate?

Kind Regards

David