What if I change my mind?

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Guest

Ok, let's say I do the express upgrade to Vista and decide I don't like it.
I have Windows XP on a D: partition FAT32. Can I just restore XP from there?

Thanks
 
Use Acronis Trueimage Workstation to back up a complete image of your hard
drive. Install Vista, if you don't like it, wipe the hard drive and restore
with Acronis.

Make sure not to create or save anything important on the drive you will be
wiping between backup and restore.
 
Thanks to both of you for the information.

Viscount said:
Use Acronis Trueimage Workstation to back up a complete image of your hard
drive. Install Vista, if you don't like it, wipe the hard drive and restore
with Acronis.

Make sure not to create or save anything important on the drive you will be
wiping between backup and restore.
Click to expand...
 
Do not rely on the method in the KB article that was linked to. It is a last
ditch effort only type of thing. It may get XP running but you will have
problems with the installation. It should only be used as a back door to get
XP running long enough to backup your data. It is not a substitute for a
backup. I use Acronis True Image for backups but there are many other good
solutions. Here's some tips for upgrading.

1) Backup your PC.
2) Back it up again.
3) Test your backups.

If you skip the above steps please don't whine that the upgrade trashed all
your files. Any process that involves this many changes to the file system
is fraught with danger. If you don't have full backup of your pc before
starting the upgrade you are an idiot and shouldn't really have a pc to
start with :-) This may sound harsh but it is reality.

4) Run the latest version of the Upgrade Advisor and note anything it flags.
5) Uninstall (not disable) all antivirus, antispyware, firewall, disk
utility, and system utility programs even if the upgrade advisor doesn't
mention them. You will need to install Vista compatible versions after the
upgrade is finished.
6) Uninstall (not disable) all programs that the upgrade advisor flags as
possible problems. You will need to install Vista compatible versions after
the upgrade is finished.
7) If possible remove all hardware that the upgrade advisor flags as
incompatible.
8) Make sure you have Vista compatible drivers and software for all your
hardware devices burned to CD. Don't just look for drivers that the upgrade
advisor mentioned. If possible have drivers ready for everything.
9) Physically unplug any external devices like portable hard drives,
printers, card readers, flash drives, cameras, etc..
10) Run a chkdsk on all the partitions on all hard drives still connected.
11) Defrag the system partition.
12) Start the Vista upgrade process.
 
Are you speaking from experience with the techniques outlined in
KB 927522? In what ways did XP malfunction after you used them?
I admit that I image and do clean, rather than upgrade, installs.
 
The ACLs on XP system files are changed then not changed back when using
that method of restoring XP. That can be worked around but it may cause
problems down the road. Vista also changes the ACLs on any other folders you
may have added since the Vista install. Again this can be worked around but
the workaround may not be trivial. In playing with that rollback method I
found it very complicated. It is very easy to do things not quite right and
end up with a trashed system that won't boot Vista or XP. It works if you
follow the instructions exactly and your XP install was plain vanilla, i.e.
you hadn't changed or moved any system or user folders, all your programs
were well behaved in where they placed their files, etc.. It shouldn't be
relied upon as a backup in case a Vista install doesn't work. If the Vista
install fails the windows.old folder may not be fully populated or even
exist.
 
The Apple ads haven't got to this one - maybe it's too complex & obscure.

Since the ACLs are not changed back, it doesn't really work even if
you follow instructions exactly and your XP install was plain vanilla.

Pete Gontier posted in terabyte's bootitng group that he does data on a fat32
partition to create harmony between XP and Vista by eliminating ACLs.
There's rolling forward and back, and then there's keeping both going.
 
Michael Jennings said:
The Apple ads haven't got to this one - maybe it's too complex & obscure.
Click to expand...

If you upgrade from OS 9 to OS X can you easily roll back to OS9? I don't
know but I'm guessing no.
Since the ACLs are not changed back, it doesn't really work even if
you follow instructions exactly and your XP install was plain vanilla.
Click to expand...

Windows XP will boot up and run if you follow the instructions exactly. The
changed ACLs don't cause XP not to run. They may cause problems with some
programs.
Pete Gontier posted in terabyte's bootitng group that he does data on a
fat32
partition to create harmony between XP and Vista by eliminating ACLs.
There's rolling forward and back, and then there's keeping both going.
Click to expand...

I'm a big fan of vm's for using more than one OS on the same computer. I
don't like multiple booting if it can be avoided. It inevitably causes
problems with one or more of the OS'. I especially avoid FAT32 on any OS'
that support NTFS. For shared data I use networking and shared folders. You
can do this on one computer using vm's. This eliminates problems with ACLs
but keeps the security and robustness of NTFS intact.
 
Kerry Brown said:
I'm a big fan of vm's for using more than one OS on the same computer. I
don't like multiple booting if it can be avoided. It inevitably causes
problems with one or more of the OS'. I especially avoid FAT32 on any OS'
that support NTFS. For shared data I use networking and shared folders. You
can do this on one computer using vm's. This eliminates problems with ACLs
but keeps the security and robustness of NTFS intact.
Click to expand...

I looked at VMware's site a week ago, Kerry. There was a "who owns the
bare metal" story in The New York Times, I guess about ESX Server. It said
VMware has decided to compete, rather than cooperating, with Microsoft.
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10B12FE3A5A0C778EDDAB0894DF404482
I haven't gone 64bit. Their stuff really requires it. I guess that means trying out
Microsoft's Virtual PC 2007 - can't beat the price. I downloaded it from:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...02-3199-48A3-AFA2-2DC0B40A73B6&displaylang=en
 
Michael Jennings said:
I looked at VMware's site a week ago, Kerry. There was a "who owns the
bare metal" story in The New York Times, I guess about ESX Server. It said
VMware has decided to compete, rather than cooperating, with Microsoft.
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10B12FE3A5A0C778EDDAB0894DF404482
I haven't gone 64bit. Their stuff really requires it. I guess that means
trying out
Microsoft's Virtual PC 2007 - can't beat the price. I downloaded it from:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...02-3199-48A3-AFA2-2DC0B40A73B6&displaylang=en
Click to expand...


I prefer Virtual PC 2007 over vmware on Windows computers. There are
situations where a dual boot is preferred, like for running older games, but
in most cases running an older OS in a vm is my preferred method. I have VPC
2007 vm's of Windows 98, Windows 2000, XP Home, and XP Pro setup on a
computer with the host OS being Vista. It works great.
 
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