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MCTS 70-620 Exam Prep: Upgrading to Windows Vista

Dec 21, 2007

📄 Contents

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Introduction
Upgrading to Windows Vista from a Previous Version of Windows
Upgrading from One Edition of Windows Vista to Another
Performing Post-Installation Updates and Product Activation
Summary
Key Terms
Apply Your Knowledge

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Upgrading to Windows Vista from a Previous Version of Windows

Objective:

Upgrade to Windows Vista from a previous version of Windows.

Upgrade paths from previous Windows versions depend on the operating system version currently installed. Table 3.1 lists the available upgrade paths for older operating systems.

Table 3.1. Upgrading Older Operating Systems to Windows Vista

Operating System	Upgrade Path
Windows XP Home Edition	Can be upgraded directly to Windows Vista Home Basic, Vista Home Premium, Vista Business, or Vista Ultimate.
Windows XP Professional	Can be upgraded directly to Windows Vista Business or Vista Ultimate.
Windows XP Media Center	Can be upgraded directly to Windows Vista Ultimate.
Windows 9x/ME Windows NT 4.0 Workstation Windows 2000 Professional	Cannot be upgraded. You need to perform a clean installation of Windows Vista
Non-Windows operating systems (Unix, Linux, OS/2)	Cannot be upgraded. You need to perform a clean installation of Windows Vista.

Preparing a Computer to Meet Upgrade Requirements

In addition to running one of the supported versions of Windows mentioned here, a computer to be upgraded to Windows Vista must meet the hardware requirements outlined in Chapter 2, "Installing Windows Vista." In addition, all hardware components should be found in the Windows Logo Program for Hardware. Older software applications also may not be compatible with Windows Vista. Such applications might need to be upgraded or replaced to work properly after you have upgraded your operating system. Review the information provided in Chapter 2 when preparing your computers for upgrading to Windows Vista.

Vista Upgrade Advisor

Microsoft includes a compatibility tool on the Windows Vista DVD-ROM that generates reports describing hardware and software components that might not be compatible with Windows Vista. This report identifies any hardware or software problems associated with the computer to be upgraded.

Step by Step 3.1 shows you how to obtain a system compatibility report from the computer to be upgraded.

Step by Step: 3.1 Installing and Running the Vista Upgrade Advisor

Insert the Windows Vista DVD-ROM.
When the Windows Vista welcome screen appears, select Check Compatibility Online.
Internet Explorer connects to the Microsoft Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor website, which contains upgrade information plus a link to download the Upgrade Advisor, as shown in Figure 3.1. Select this link.

Figure 3.1 If you are connected to the Internet, you should choose to download the updated files before preparing your compatibility report.
On the Security Warning that appears, click Run to begin the download.
After a minute or so, an Internet Explorer Security Warning message box appears. Click Run to install the Upgrade Advisor.
If prompted to install a recent version of MSXML, select the Download and Install option and follow the instructions that appear. These instructions install the MSXML 6.0 Parser, which is needed to run the Upgrade Advisor. When this installation completes, click Back on your browser window to return to the Upgrade Advisor installation.
If prompted to install the .NET Framework, select the Download and Install option and follow the instructions that appear. These instructions install the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0.
The Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor Setup Wizard starts with a Welcome screen. Click Next.
On the License Agreement page, click I Agree, and then click Next.
On the Select Installation Folder page, accept the location provided or type an alternative path. Then click Next.
On the Confirm Installation page, click Next to proceed. The installation takes a few minutes.
When the Installation Complete page appears, ensure that the Launch Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor check box is selected, and then click Close.
The Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor checks for updates and then displays a Welcome page (see Figure 3.2). Click Start Scan.

Figure 3.2 Click Start Scan to test the upgradeability of your computer.
While the scan is taking place, the Upgrade Advisor displays a comparison chart of features for several Vista editions. Select the command buttons at the bottom to learn more about the various editions.
When the scan completes, the Upgrade Advisor displays a Scan complete page. Click See Details to view the results of the scan.
As shown in Figure 3.3, the Upgrade Advisor informs you of the edition of Vista most suited to your computer and of any issues that could cause problems during upgrade. For additional information, scroll down this window to click the See Details buttons under System Requirements, Devices, and Programs.

Figure 3.3 The Upgrade Advisor informs you of the Vista edition most suited to your computer.
As shown in Figure 3.4, the Report Details page reviews any issues regarding system, devices, or programs that might not work properly with Vista.

Figure 3.4 The Report Details page provides information on issues related to system, devices, and programs.
On the Report Details page, click the Task List tab to obtain a list of tasks you should perform before upgrading your computer to Vista.
Click Save Report to save a copy of the Vista Upgrade Advisor report to a location on your hard disk.

Additional Preparatory Tasks

Before you upgrade a Windows XP computer to Windows Vista, you should perform several additional tasks, as follows:

Check the BIOS manufacturer's website for any available BIOS upgrades, and upgrade the computer's BIOS to the latest available functional version if necessary. You should perform this step before a clean install or an upgrade to Windows Vista.
Scan and eliminate any viruses from the computer, using an antivirus program that has been updated with the latest antivirus signatures. You should then remove or disable the antivirus program because it may interfere with the upgrade process. In addition, you should use a third-party program to scan for and remove malicious software (malware).
Install any upgrade packs that may be required to render older software applications compatible with Windows Vista. Consult software manufacturers for details.
Install the latest service pack for Windows XP (SP2 at the time of writing), plus any other updates that Microsoft has published.

Exam Alert: Vista requires the NTFS file system

Whether you are performing a clean installation or upgrading a Windows XP installation to Vista, remember that the partition on which you install Vista must be formatted with the NTFS file system. An exam question could specify that you are upgrading a computer containing an installation of Windows XP on a FAT or FAT32 partition. In such a case, you must execute the convert c: /fs:ntfs command from XP before beginning the upgrade.

Upgrading the Computer to Windows Vista

After you have checked system compatibility and performed all tasks required to prepare your computer for upgrading, you are ready to proceed. The upgrade takes place in a similar fashion to a new installation, except that answers to some questions asked by the setup wizard are taken from the current installation. Step by Step 3.2 shows you how to upgrade a Windows XP Professional computer to Windows Vista Ultimate.

Step by Step: 3.2 Upgrading to Windows Vista

If it is not in the drive from the compatibility check process, insert the Windows Vista DVD-ROM.
When the Windows Vista screen appears, select Install Windows.
The Get Important Updates for Installation page appears. If you are connected to the Internet, select the Go Online to Get the Latest Updates for Installations option. Otherwise select the Do Not Get the Latest Updates for Installation option.
On the Type Your Product Key for Activation page, type the product key and then click Next.
Accept the license agreement and then click Next.
On the Which Type of Installation Do You Want? page shown in Figure 3.5, select Upgrade.

Figure 3.5 The Which Type of Installation Do You Want? page offers you a choice between upgrading and performing a clean installation.
The Compatibility Report page displays information about any applications or drivers that are not supported in Windows Vista (see Figure 3.6). Note the information provided, and then click Next.

Figure 3.6 The Compatibility Report screen describes items that might be incompatible with the upgrade to Windows Vista.
The Vista upgrade proceeds in a fashion similar to that of a clean installation. It only asks for any information it cannot retrieve from the previous Windows installation.
After installation has completed and the computer has rebooted, the Set Up Windows dialog box appears (see Figure 3.7). Make any required settings, and then click Next.

Figure 3.7 The Set Up Windows dialog box enables you to select your country or region, time and currency, and keyboard layout.
On the Help Protect Windows Automatically page, select Use recommended settings.
Ensure that the time and date are set properly and then click Finish. Windows configures your personalized settings and then displays the Vista desktop.

Exam Alert: Uninstalling Windows Vista

If you should decide that you must revert your computer to Windows XP after upgrading to Vista, you must back up all data, reformat your system disk, and reinstall XP from scratch. Unlike Windows XP, which offered an uninstall option in Control Panel Add or Remove Programs after upgrading from Windows 98/Me, no such uninstall option is available in Vista. You might encounter an exam question asking you how to remove Vista after an upgrade.

Challenge

You are a consultant who is responsible for upgrading all workstation computers in your client's office to Windows Vista Business. You have available the installation media for Windows Vista as well as the older operating systems currently in use on these computers. In addition, all servers have already been upgraded to Windows Server 2003.

The following table describes the computers in your client's office:

Operating System	Number of Computers
Windows 98	50
Windows NT 4.0 Workstation	25
Windows 2000 Professional	75
Windows XP Professional	100
Windows Vista Home Basic	30

Your task is to upgrade all these computers to Windows Vista Business by performing as few steps as possible. If possible, you must not remove any user settings, data, or applications from any of these computers. Draw up a plan for upgrading these computers while adhering to these specifications.

Try to complete this exercise on your own, listing your conclusions on a sheet of paper. After you have completed the exercise, compare your results to those given here:

You can upgrade all computers running Windows XP Professional directly to Windows Vista Business. This involves a total of 100 computers.
You must install Windows Vista Business as a clean installation on the computers running Vista Home Basic. Microsoft does not support an upgrade of either home version to Vista Business, only to Vista Ultimate. This involves a total of 30 computers.
You must install Windows Vista Business as a clean installation on the computers running Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0, or Windows 2000. Microsoft does not support an upgrade of computers running versions of Windows prior to Windows XP to any edition of Vista. This involves a total of 150 computers.

Alternatively, you can upgrade computers running Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0, or Windows 2000 Professional to Windows XP Professional and then to Windows Vista Business. This upgrade path enables you to maintain user settings, data, and applications on these computers but takes more time to accomplish and requires licensed Windows XP media.

Dual-Booting Windows Vista

As in previous versions of Windows, you can install Windows Vista alongside a different version of Windows in a dual-boot configuration. By selecting Custom (Advanced) instead of Upgrade in step 6 of Step by Step 3.2, you can select a different partition on which to install Windows Vista. This retains all applications and settings you have configured in the previous version of Windows and creates a clean installation of Vista on the partition you have specified. You can even create multi-boot systems with more than two different operating systems, including different editions of Vista, on the same computer. Dual-booting or multi-booting has the following advantages:

You can test various editions of Vista without destroying your current operating system.
If you are running applications that are not compatible with Vista, you can boot into an older operating system to run these applications.
Developers can test their work on different Windows versions without needing more than one computer.

Windows Vista introduces several new boot management programs, which replace the older programs used with Windows NT/2000/XP/Server 2003. These include the following:

Bootmgr.exe—Controls boot activities and displays a boot manager menu on a dual-boot or multi-boot computer.
Bcdedit.exe—An editing application that enables you to edit boot configuration data on Vista. This is the only program that offers boot management editing capabilities for Vista.
Winload.exe—The operating system loader, included with each instance of Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 installed on any one computer. Winload.exe loads the operating system, its kernel, hardware abstraction layer (HAL), and drivers on startup.
Winresume.exe—Included with each instance of Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 installed on any one computer, this program resumes the operating system from hibernation.

For additional details on multi-booting Windows Vista with other operating systems, refer to "Boot Configuration Data in Windows Vista" in the Suggested Readings and Resources section at the end of this chapter.

Exam Alert: When multi-booting, install the oldest operating system first

If you are setting up a dual-boot or other multi-boot system, install the oldest operating system first. For example, you would install Windows 2000, then Windows XP, and then Windows Vista in that order if you wanted a triple-boot configuration with these three operating systems. If you fail to do so, the newer operating system will be unable to start after you have installed an older operating system. An exam question could give you several choices of the sequence in which you might install multiple operating systems.

Caution: Remember disk file system issues

If you need to dual-boot Windows Vista with operating systems earlier than Windows 2000, remember that these older operating systems only support certain file systems. Windows 98/Me support FAT and FAT32 file systems, and Windows NT 4.0 supports FAT and NTFS file systems. If you need Vista plus one of these operating systems to read the same data, ensure that your data is located on a partition formatted with one of these file systems. Also ensure that Windows NT 4.0 has at least Service Pack 5 (SP5) installed. However, remember that the partition on which you install Vista must be formatted with the NTFS file system.

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