Check Your Machine’s Specs

The first thing to do is check whether your desktop or laptop PC is capable of running Windows 7. If it’s already running Vista with acceptable performance, then the answer is yes. Officially, you need at least a 1-GHz CPU and 1GB RAM, but testers of the OS have successfully got it running on machines as out of date as a 266-MHz Pentium II with 96MB of RAM. Go ahead and try that kind of thing if you want, just don’t use your license key on that type of machine. It may run, but you’ll spend a lot of time waiting for it, and it won’t display the glassy new Aero interface and enhancements.

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If you’re unsure whether your current system can run Windows 7, download and run Microsoft’s Upgrade Advisor to assess your hardware’s capabilities. When I ran it on an aging XP laptop, it told me I needed to back up my files and perform a Custom installation (see below), that my hard disk didn’t have enough free space (you need 16GB), and that the laptop wouldn’t run Aero Desktop. The good news, however, was that my 1.6-GHz CPU and 1.5GB RAM were sufficient. The advisor actually checks a lot more than the basic system requirements, and it lists every piece of hardware and software you have installed at the bottom of its report.

Choose an Edition

There are lots of different editions of Windows 7, but only three you can buy: Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate. For most people, Home Premium will make the most sense. If your company decides to upgrade, Professional supports domain joining, network backup, and XP emulation. Ultimate includes everything in both other versions, and adds BitLocker encryption.

The key thing to consider here is that you have to do a clean installation—without the ability to carry your apps along—if you move from one level of Vista to another level of Windows 7, say from Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional. The exception is Windows 7 Ultimate, which will let you perform an in-place upgrade from any level of Vista—as long as you don’t change whether you’re using the 32- or 64-bit version.

Don’t forget to look into special pricing offers, such as those for students and family packs. And if you’re installing on a machine you’ve freshly built, you can pay less for OEM versions that don’t include all the packaging and support. The Student upgrade license is just $29.99, and PC part suppliers offer the OEM versions at steep discounts as well.

Choose 64-bit or 32-bit

Any computer manufactured in the last few years will probably have a 64-bit capable CPU. The rule of thumb is that if you have, or intend to install, more than 3GB of memory on your PC, you want 64-bit Windows.

And don’t worry about your old 32-bit programs—compatibility features inside Windows allow most of these to run in the 64-bit OS, the exceptions generally being antivirus software and hardware drivers. One significant holdback, however, is Adobe’s Flash: If you run the 64-bit version of Internet Explorer that comes with Windows 7, you won’t be able to view Web sites that use Flash. But there’s an easy fix: Run 32-bit IE for those sites until Adobe gets with the program.

Both 32- and 64-bit installation discs come in the Windows 7 box, so you only have to specify which you want if you’re downloading the code. In short, my recommendation is that if your system can run 64-bit software, go for it: You’ll be using your CPU and memory more efficiently, and you’ll be future-proofed for upcoming 64-bit apps.

Back Up Your Data

Now that you’ve chosen the version and acquired your copy of Windows 7, what should you do? OS installation gets at some pretty close-to-the-metal system components, so if the power should go out, you could end up losing a lot of stuff. You can use the built-in Windows Backup program to create DVDs of your files, but our backup analyst, Ed Mendelson, recommends getting a third-party backup application.

Choose Upgrade or Custom

If you’re upgrading from any previous version of Windows, you’ll have this all-important choice, although the Upgrade option will only be available if you’re moving from Vista. If your victim machine has never had Windows installed on it before, you won’t have either choice—just go ahead and choose Install.

Choosing Custom gives you a lot of options not available from Upgrade, like formatting and partitioning your hard disk. This type of “clean” install is actually recommended if you can live with having to reinstall your apps—your system will run without any of the gunk it’s accumulated over the course of program installations and other system changes. One final note about this choice: You must start up from the installer disc; you cannot run the installer from within Windows for this type of installation to work.

Run Windows Easy Transfer

Do this if you’re not choosing the Upgrade option. This will copy and later restore documents, media such as digital photos and videos, and settings, but not programs. Because of this, a better choice is to buy a copy of Laplink’s PCmover, which moves your files and settings and also transfers apps.

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Update, Run, and Disable Your Antivirus Software

Microsoft’s official site recommends this, but I didn’t touch my antivirus software and didn’t have a problem when I did the upgrade. Our security analyst, Neil Rubenking, thinks this may be excessively cautious but that it doesn’t hurt to stay on the safe side. After all, you don’t want to carry over any contaminations to the new system.

Make Sure You’re Connected to the Internet

At one point, the installation process will attempt to retrieve any updates from Microsoft’s servers—it’s a good idea to let it do this. Either a wired or wireless connection is fine

Get Going

After you’re all backed up, it’s time to start with the installation. If you’re doing an Upgrade from Vista, you insert the disc while the PC is running. But if you’re doing a Custom install, restart the system with the disc in the drive. Make sure you’ve chosen the correct 32- or 64-bit disc and power up the system. You may need to hit a function key and then hit any key in order to boot from the DVD drive. On some machines, like netbooks, if you’re installing from an external drive you may have to run Settings to get the computer to boot from it.

Next, you’ll see a “Windows is loading files…” message and a progress bar, followed by a “Starting Windows” splash screen. After this, you’ll be able to choose your language, time, keyboard, and currency formats (the correct choices for the U.S. are the defaults).

Hit Next and you’ll see the big Install Now button, but, before you hit a couple of useful links located below: “What to know before installing Windows” and “Repair your computer.” The first addresses the topics of Upgrade and Custom options. The second offers advanced tools to address problems with booting your PC and lets you recover using a backup you’ve previously created.

Click the Install Now button. There’s still time to back out, because on the next screen you have to accept the license agreement by checking a box. It’s after this that you get the choice between an Upgrade and a Custom (advanced) installation (see above for help with this). For an Upgrade installation, the process then begins. The Upgrade installation usually takes a bit longer than a Custom (or “Clean”) installation: between 45 minutes and an hour, in my experience. A clean installation should take half an hour or less, depending on your system speed.

If you choose Custom, there’s a little more to do. Your next screen will show you a list of the disk partitions on your hard drive, and you’ll need to select one on which to install Windows 7. If you’re lucky, the partitions will be titled with understandable text, but even failing that, your best choice is the one the installer preselects, which is the partition on which your previous OS was installed. This will have the type System shown in a column to the right, and all will show how much disk space has been allotted to them.

If you want to create another partition—for example, to multiboot different operating systems—click Advanced. This will add choices to delete, format, and create new partitions. If you really want to blow away your existing OS, choose Format. If you don’t do this, the installer will actually make a copy of the files from your previous OS in a folder called Windows.old. Finally, the Advanced options let you load a driver for an external drive and extend a partition. (This last will only be usable if you have unallocated disk space—i.e., storage space that’s not part of an existing partition—which will only be the case if you’ve added a new hard drive or done some partitioning yourself.)

Assuming you’re choosing the same partition your previous Windows version used, you’ll get a warning that your files will be moved to a Windows.old folder. If you’ve done this more than once, the folder will be named “windows.old.001,” and so on.

Now comes the waiting. The Windows 7 installer copies its files to your disk, expands them (the longest step in this process), installs features, installs updates, and bang, you’re there. If something goes awry—say, the external disk drive you’re using gets disconnected—you can abort the installation and everything it’s done to your system will be undone.

After Running Setup

Once the setup has run its course, you’ll be asked to type in a username (20 characters maximum) and computer name (15 characters maximum). Then you’re asked for a password, password confirmation, and password hint. (You can bypass this last step if you’re not worried about others getting into your PC.) After this, you’re supposed to enter your product key, but since you have a 30-day trial, you don’t need to right away. The same page by default sets the system to automatically activate Windows, but you may want to uncheck this if you’re just trying out the OS. After 30 days, you’ll see messages and warnings that you need to Activate, so it’s not like you can forget about it.

Then you choose Security settings. The large choice at the top for Default Settings makes a lot of sense—it turns on automatic updates and checks online to resolve problems. The other two choices, “Install important updates only” and “Ask me later,” leave you a bit less protected. After this, you’ll be prompted for your Time Zone and be given a chance to check the date and time. Windows gets this over the Internet, so you shouldn’t have to set it manually.

Now comes the Welcome screen and the “Windows is preparing your Desktop” Message. And that’s it—you’re running Windows 7! You’ll likely see updates in available in Windows Update, which will probably require a restart.

If you did a Custom installation upgrade, install any apps and restore the files you backed up. If you’ve switched from the 32-bit edition to the 64-bit one, you can still install your 32-bit apps, but you may have to update your antivirus program and some hardware drivers to the 64-bit versions.

You may want to consider downloading the free Windows Live Essentials package, which includes Windows Live Messenger for instant messaging, Photo Gallery for photo editing and organizing, the Mail client, Movie Maker for easy video editing, and more. And you’ll probably want to customize your system. Regardless, it’s time to sit back and enjoy the new taskbar, Aero enhancements, and more!

But fact of the matter is that even in Beta Build 7000 development stage, Windows 7 bested Vista, and the boot time performance drag race is an illustrative example in this regard. However, Windows 7 startup speeds manage to leave its precursor in the dust. Some of you might remember reading about the 11-second boot Windows 7 delivered in a demonstration courtesy of Ruston Panabaker, Microsoft’s principal program manager of strategic silicon partnering. (via PCMag and Beyond Binary)

Yes, Windows 7 booting in just 11 seconds. My first question was, what kind of computer was Panabaker running, for obvious, and geeky, reasons. So I went ahead, and shot an email to Microsoft asking for details about the hardware configuration of the 11-second Windows 7 boot machine. Here is the answer a company spokesperson provided me: “This was ran on a Quad-core 1.7 GHz Nehalem [Core i7] processor on a Calpella chipset, 2GB of memory, 80 GB Intel X25-M SSD (1st gen). In the set up, the log-in screen was turned off in the user control panel.”

However, the Microsoft representative noted that the 11-second boot represented just the startup time for Windows 7. “Note: BIOS post is in addition to this,” the company spokesperson added. My second question was what kind of optimizations went into making this kind of performance possible. The way I figured it, if I have the hardware configuration, and know about the tweaks, maybe I can do it myself. But guess what?

Yes, it’s all Windows 7, and nothing but Windows 7. “Nothing else special was done to create the 11 second boot time for Windows to the desktop,” the Microsoft spokesperson shared with me. As some of you might recall, Microsoft revealed early on in the development process of its latest Windows client the fact that it had revamped the way that the platform dealt with services. In Vista and previous releases of Windows, every service that is scheduled to start during operating system startup adds precious time to the overall experience.

In Windows 7 this is no longer the case. Vista’s successor features a mechanism that only starts services on demand. Essentially, Windows 7 contains the Trigger Start Services feature and delivers the evolution of the service control manager (SCM), reducing the number of services using Automatic Start, and taking a load off RAM and I/O.

Which led me to thinking: Why not extend the upgrade deal to all consumers? Here’s what Microsoft could gain from such a move:

Better sales of Windows 7: Numerous pundits have opined that Win 7 is overpriced, a marketing blunder that will discourage home-user upgrades. If you’re running Vista on a home PC, you’d really have to loathe your operating system to shell out $120 for Windows 7. I suspect that most consumers won’t bother. As usual, they’ll wait until they buy a new PC before upgrading to the newest version of Windows.

Consumer goodwill: Microsoft screwed up badly with Vista, which has been reviled for its sluggish performance and nagging security messages. With Windows 7 Upgrade, you’re paying to fix Redmond’s blunders. Microsoft should make that fee as painless as possible. While the company’s short-term profits might suffer, the positive buzz generated by a low-cost upgrade would help in the long run. Why not show customers a little love? Good PR could go a long way.

Lowered expectations: Windows 7’s main selling points are that it’s faster and less annoying, security-wise. True, there are some nifty interface improvements, but nothing revolutionary to make the OS a must-have upgrade, particularly at $120. A limited-time $30 deal is far more tempting.

Keeping up with Apple: The Mac folks are charging just $29 for Snow Leopard, the latest flavor of OS X. And according to market research from NPD Group, Snow Leopard sales are far exceeding those of Apple’s last two operating systems. A $30 deal for Windows 7 Home Premium might very well have a similar effect on Windows sales, and give Microsoft something to crow about in its next batch of TV ads.

But $120? That’s too much for Home Premium Upgrade, and consumers know it. Does Microsoft?

You can then use this information to analyze shutdowns and to develop a more comprehensive understanding of your system environment. This is an extra set of questions that is displayed when you invoke a shutdown to collect information related to why you are shutting down the computer.

To enable this policy setting in Windows 7 or Vista, type gpedit.msc in start search and hit Enter to open the Group Policy Editor.

Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > In RHS, doubleclick Display Shutdown Event Tracker policy.

Now in the dialog box which opens, select Enabled; and from the drop down menu select Always.

If you enable this setting and choose “Always” from the drop-down menu, the Shutdown Event Tracker is displayed when you shut down.

If you enable this setting and choose “Server Only” from the drop-down menu, the Shutdown Event Tracker is displayed when you shut down a Windows Server computer beginning with Windows Server 2003.

If you enable this setting and choose “Workstation Only” from the drop-down menu, the Shutdown Event Tracker is displayed when you shut down a Windows workstation beginning with Windows XP Professional.

If you disable this setting, the Shutdown Event Tracker is not displayed when you shut down.

If you do not configure this setting, the default behavior for the Shutdown Event Tracker occurs. By default, the Shutdown Event Tracker is only displayed on the Windows Server family, and not in Windows 7 or Vista.

Alternatively, you can also set the policy through the Registry Editor. Type regedit in start search and hit Enter to open it.

Navigate to the following key;

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Reliability

In RHS, double click on each of these values and change both their values to 1.

ShutdownReason

OnShutdownReasonUI

The Shut Down Windows dialog box will now appear with the Shutdown Event Tracker feature enabled, every time you click on shutdown.

Now, with Windows 7 RTM, there is still someone troubled with this problem. And some of them has found a possible solution.

* WIN+R and type in Services.msc to run the Local Service Manager

* Find out Shell Hardware Detection

* Right-click and hit Stop and than disable it

* Restart your computer to take effect

Note: If you come across any problem after the operation, just enable the service to restore default.

According to data collected by NetApplications, Windows 7 had already grabbed a 0.9% market share by the end of July. That’s pretty impressive considering that the OS didn’t hit the RTM milestone until the 22nd of July. To put things into perspective, the beta and RC code for Windows 7 already commands three times the market share that the iPhone does. It’s also rapidly closing up on Mac OS X 10.4 (market share 1.03%), Linux (market share 1.05%) and Mac OS X 10.5 (market share 3.42%). People are interested in Windows 7, and there’s little danger that the OS launch will fizzle as Vista did at launch .

What I’m going to be watching as soon as Windows 7 is released to an eagerly awaiting public is how the new OS affects earlier versions of Windows. Microsoft’s hope is that 7 will be the OS that convinces those entrenched XP users (of which there are millions) that it’s time to let go of the aging operating system and embrace the future. I fear that reality might be different. I wouldn’t be surprised to see 7 aggressively cannibalize Vista’s market share, bringing it down to under 10% in a matter of months, while leaving XP’s market share in the high 60% region. After all, many of the folks who’ve stuck with XP have done so for a reason. Maybe they’re not upgrading their hardware, or maybe they’re worried about compatibility or performance issues. Whatever the reason, they’ve made the choice, and making a switch from XP to 7 is only marginally easier than switching from XP to Vista. Add to this the fact that the only upgrade path from XP to 7 involves a clean install, which while being the sensible option, is more hassle than most will want to put themselves through.

Windows 7 does have some aces up its sleeve. The main one is that it will run happily on netbooks, which means that the era of Microsoft having to keep shipping XP comes to an end. Since netbooks is a growth area, that will help buoy 7’s market share. Microsoft has also offered 7 at some very deep discounts over the past few weeks, hoping to get sales in before any negative reviews start hitting the web. No matter how good 7 is, a certain level of negative coverage is guaranteed, and Microsoft is anticipating it in advance. That’s also a good move because it means that 7 will have a fantastic launch week that Redmond can brag about in press releases and in ads.

A factor that Windows 7 will have to contend against is the soggy economy. Despite a roaring economy at the time, Vista never managed more than to hobble along. Home users worried about performance, business users kept wondering why they should bother to migrate, and everyone worried about compatibility. It’s clear to me now that despite having plenty of time in the oven, Vista was far from ready at the time it was released. With hindsight, I think that Microsoft would have done better to have sat on Vista for another six to eight months, made it into a better OS, and have avoided much of the negative press it attracted over the past two and a half years.

Microsoft has worked hard to distance itself from Vista (to the point of not even mentioning the OS by name in ads) but I fear that huge swathes of Windows users will take a long time to forget how Microsoft tried to push a broken OS onto their PCs.

Source: ZDNet Hardware 2.0

Windows 7 may shake up that thinking, being the first version of Windows that, judging from widespread reviews from beta testers, runs faster than the prior one. While the minimum specs Microsoft outlined for Vista were lower than Windows 7’s (see breakout box), Vista was so bloated that it ran poorly on many PCs. Think of Windows 7 as Vista after an extended stay at the weight-loss spa — trim, buffed and Botoxed. Even netbooks can run it.

In the past it usually made little economic sense to reinstall Windows on an older PC, as buying a new retail copy of Windows would often cost more than the PC was worth. But with Windows 7, Microsoft plans to offer a 3-upgrade-license ‘family pack’ of the Home Premium edition for $150. Based on what Microsoft has already said, users will likely be able to (clean) install Windows 7 on a machine running XP without having to install Vista first.

Also, Windows 7 continues Microsoft’s legendary backward compatibility for applications. For instance, I was able to get my 12-year-old copy of Office 97 running on Windows 7 with no hitches.

But just how low can you go with Windows 7? Do you really need a computer with the minimum specs as outlined by Microsoft?

Like lo-fi DJs and classic car enthusiasts, a subculture of Windows fans has sprung up trying to take Windows 7 far lower than Microsoft says it can go. At Windows fan site Neowin.net, testers have claimed success with a 700MHz Pentium III ThinkPad with 256MB of RAM and a 600MHz Pentium III desktop with 512MB of RAM.

At another site, The Windows Club, someone claims to have run Windows 7 on a circa-1997, 266MHz Pentium II with 96MB RAM and a 4MB video card.

While not matching those reports, the following five accounts are from users — including yours truly — who have successfully run Windows 7 Ultimate RC on a variety of older and underpowered hardware, from a 7-year-old white-box desktop to a Dell netbook. All the testers weigh in on their Windows 7 experience and provide tips for installing it on low-end systems.

Sprucing up the old work laptop
Who: Jan Andersen Cornelius, a technology architect in Roskilde, Denmark

What: “Several laptops, including a Dell Latitude D600 and a ThinkPad T60. The oldest was my Asus L3800c that I used [when I was] an independent consultant between June 2002 and April 2004.”

Specs (Asus): 1.8GHz Pentium M CPU, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive (5,400rpm), ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 on-board graphics

Windows Experience Index (Asus): 1.0

[Note: The Windows Experience Index is a set of 5 scores on a scale of 1.0 (lowest) to 7.9 (highest) that are generated by Windows 7 based on your PC's hardware specs (not how it actually runs). Microsoft bases the overall rating on your hardware's lowest individual score.]

Performance: On the Asus machine, it’s “a little bit slower than Windows XP (I’m running both in dual-boot) and Office 2007. It takes a while for everything, including Java, to start up. On my Dell, it is a lot faster than Windows 2000. Same with the ThinkPad when compared to Vista.”

Would you recommend Windows 7? “Personally, I would not hesitate to install Windows 7 on any machine built in 2003 and after.”

Tip: “Make sure you install the 64-bit version if your hardware supports it. It will be a lot faster.”

Resurrecting a 7-year-old desktop
Who: Me

What: Circa-2002 ‘white-box’ desktop bought off Craigslist for $25

Specs: 2.4GHz ‘Northwood’ Pentium 4 CPU, 1GB PC2100 DRAM, 120GB IDE hard drive (7,200 rpm), ATI Radeon All-in-Wonder 7500 graphics card

Windows Experience Index: 1.0

Performance: Don’t be fooled by the CPU’s respectable-looking clock speed: This computer is pokier than it looks. There’s no hyperthreading to help with running multiple apps, and the secondary memory cache is puny. Its PassMark benchmark score is just 329, barely higher than the Intel Atom N270 CPU (309) used in most netbooks. Also, Windows 7 refused to recognize any of the drivers I tried for my ATI graphics card (I’m using a standard VGA driver instead).

This 7-year-old ‘white-box’ desktop PC ran videos and productivity apps with ease under Windows 7. (Credit: Eric Lai)
Despite everything going against this machine, high-def YouTube and Hulu videos — even DVDs — all played with only a hint of a stutter. Compatibility with XP apps was no problem: My 9-year-old copy of Photoshop 6 and 12-year-old copy of Office 97 both ran great.

Comparison to other OSes: I ran Windows XP Pro on the other partition. Windows 7’s performance was nearly as good, even though XP had the big advantage of a working graphics driver. The biggest plus for XP Pro was in startup times: It booted in 1 minute, 25 seconds (1:25), versus 1:52 for Windows 7. But both shut down in about 30 seconds.

Recommend Windows 7? Windows XP Pro still responds more crisply when doing things like navigating menus and opening apps. Windows 7’s languid pace reminded me of Mac OS X. But like OS X, Windows 7 is also a lot prettier, excels at automatically handling device drivers (except for ATI’s, it seems) and includes Vista features like Media Center, BitLocker encryption and disk utilities such as format and partitioning, without the sluggishness. So I do recommend it.

Tips:

Spring for an add-on graphics card if your computer lacks one (as many older business desktops do). You might have better luck with Nvidia drivers than I did with ATI.
Turn off most Visual Effects, Search Indexing and System Restore (especially if you are already backing up your PC to an external drive or Web service). All are in Control Panel –> System –> Advanced. Windows 7 will be nimbler, and still plenty pretty.
Max out your RAM.
Rejuvenating a low-end consumer notebook
Who: Ryan Rea, a.k.a. Windows blogger ‘Volvoshine’. Rea, who resides in Hamburg, Penn., wrote the above-mentioned article and video on Neowin.net.

What: “I’ve installed Windows 7 on about 50 PCs. My friend’s 4-year-old Compaq Presario 2200 was the lowest.”

Specs (Compaq): 1.4GHz Celeron M CPU, 512MB RAM, 60GB drive (4,200 rpm), Intel Extreme on-board graphics

Windows Experience Index: Not available (Rea returned the notebook to its owner without recording the score)

Performance: “In absolute terms, this is running smoother and more stably than the XP Home it shipped with. I installed it in less than 24 minutes. Boot-up takes 1:14. There are no driver issues. I couldn’t run Aero, but YouTube videos ran fine. Windows Media Center was a big test [that strained the system], but it ran fine, too.”

Comparison to other OSes: “I’ve taken 20 PCs from Vista to Windows 7. The difference is night and day. It feels so much lighter.”

Recommend Windows 7? “Yes. Everyone I talk to loves it.”

Tip: “Don’t try to run five apps at a time.”

Refreshing a 2-year-old ultramobile PC (UMPC)
Who: Ivan Golubev, Windows and SQL database administrator

What: “Samsung Q1 ultramobile PC (released in May 2007), which I bought a year ago for business trips. I wasn’t the first owner.”

Specs: 900MHz ‘Dothan’ Celeron CPU, 512MB PC3200 RAM, 40GB hard drive (4,200 rpm), Intel 915GMS on-board graphics

Performance: “Windows 7 worked wonderfully on it, very smooth and fast. I ran Office 2007, SQL Management Studio and some administrative tools. The boot-up time was about 50 to 60 seconds, mostly because of the slow hard drive, but wake-up from hibernation worked fast (20 to 30 seconds). To my surprise, Aero worked pretty nice without causing slowdowns. No driver problems, no apps that didn’t run.”

Windows Experience Index: Not available (Golubev sold the Q1 without recording the score)

Comparison to other OSes: “I had Windows XP Tablet edition on it before, and I must say that Windows 7 looked and worked much better, especially with its touch interface. Windows 7 also ran faster than XP.”

Recommend Windows 7? “Yes. It’s nicer than Vista, faster than XP — almost a dream OS.”

Tip: “Google ‘Windows 7 USB installation’ and prepare a 4GB or greater flash drive to install on a UMPC.”

Running on a modern but underpowered netbook
Who: Christian Puzder, lawyer-turned-product manager for Thomson Reuters in Eagan, Minn.

What: Dell Inspiron Mini 9 netbook, released Sept. 2008

Specs: 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU (hyperthreaded), 2GB RAM, 8GB solid-state drive, Intel 945 Express graphics chip

Windows Experience Index: 3.5

Performance: “The Mini came with XP, which ran like a dog. It was just horrible. I tried Dell’s version of Ubuntu, which I didn’t like very much. When I installed the Windows 7 beta, it took less than half an hour. It was dead easy. I remember installing Windows 3.11 and having to load 26 floppy disks.

“I mostly use the Mini to browse the Web, e-mail and use Web apps like Windows Live. Everything runs really well. I am amazed at how well Windows 7 scales down to lower hardware. I’m running full Aero with the Intel chipset. I did have to find and install the Vista drivers since the Win7 beta didn’t have them. But there’s no ghosting on the screen, no latency.”

Christian Puzder’s Dell Mini 9 netbook had no trouble running Windows 7’s Aero graphical desktop. (Credit: Christian Puzder)
Would you recommend Windows 7? “I already showed it to a bunch of die-hard Mac people at my company. They went out and bought netbooks, some of them to run Windows 7.”

Tips:

“Windows 7 took up 7 out of 8 GB on my SSD. I’d get a larger drive.”
“The Mini doesn’t have a DVD drive [from which to install Windows 7], so I hooked it up via USB to my Xbox 360’s external drive. The Mini saw it straight away in BIOS.”
Source: ComputerWorld

The KB article Microsoft supplied for this issue was published after the RTM of Windows 7, and it indicates that the problem impacts all editions of Vista RTM, SP1 and SP2.

“When attempting to upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 the upgrade attempt may fail with the message “This version of Windows could not be installed, Your previous version of Windows has been restored, and you can continue to use it.” However, the next reboot of the machine will launch the upgrade process again only to fail with the same message,” the software giant informed.

The perpetual reboots are caused by the way the computer’s Boot Configuration Database (BCD) store is modified in the Windows 7 upgrade process. While, the failed upgrade is capable of restoring the original Vista operating system before the jump to Windows 7 was attempted, it does not do the same with the BCD store.

“Windows Vista will have been restored on the computer but the Boot Configuration Database (BCD) store has not edited to restore Windows Vista as the default booting operating system,” Microsoft stated. “The computer will continue to boot to the Windows 7 Setup and then fail until the BCD database has been restored to its previous state.”

For the time being there is only a manual fix for the perpetual reboots. End users need to first of all select Windows Vista and not the default setup for Windows 7 when they are presented with the boot entry menu. Here are the additional steps that need to be taken in order to stop continual reboots for a failed Vista to Windows 7 upgrade process, according to Microsoft:

1. Insert the Windows Vista Media into the drive and exit the Windows Vista Setup when it’s launched
2. Click Start, All Programs, Accessories, and then right-click the Command Prompt icon, and then click Run as Administrator.
3. Type the following command at a command prompt and press ENTER
Drive:\boot\Bootsect.exe /NT60 All (Note: In this command, Drive is the drive where the Windows Vista installation media is located)
4. Restart your computer

Source: Softpedia

The CRN Test Center recently ran into problems after installing XP Mode and Virtual PC on a machine with a verified AMD (NYSE:AMD)-V virtualization processor. Although the Test Center found that the issue can be solved by upgrading the BIOS to the latest version, small businesses might not have the time or resources to find their way out of the mess, according to some solution providers.

Frank Ballatore, president and CEO of Ridgefield, Conn.-based New England Computer Group, has been using XP Mode as a selling point in conversations with customers that were scared off by the application compatibility that dogged Windows Vista. While Ballatore doesn’t expect XP Mode glitches to impact many customers, he acknowledges that they could have an impact on some.

Chris Rue, CEO of Black Warrior Technology, a Northport, Ala.-based solution provider, ran into a hardware compatibility issue with XP Mode running on anIntel (NSDQ: INTC) Pentium D processor. After looking into the matter, Rue realized that the Pentium D doesn’t come with the virtualization support necessary to run XP Mode.

However, because the Pentium D is less than three years old — which is the magic window being touted by Microsoft and others — it’s possible that other customers may run into the same situation, Rue noted.

Nonetheless, Rue sees XP Mode as a positive sign that shows Microsoft is well aware of the difficulties users faced with Vista and is doing everything in its power to address them.

“For vendors, backward compatibility can be a bad thing because it gives people wiggle room to stick with what they have,” Rue said. “One of the biggest barriers to upgrades is when a previous product is good enough, so anything that XP Mode can do to sooth people’s Windows 7 upgrade fears is a positive.”

Microsoft says XP Mode, a virtual Windows XP SP3 environment running under Windows Virtual PC, will deliver the best experience on new hardware. XP Mode requires PCs with at least 2 gigabytes of RAM and 15 gigabytes of free hard drive space, and it only runs on virtualization-enabled processors from Intel and AMD.

Upgrading hardware may be a tough sell for recession-weary companies, and Microsoft will need to iron out the technical glitches in the XP Mode. But overall, XP Mode is a promising sign that Microsoft is committed to the notion of backward compatibility, says Andrew Kretzer, director of sales and marketing at Bold Data Technology, a Fremont, Calif.-based system builder.

“Whether XP Mode will be enough to get people to upgrade remains to be seen, but this is definitely the right way to deal with the issue of backward compatibility,” said Kretzer. “There will be glitches, as there always are with any new software solution, but this sort of backward compatibility will only get robust as time goes on.”

Source: ChannelWeb