Seeing as how I am getting alot of traffic from Google regarding my Vista Upgrade article, I wanted to create a follow up to my Vista Upgrade Wrap Up article that is a little more detailed. This post will be referenced in the Vista Upgrade article, and I’ll be more detailed in this post to try and help out those who are doing research prior to performing the Upgrade, rather than after when things go wrong. This is going to be long as I don’t want to split the post up leaving people hanging while they wait for it to finish.

To note, I have gone on to perform a few more HP/Compaq Vista Upgrades without incident by following the recommended course of action laid out by the Vendors. It’s vital to follow these steps, as well as other best practices I will lay out here to ensure an incident free Upgrade.

The Upgrading to Windows Vista page details the necessary steps from HP/Compaq’s point of View but is applicable to anyone performing an upgrade (minus the Advisor Discs of course).

  1. Ensure your system meets the Upgrade Requirements. You can visit the Official Microsoft System requirements page for whichever version you want to install. Note, you may be able to install higher versions that you purchased even if your system doesn’t meet the requirements. Don’t expect your computing experience to be a pleasant one however.
  2. Download and run the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor to determine what incompatibilities exist within your system and possible ways to correct those issues.
  3. Backup your existing files before performing the Upgrade. Anyone that’s been into computers knows Murphy’s Law very well. Make sure your important data is backed up to CD, DVD, External Hard Drive, etc. All it takes is a power blip, curious child, etc. to make all your precious data go bye-bye. Back it up while it’s running!
  4. If your system is from a major Vendor, create a set of Recovery discs using the supplied program. Most Vendors nowadays don’t give you a set of Recovery discs when you purchase the system. They expect you to create your own and they do give an appropriate message the first time you boot your shiny new system. It’s there for a reason. Make them and put them some place safe. They may save you a big headache down the road.
  5. Check for BIOS, Firmware, etc. Updates beforehand. Some hardware requires a update to be compatible with Vista’s new kernel. Yes, this takes time to search if you don’t have a major vendor’s system, but it’s well worth it. Vendors should provide the necessary updates on your product’s home page.
  6. Check with your ISP for any updates to any Antivirus or Spyware programs they may supply you with. Even with Vista’s increased security features, it is still good to protect yourself from items you may download (bypassing all your security).
  7. Register any software you may have purchased, as you may be entitled to free Vista compliant Upgrades as part of the registration process.
  8. Remove all peripherals except for Keyboard, mouse and monitor. Don’t leave anything to chance.

At this point, you’re probably thinking of popping in the Upgrade Disc and going for it.

Don’t.

Go through all of your installed programs, such as Adobe Reader, Quicktime, etc. and ensure you have the latest versions. If you don’t, uninstall them, and make note of what you uninstalled so you can reinstall them after the upgrade is complete. If you think you may end up uninstalling a program at any point, DO IT NOW! Don’t wait and see what happens as you’re only inviting our good pal Murphy to visit you. Check for Vista compliant drivers for any peripherals you may have. Printers, scanners, webcams, etc. Don’t strand yourself of items you may need. Prepare! I always download updated drivers beforehand for the system I’m working on and keep them on a USB thumbdrive.

Defragment your Hard Drive before performing the Upgrade. The idea is to make your drive as efficient as possible before continuing. The Upgrade process seems to take alot longer than a clean install, so you want to make it as painless as possible.

Once everything is in order, close all windows that may be left open and insert your Upgrade Advisor Disc supplied by your Vendor (if you qualified for the Express Upgrade). It will generally warn you of the steps you should take beforehand, which I covered above. It should then launch into a pre-install process of removing any applications that it will reinstall later. Once it starts, walk away and let it do it’s thing. Don’t fiddle with the system as it’s working. All it takes is 1 program hang and you’re looking at hours of trying to get your system back to a working state. Patience is a virtue during this event.

Once the Upgrade Advisor Disc is complete (or if you are don’t have a Vendor bought system), insert the Microsoft Windows Vista Upgrade disc. It will then check your system for any remaining incompatibilities. It will display any items it finds to be incompatible or have known issues, so at this point, you will want to check those vendor’s websites for any Vista compatible updates. If they don’t have any, all is not lost. Some items will still work in Vista running in compatibility mode, which I’ll cover later.

Once you’ve covered the known issues/compatibility problems, continue on with the upgrade. This takes ~30m to an hour, depending on system specs, so as before, don’t bother it and let it go about it’s business. It’ll be done soon enough!

So the Upgrade process completes and you’re ready to start exploring the new features. Don’t.

At this point, if you have an Upgrade Advisor disc from your Vendor, insert that and follow the prompts. Once again, let the Upgrade Advisor Disc do it’s thing. Don’t try and mess around within the system as it will be very busy updating everything. What it will be doing is installing Vista compliant versions of your software and drivers that came bundled with the system. Currently, there’s no way to delineate what gets installed and what doesn’t, which is a drag. Any vendor bloat software you had uninstalled previously will more than likely get reinstalled at this stage, however, you need the drivers contained on the disc, so you’re kind of hosed in that regard. It would be nice if the Vendors gave you the option of program installation at this point.

Once the disc finishes, the system will prompt you to reboot. As you get back into Vista, now is when you want to install any Vista compliant drivers for your peripherals, such as printers, scanners, etc. I’ve ran into some peripherals that do not have Vista compliant drivers/software, but do work under Vista with the XP drivers. The trick is to run the program in Compatibility mode. Determine what programs spit out an incompatibility warning when you start them up. Right click on the Icon for the program and select the second tab. Check the box to run the program in Windows XP SP2 mode. I’m a tad cloudy on this point, but it will still give you a warning, so just tell the program not to warn you of the incompatibility unless you want to click the box every time you use that program. This may be handy to do as a reminder to always check for updates for that program, but that’s what I use Outlook tasks for. ;)

At this stage, it’s a matter of reinstalling any software like Adobe Reader, Quicktime, etc. to the newer versions and ensuring your peripherals are all working. Once I’m sure everything is working correctly, I’ll do another defragmentation of the hard drive to kind of tidy everything up.

After my initial Upgrade nightmare, I made note of where things went wrong and adapted my practices. I’ve had a few more upgrades since the initial one and all have gone smoothly by following the practices laid out above. Upgrades tend to be more finicky than a clean install since you’re dealing with remnants of an older OS, so you want to ensure you proceed with caution to ensure a successful upgrade. You may think it’s a waste of time, but all it takes is 1 wrong thing to happen and you’re looking at way more lost time/data than if you had followed these steps prior to starting.

Hopefully, people find this article before they attempt an upgrade and not after an upgrade went awry. Most of my traffic’s search strings would indicate they’re finding my old article after the upgrade went bad, so hopefully they can get this article out to friends before they attempt an upgrade.

Happy Upgrading!