HOT: Windows 7 Information

Wait, so you are saying that I cannot use a Windows 7 upgrade disc on an XP loaded machine, only Vista? That is impossible, and I don't believe you.

Microsoft decided to not support upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7, despite popular opinion that it is a critical capability. As an Windows XP user, you can purchase the upgrade copy of Windows 7 (for the reduced price), but you must clean install (install the operating system, install all your programs, and copy over your files from scratch) Windows 7 as the installer will prevent you from upgrading from Windows XP. There are several discussions in these forums on the subject, including comments from Microsoft representatives, and it is clearly stated in a few different places on Microsoft's website.

John

Will this virtual XP feature of windows 7 allow me to run apps. which run only on XP?I am getting ready to invest in a new computer this fall but the video software I want to use runs only on XP.Thanks for your help,Graham,'Those Guy's Production'

It is actually a copy of Windows XP running in a VM within Windows 7, so, if it runs in Windows XP, it will run in Windows XP.

Just note the system requirements: Windows 7 Enterprise/Ultimate, 2GB+ RAM, and a CPU that has native virtualization support.

John

Here is an article that dives a bit deeper into XP Mode and what it means for people and small businesses migrating from XP to Windows 7: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2009/Apr09/04-28Win7QA.mspx

Cheers,
Jeff
Windows Outreach Team

Software designed for XP or Vista will work on Windows 7. I have already used many applications from over 5 years ago and they work just fine, and hardware all works without extra drivers or anything.

I have had only 1 piece of software that had problems and it works very well in xp compatability mode.this found in the property's of the program files or in the shortcut.

Beautiful I am in LOVE again! Thanks finally to MS! Runs much better than XP and Vista..LOOKS Tight! Clean! I only have 1GB of RAM which is minimum recommended..Runs soooo freakin smooth! WTG Bill!

I'm kinda confused at the specs on the box and what I've been reading. Does this mean for me, who has currently Vista Home Premium whos xp programs work fine on, will no longer work if I upgrade to Windows 7 Premium? Let it be older games, older applications (ex: Illustrator 9.0 - for arguments sake).

I wanted to pre-order now I'm unsure...

You can upgrade to Windows 7 from Windows Vista, but not from Windows XP. In your case, you're upgrading from Windows Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Home Premium, so theres no problem. Also, nearly every application that runs under Windows Vista will run under Windows 7, so compatibility should not be an issue.

Hope this helps,
John

Thank you John,

I wanted to make sure. Currently under Vista Home Premium I can run older programs such as Photoshop 5.5 and 7.0 as well as older games that I hold on dearly such as Sim City 3000 and Master of Orion 2 which under the XP compatibility mode I could run no problem. I didn't want that to be taken away from me by upgrading to Windows 7 Home Premium.

Thank you for the clarification on that.

Is there a link where I can find a big FAQ about hardware and network support? I have a few peripherals that I would like to know if they should, technically, work or not. I also need info on setting up VPN connections with home premium (I occasionally work from home).

thx again...

The compatibility listings are still a work in progress and will not be guaranteed until after Windows 7 RTMs. However, more details will be available shortly.

John

I have a new HP Pavilion Desktop which came with 32 bit Vista Home Premium installed with the free upgrade offer to Windows 7 Home Premium. It unfortunately has Nvidia drivers as the graphics drivers. These are not compatible with I-Tunes or Quicktime even in compatibility mode. Was told by Windows on the upgrade install that all I had to do was deauthorize my computer, uninstall ITunes and after the Windows 7 upgrade was done, all I had to do was install the I-Tunes that was for Windows 7 and reauthorize my computer. Sounds simple enough. The nightmare begins. HP techs say I-Tunes is not compatible with Windows 7 Home Premium. The truth is it is not compatible with the Nvidia drivers. I just bought a 64 bit Windows 7 HP laptop and it doesn't have the Nvidia graphics drivers. Again I-Tunes doesn't work. After much searching of blogs and such at Apple, HP, and Microsoft, I find out it is an HP problem and a Windows 7 problem, not an Apple problem.

I don't use I-Tunes for an I-Pod, I use it because it allows me to backup my librarry of about 6000 or so songs and videos. I need a program with the backup capabilities of I-tunes and one that can play the music files I have in I-Tunes. I have an audio converting software program. I just need a reliable Music library program other than Windows Media player.

I have since put my desktop HP Pavilion back to Windows Vista 32 bit Home Premium. Still my music skips and videos don't play without skipping and words not matching the mouth movements. Can't watch You Tube videos either, they skip. HP and Windows are gonna have a lot of angry people who get Windows 7 computers for Christmas only to find out that they don't work with I-tunes, or should I say you can't sync to your I-Pods.

Any solutions anyone has found to these problems, or any advice other than Sorry but it's not compatible even in compatibility mode would be greatly appreciated.

Therefore due to the above problems, I don't rate Windows 7 or at least Windows 7 on a HP computer very high. So people BEWARE of withheld but very important information. I have $1700.00 worth of computers and can't play or backup the I-tunes library to even put it on another computer.

HELP!!!!!

Not in the stickies. Otherwise you may not get replies.

Never found the need to reply to any postings over the years but just HAD to put my two-cents in on THIS one
This past March (2009) I ordered a PC directly from Dell because I wanted to run XP. I AM RUNNING IE 7 with XP!! Staring at it right now So whaz-up with all the chat about not being able to? You've got me truly confused
Allie

DUH! Guess I should have read more carefully before I posted my reply. You all aren't talking about IE but the new version of Windows that's already been Beta tested to upgrade from Vista! Feel REALLY foolish
I actually KNEW all about what you were discussing re: Windows 7...had a rough week and need a good night's rest Guess I will continue to just read everyone's posts and not add my teo-cents anymoew
Allie

Not IE7 Windows7
Its a newer operating system.Not an Internet Explorer.

What if I run it on a 256MB RAM system?
2.93GHz processor
and 80GB HDD.

ie7 is good but firefox 3.5.4 much faster try it!!

Dear CNET,
Forgive me for taking up your time,If I wanted yo as you say
upgrade from my Vista Ultimate to 7 Ultimate,do I have to pay
anything or is it free and if yes how much, secondly is there anything else that one
should know (technical,softwares, aero) concerning above transa
ction.
Sincerely yours,
Arthur Sabbagh Azizian.
P.S._Your prompt reply would very much be appreciated.

If I have to reinstall everything from scratch, seems there are other options open to me besides staying with Windows. Can't say that WinXP does anything that I was not able to do in Win98. I do word processing, spreadsheets, and web pages.

I wonder if Microsoft has forgotten what happend to IBM. There is a risk that... Microsoft :: Windows operating systems as IBM :: PCs.

-> I can type documents, access websites, et cetera using DOS 3.1. I know some who still do and will readily tell you that those who use Windows XP, Windows 98, et cetera are not 'real' computer users. Then again, there's more to using computers now than typing documents and viewing text-based websites like we did back in the 80s. We've progressed quite a bit.

-> Apple has told Apple owners that they are prohibited from installing their upcoming release, Snow Leopard, on any computer bought from them during the lifecycle of Windows XP or before. The operating system is simply incompatible with the hardware. It will not work. Imagine Microsoft doing that, saying you are prohibited from buying and using Windows 7 without buying a new (overpriced) computer.

I agree they should have provided a clear upgrade path to Windows 7, especially since so many avoided Windows Vista, and that it will end up hurting both consumers and Microsoft in the long run. However, keep in mind that Microsoft's limitations are far exceeded by some of their competitors.

John

John, I am of that same vintage. I had the first IBM-PC at my engineering company, and traded in a 64K memory board for a 300 baud Hayes Stack modem, so I could log onto one of the six bulletin boards in Manhattan. Until recently, I held onto my Toshiba 1000, because I knew that I could actually do my consulting work with PC-Write (which I STILL use), and Lotus 123 (still liked SuperCalc better, which was an improvement over VisiCalc). The main reason that I don't look at a Mac is because they don't offer an MS-DOS window - to this day, that is my bread and butter access to my computer.

Computers are being used for many things now, and unfortunately, one of them is to simply run Windows as an app. I realize that there might be many things that one cannot do without Win7, but having started with Win 3.0 (when the oft-asked question was, "Have you put Windows in your Autoexec yet?"), through Win 3.1, Win95, Win98, WinME and now WinXP, the OS is doing more for itself than for me. This may be the break point where I give up being on the mainstream path and look back on my Toshiba 1000 scenario. If I can run PC-Write, OpenOffice, SeaMonkey for my email, and any browser (I have Safari, Sea Monkey, FireFox and IE7), what does Win7 do FOR me? compared to what Win7 does TO me. By leaving the Microsoft OS game, I may be looking at freeing up time to do more (construction-related) work, the work that I get paid for, and in that work the computer is only a tool.

I am dismayed at the many versions of Win7, and that fully 90% of the differentiations have nothing to do with me what so ever. I can understand if this was an upgrade for the big offices where the PCs have replaced the DEC Vax and IBM370s, but that there is the "Home" version makes this all seem silly, MS nefariously knowing that the DVD playback is the only version hook for most users. A smart company will take this opportunity to swoop in and offer another upgrade path, with a $99 OS that gives a Vista/Win7 alternative to the WinXP users. For me, once MS drops support for WinXP, since I have to reload all my software anyway (and run the risk of incompatibility). I might as well give Linux or something else a try. At some point you have to kick the OS game habit and focus on getting your work done.

1.) As a Windows XP user, you do not have access to DOS anymore. That disappeared with the Windows 9x line. Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 do, however, have a command line with similar functionality, which many call a DOS prompt, even though it is not. OS X was never based on MS-DOS, but also has similar functionality using Terminal. Same deal for Linux users.


2.) Windows 7 has just three main editions: Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate. The others are limited market only, so you'll only find them if you live in Pakistan, buy a cheap netbook, or get your software through an enterprise licensing agreement. Windows XP actually had more editions. Few stop to realize that before criticizing Microsoft for offering users too many choices.


3.) An upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium is sitting at $119, and those that chose to pre-order earlier this month snagged copies for as low as $50. $99 for a version 1.0 operating system that forces a clean install, just like Windows 7, sounds like a waste of money.


It may seem like a second job, keeping up-to-date, but switching to another operating system is a full-time job in and of itself, considering you must start anew learning the operating system and finding all new applications, which may not even be able to access your old files in some cases.

John

Like yourself, I came from the Dos, Mac's and Atari St time. I was introduced into PC with an Atari St. It sat in the box for a month until I could find something for it to do. I picked up a free copy of a word processor and spreadsheet. Bit by bit it found it's way in my office until Windows OS system which was like a Mac system came on stream. I sometimes regret moving over to Windows, because I got more work done with out lock up and distractions. The screen was very basic, But most invoices, Quotes and letter are basic. Once you setup your template up, that was it. Call up the template and fill them in and save under a eight digital job number. It was basic, but it worked ever time. No lock up, No loosing Files and your PC was much quicker in starting up than it is now. I never had virus trouble as it was not on the Internet. Now it like a maze with all this junk that loads it's self from the Internet. There was a time I new where everything was and what it did. Now it's all double dutch and I wounder what improvements Window 7 has that will make doing my job without been distracted with uploads, virus checks and Lock ups.
--
Yours,
Gerard.

Not only you can't upgrade to Windows 7 without a clean install. Windows 7 has very poor drivers support. I won't upgrade because Windows 7 is incomplete because of drivers. What good is an O.S. if it doesn't have drivers?

I have a Dell XPS GEN3 running XP and I have had no problem running the Windows 7 Beta RC on it. You can upgrade from XP to Windows 7 No problem

No you can't. Drivers are missing.