Windows Vista RC1 - Upgrade from Windows XP x64? -- NOT!

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"We were guessing about Iraq. We are not guessing about Iran. If they get nuclear weapons they will foster terror on a scale that cannot be imagined." -- Benjamin Netanyahu



Well, they put out RC1 today and I think I have been getting wiser in my young age with BETAs and stuff -- I've been smart enough to hold off on the various Vista Betas. Not a bad decision after reading some of the horror story blog entries.

But you know, "RC1" is by definition so substantially a final release that I decided to down it and install on my second hard drive - the one that currently runs Windows XP x64 - and which I hardly use anyway.

So I burned the DVD, booted up into the XP OS, and inserted the DVD and let it come up. Guess what? The Upgrade section is greyed out!


I'm like, "Wait a minute! This is a Release Candidate!"

Bottom line, this is what people are going to get when they buy this and you can't even upgrade over a valid Windows XP x64 edition?

Well then, Vista can wait. I don't know what the technical explanation or rationale for this is, but it's pretty poor in my book! Guys, 64-bit has come of age. If you want feedback from developers and BETA testers on your last push to bring out the product, then give them the tools to upgrade over an existing 64-bit OS, for Christ's sake!

Maybe I'll put it on my notebook which runs XP 32 bit. And then, maybe I'll just make a new partition and put it on that - although I'm not thrilled at having to install second copies of all my "stuff" just to try out this sucker...

N.B. -- I did make a new partition on my x64 Turion notebook, and installed Vista RC1 x64 on it. It seemed to run very nicely, but it didn't recognize my sound card at all. And this is a plain- vanilly Gateway that is extremely popular, they sell out of Best Buy like hotcakes off a grill. Microsoft, you guys need to spend more time on the 64-bit stuff - the drivers, being able to upgrade over an existing Windows XP installation, and more. I don't care if it takes you an extra six months. Get it right -- I can wait!
Peter has been active on the C# and other MS newsgroups, has had samples at gotdotnet.com (now codegallery.com) that have been downloaded over 56,000 times, and has written numerous articles for eggheadcafe.com, for which he is a co-founder, and MSDNAA sites. He has also been a technical reviewer on books from Prentice Hall, Manning and other publishers. Peter was a Microsoft MVP for 10 years. Peter was born and raised in New York City, and after a stint as a jazz musician playing contrabass with the Robert Hunt Trio, migrated to sunny Florida, where he was hired as a rookie Financial Consultant at Merrill Lynch in Orlando, specializing in Corporate Services. It was at Merrill that Peter realized computers and technology were his forte. He spent his last few years at Merrill developing real – time computerized trading and and stock charting program using advanced technical analysis indicators, some of which are his own inventions. In 1997, he moved on to architect and serve as lead developer on a number of innovative web-based and middleware solutions for the healthcare and financial services industry.

Comments

  1. peterbromberg4:35 PM

    Sorry to sound so "moronic", pal, but here is the detail from the download page on Microsoft Connect:

    Title Windows Vista RC1 (v5600-16384) for X86 and X64 (English)
    Release Date 9/1/2006
    Size 6,261.47 MB
    Version RC1 (v5600-16384)
    Category Build
    Milestone RC1

    X86
    CRC: 0xB3519FCA
    SHA: 0xE00B4EBBC81FB420CF047973B95A9CFB7CDF51B7

    vista_5600.16384.060829-2230_x86fre_client-LR1CFRE_EN_DVD.iso


    X64
    CRC: 0x59C867D0
    SHA: 0x8E4DE7A72C828A3543FF1663243EB0836DA07EEA

    vista_5600.16384.060829-2230_x64fre_client-LR1CxFRE_EN_DVD.iso




    Distribution Source:
    United States Europe Asia

    Files in Download:
    vista_5600.16384.060829-2230_x86fre_client-LR1CFRE_EN_DVD.iso, 2,584.25 MB

    vista_5600.16384.060829-2230_x64fre_client-LR1CxFRE_EN_DVD.iso, 3,677.22 MB

    -- do you see the download marked x64? That's the one I burned, my friend.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous12:20 AM

    I have installed only 32bit myself on clean install but looking around on forums on I believe upgrading XP to Vista is done when you are all ready booted into XP then insert Vista CD then follow instructions to upgrade not booting up from CD where you are correct only option is installing Vista. Did you try within XP?

    ReplyDelete
  3. peterbromberg6:23 AM

    Yup. Thanks for trying to help though!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous8:13 PM

    ya... it sucks. I installed it nicely in in laptop from xp sp2... but the 64 bit wont upgrade. Now it si a pain to move 80 GB of data :(

    Kaustav
    photoshoot.in

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous10:30 PM

    Bad news -- I've just downloaded the RTM from MSDN to upgrade my Win XP x64 to Vista x64 and it's the same case in the RC as it is in the RC (true to the term 'RC').

    I'm debating if I want to upgrade at all, because I don't feel up to the week long task of getting all of the apps reinstalled and their options set the way I fancy.

    I'm bummed. MSFT, Please give me an upgrade tool!

    -Ryan

    ReplyDelete
  6. peterbromberg6:44 AM

    Heh. Don't hold your breath, I've already given up on it. Apparently Microsoft feels that their 64-bit OS versions are second-class citizens.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous5:53 PM

    xp x64 seemed to be an experiment gone wrong at MS. By not really understanding how to build a multi-target (32 & 64 bit) OS, they did what seemed to make sense..
    With vista they corrected many of these issues.

    basically all the bits are in the wrong places. so in order to "upgrade" they'd have to make sever registry changes, alter install paths, etc. (OR -- just leave things as is, but it'd be difficult for the user to maintain later).

    So, from their perspective it probably just seems like the number of x64 installations that would upgrade to vista aren't worth the development time it would take to write and test all the cleanup code.

    So, their solution I think is to give you the transfer cable software which will shove all your data onto an external drive.. you then do a clean install, re-install all your apps, and then transfer back your data and settings.

    I'd think that if they can sucessfully do the transfer back and forth, they should be able to automate that process in the upgrade phase, but I imagine the application installation paths and registry entries are the big problem

    ReplyDelete
  8. peterbromberg6:09 PM

    Right, but you are commenting on a post that I made a long time ago. Things have changed a lot since then. I run Vista x64 and it's great.

    ReplyDelete

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