52

Chapter 2

Windows Vista Upgrades and Migrations

Lessons in this chapter:

■

Lesson 1: Upgrading and Migrating to Windows Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

■

Lesson 2: Upgrading Between Windows Vista Editions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

■

Lesson 3: Troubleshooting Installations and Upgrades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Before You Begin

To complete the lessons in this chapter, you must have done the following:

■

Completed the installation practices in Chapter 1, “Installing Windows Vista Client,”

Lesson 2, “Installing Windows Vista.” The result of this practice is that you have

installed Windows Vista Business on a personal computer or in a virtual machine.

■

To complete the practice in Lesson 1, you should have access to a Windows XP com-

puter with Service Pack 2 installed. The optional practice involves performing an

upgrade of a Windows XP computer, but you should attempt this only under the circum-

stances outlined in the practice.

No additional configuration is required for this chapter.

Real World

Orin Thomas

Recently, I was asked by friends and family who have computers that are a couple of

years old but still meet the recommended requirements for Windows Vista and who

want to get Vista, whether they should upgrade their current operating system to Vista

or buy a new PC and migrate their data. To answer this question, I take a three-year view.

I ask myself, “How will they be using their computer in three years time?” My brother-in-

law, who loves to play computer games as much as I do, would be better off getting a new

computer that runs Vista and migrating his data. If he upgraded his current computer to

Vista, given the type of games he likes to play, he’d probably need a new one within 18

months anyway. If I recommended that he upgrade his current computer, he would end

up buying Vista twice and still have to perform the migration of data to his new com-

puter! My neighbors, on the other hand, do not do anything other than a bit of e-mail

and word processing. If they wanted Vista, perhaps because they want to use Media Cen-

ter or really like Aero, I’d recommend that they upgrade. It is highly likely that they will

still be happy with the performance of their current hardware in several years time—

something I am sure would not apply to my brother-in-law!