The Everyday IT Blog

I’ve been using Windows 7 since it was in beta stage and I have to say.. I’m impressed.  While Windows isn’t my OS of choice (I prefer Fedora Linux by far) it is a necessity from an administration perspective.. my company operates a Windows-based network and we will likely always have some tie to that.  It is what it is.  While Vista has gotten much better since the release of service pack 2 it was never on the “must upgrade” list for our user machines – it was relegated to a forgotten machine that sits on a desk in a deep, dark corner of the office.. the desk that plays double-duty as a storage shelf for the office Christmas decorations.  We use it every once in a while to do release testing for our client software, but that’s it.

Windows 7 is proving to be different.  Users like it.. I like it.. it seems to work well in our office environment – so I’ll let it creep in with new desktop machines and laptops as we replace them without spending the time to downgrade to XP.  Certain users will get the opportunity to upgrade to take advantage of the better-than-average hardware they are already running, so I figured I’d better put myself through the upgrade process.  Just so you know.. most IT folks will generally advise against doing in-place upgrades.  There’s just too much that can (and often does) go wrong.  An in-place upgrade is rarely a clean one – you can end up masking compatibility and software issues that will haunt you down the road.  So, with all that in mind, I went ahead anyway.

Oh.. you XP users – Microsoft did you a favor whether it seems like it or not.  You can’t directly upgrade from XP to Windows 7.  That’s probably a good thing.  Vista users.. read on.  If you read nothing else.. read the statement below:

My advice to you.. re-read my previous post about backups and take that advice.. you might need it like I did.

I put the Windows 7 dvd in my drive and let’er rip.  Things started normally enough.. then the compatibility check that runs before install kicked out a problem.   My wireless software (by a large company with a catchy little tune for their brand) wasn’t compatible with the install for some reason.  The suggestion was to remove that software and start over.. so I did.  Without the wireless software I wasn’t connected to the Internet, and I didn’t bother to grab a cable and plug in to get connected.. and that was likely the reason for my upgrade failure.

Windows 7’s installer gives you the option to connect to the Internet to get installation and hardware updates before install.  It shouldn’t be an option.. it should be required.  Once I told the installer to soldier on without updates it appeared to be doing just that.  The system copied the files it needed to copy in order to restart and perform the upgrade, and came through that restart just fine.  After getting about halfway through the upgrade the installer encountered a fatal problem with a device driver and tried to automatically roll back the install.. but it failed.  The box rebooted and tried to repeat the very same upgrade process with the very same failure.  The OS was toast.  No boot for me.

It was a good thing I ran a backup with Acronis before I started.  I was able to restore the system to its pre-upgrade state inside of 30 minutes and get all of my data back.  If I had needed to revert to the factory image I would have likely lost an entire day reinstalling software and reapplying the tweaks necessary to make Vista perform acceptably well.

I have since performed the upgrade to Windows 7 without issue while cabled up to my network.  The installer resolved whatever driver incompatibility it had previously encountered and did what it was supposed to do.  I’ll file this little nugget of information away in my brain for the next upgrade request.. I’m sure there will be one.

Want Windows 7?  Click the image below to get your copy.