Real time to get Windows 7 functioning as XP install

Duke of Alinor · 12 Apr 2010

Please no BS posts of 17 minutes or even 8 hours.
You are not taking stock well at all if you think it cost you so little time.
We are not born knowing how to set up Win7 as we like it. Include your research time.

1) 1 hour Install on two computers (Professional 32 and 64)while I learned what I could online using another computer.
2) 2 hours getting drivers (64 bit was not as easy as I hoped)
3) 2 hours for programs (Office, Photoshop, WoW, Adobe Reader, 7Zip, Avast, etc.)
4) 6 hours getting "unsupported" network printer to print (HP 3500N with Jetdirect)
6) 1 hour changing the 64 bit machine network from the MB NIC to Killer NIC card
7) 15 minutes setting up Homenetwork to share files
8) 15 hours getting rid of Homenetwork and setting up a Workgroup so we can share with our XP computers which ultimately failed. I read and did most of the advice offered here, at MajorGeeks and MyDigitalLife. Like turning on XP Simple File Sharing Homenetworking can cause mysteries so it was faster to reinstall.
9) 4 hours reinstall back to the end of step 6
10) 5 hours set up UI like XP, close but not perfect. I was still slow using the Win7 interface and saw no path to speed things up. Then I saw a hacker friend with tiny7
11) 4 hours wipe it all, put in tiny7, steal the user settings, wipe tiny7
12) 6 hours to re-do everything I wanted including custom wallpaper
Now we are cooking! Fast, stable, fully shared Win7 with "only" 61 hours work.

I am starting this thread so people know this is not like a service pack, you gotta work for your pay with Win7.

gregrocker · 12 Apr 2010

Experience, matey.

Your training will hone it down after enough installs.

100+ installs here, now down to an hour, with subsequent hour sometimes for special issues although there can always be issues that are ongoing.

nekkidtruth · 12 Apr 2010

Duke of Alinor said:

Please no BS posts of 17 minutes or even 8 hours.

But....it doesn't take me longer than 2 hours to get it up and running the way I want it. That's also being generous. Allowing for Windows Update flakiness, drivers issues AND ripping my office apart to find the CD's for the various software I run.

Quite frankly, you're not going to get a bunch of people with the same amount of time dedicated to installing Windows. Everyone has a different level of experience. Some people troubleshoot better, faster. Some people are smart enough to create an image of a fresh install. They can have a brand new fresh install of Windows, including all of their software and updates in as little as 10 minutes with some programs. Ultimately, what I'm trying to say is....there is no BS answer.

Saltgrass · 12 Apr 2010

What the heck are you smokin", Duke of Alinor?

gregrocker · 12 Apr 2010

Pirate seaweed.

whs · 12 Apr 2010

You did it to yourself because you were trying to hang on to the XP world (the printer problem being unfortunate). I needed about 2 hours for Win7 and a basic set of programs. The others I installed as I need them. And the Homegroup sharing setup took very little time. I think your case is not typical and may mislead people who want to migrate.

mpcrsc562 · 12 Apr 2010

I'm coming in way on the late side of this, but to the OP... Since Windows 7 ... A complete install of the OS and ALL of my programs has never taken more than an hour and twenty minutes! Why? I have a core set of programs I always install and they're tucked away on an external drive. So, after a clean install, it's just point and click... Anything else is as what whs stated: I install them as I need them.

CarlTR6 · 13 Apr 2010

Homegroup is not designed for computers with different OS's. It works pretty well for for machines with Win7. I did get it to work with an XP machine; but it took some time. Had you and I researched it before we started, we would have saved ourselves a couple of hours.

smarteyeball · 13 Apr 2010

Real time to get Windows 7 functioning as XP install

Real answer? 0 mins because I installed 7 to function as 7.

(well, somebody had to have a pedantic response to the title

)

Realistically, to install 7 and have everything functioning similar to their XP installation is going to take varying amounts of time due to to an individuals preferences, hardware, applications and adaptability.

For some, this process will be quick. For others - the OP for example - a significant amount of time will need to be invested.

There is no single quantifiable amount of 'time needed'.

The reason it is not akin to a service pack update is because it is not a service pack. It is an entirely new Operating System.

Duke of Alinor · 13 Apr 2010

Somehow I did not expect many of you to give a real answer.
But none of you?

There is great truth in the statement you get faster with more installs, I sure did. Smartyball had an inkling, but posted no results for his personal time spent.
Noone included training time. This is a help forum and you are NOT helping by bragging or pointing out the obivious.

Please delete the thread as it is not going to work.