Windows functions that worked in XP fail in Win7 - permissions?

Hello

In outline I think this question is, how do I upgrade from XP to Win7 without permissions problems?

I would like to think that I am a reasonably sophisticated PC user but have experience with Windows 3, 95, NT, 2000 and XP. I am having a significant number of problems with Windows 7 and I think they are mostly permissions related. I upgraded a laptop to Windows 7 but it had a large number of licensed applications on the previous windows XP load and so I created a dual boot because I did not have confidence in the Windows 7 virtual XP machine. This scepticism seems to be valid as already it seems that Nero, Matlab, Dragon, and Acronis are not Windows 7 compatible.

The problem I would like to solve is that many windows functions do not seem to work in Windows 7. For example, adding or deleting folders to libraries works only until the machine is restarted. Programmes hang frequently for a few seconds as if they are accessing online resources. UAC requests access for most programmes and many files.

I have taken ownership of all the data files imported from the XP load. If I take ownership of the XP profiles then XP fails to start. The Win7 profiles were created at the time of Win7 install, but although the accounts have administrative privileges it seems that the win7 practice of demoting users means that basic functions fail to work. A specific example follows:

Within Windows picture viewer there is an option on right click to set as desktop background. The result is an error: "this image can't be set as wallpaper. An internal error occurred". My theory is that the trans-coded desktop picture is owned either by administrators or system and that users do not have write privileges. Thus even though profiles have administrator privileges, because win7 operates by default as a user and users do not have write privileges it is unable to make these changes. After I changed ownership of the file below the right click function worked.
Due to the dual boot my profiles are roaming:
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\TranscodedWallpaper.jpg


My question is: which profile folders must users own in order to have Win7 work? And which folders must remain under system ownership?

Or have I got to this completely wrong?

Thanks

Mike

Ztruker said:

There are versions of Nero and Acronis that work with Win 7. Don't know about Matlab or Dragon.

Dragon definitely has a compatible version, as does Matlab, but that's not the point. I shelled out good money for programs that still perform the functions I'm after, but they have been broken due to an independent party obsoleting XP. The hardware still works, just as my 10 year old phone still works on the network and my 10 year old car still runs on today's petrol. Not that I want this thread to end up in the flame pit, I'm seeking solutions. Today's problem is that the IDT HD92xx audio driver, whilst showing 'Stereo Mix'/'Rec. Playback', doesn't actually output any audio on this channel to record. The XP driver on the same hardware worked but it won't install on win7.

Make sure you have a perfect Win7 install as compiled in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

If you feel you should do it over to get it right then delete the old Win7 partition and create a new one so that nothing can interfere with getting and keeping a perfect install like the one compiled, which is based on what's worked best in tens of thousands of installs we've directly helped with here.

If one of your programs will not install in Win7 correctly, uninstall it and try again using Compatibility Mode.

Thanks for the advice.
@gregrocker: bought laptop second hand from a shop with Win7U installed. Sticker key on machine is Win7pro, but it's got internet access and no complaints inc. with a disk change, also nothing else installed just OS, so figured a group licence. I don't have a Win7pro disk, everything has always been pre-installed. It takes me about a w/e to do a clean install, and I've spent many on various family machines with 95, XP, SP2, SP3, slipstreaming drivers, moving profiles onto a different partition etc. Hence I went with what appeared to be a valid clean install.

On compatibility, all mentioned have been tried. Acronis wants a boot controller and Win7 boot is quite different to XP. Nero I guess wants direct H/W control of the DVD and that's where I expect it fails, although that also prevents the Nero Vision Express transcoder and I think the latter should work. Matlab uses an older java version not compatible with win7, forcing install is working somewhat with errors. Nuance just wanted to have everyone buy a new version. Found an install force patch and it seems to work under win7 best of all. It's very annoying that what should be a simple install turns into a 4 hour battle: I have another dozen to go!

@milesahead: Good proposal to try the audio IDT drivers in compatibility. I've just tried that now and sadly it fails at a later point. However UAC at lowest gets Everything search engine going (twice, I tried two means of start on boot :) win7 search does the job it seems for default locations but I've got multiple drives and it only indexes some parts of some.

Any known ccleaner issues? I found it better than Ace Utilities and System Mechanic in XP, both of the latter caused problems, but now I have a 1 min network timeout on resume from hibernate (not suspend).
Any Avast issues? My corporate Symantec licence expired so tried Avast and it seems to have let Pokki through for me to kill.

Mike

No CCleaner issues for Disk or Registry cleaner.

I would use MSE or Panda Cloud for free lightweight performance AV. If you get infected add Malwarebytes Real Time protection and no more infection.

If you have a Pro license on the laptop then I would use the the Pro installer provided in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 which steps will assure you get and keep a perfect install for as long as you stick with them.

Thanks. In an ideal world I would have done a clean Pro install but it appeared to be a clean Win7U. Based upon the condition I'd say it's an ex-corporate laptop that spent it's life in a docking station, then was sold without a hard disk, hence clean install. I had to get up and running quickly. Now I have about 30 applications installed, 5 partitions on a 1Tb disk (personal, company, OS, then the dual boot XP) and a couple 100Gb of data. It needs to be a fairly compelling reason for me to take my annual holiday and re-build from scratch, but thanks for the effort putting that together. If I upgrade beyond 100Mb/hour internet I will revisit.

I also find that, whilst a clean install is best, it's no guarantee of a fully working machine. This Dell driver failing to work for Stereo Mix is a good example. I'm sure if I re-image the bare Win7U with windows audio (no Stereo mix), then add the legitimate official Dell driver that I'm using, the result will be the same. There's always something slightly wrong with any computer!

Thanks for the suggestions on programs. MSE sounds good if you have confidence in it. I can drive both Ulead Video and Nero VE, both of which complained on W7. I have installed VSDC Video Editor but I'm struggling with functions, mostly I'm cut/paste editing and transcoding to DVD, should I switch apps or persist with VSDC?

On your clean load you discuss Win7 Backup. I'm using an Acronis boot disk still: when I read up on Win7 it said it doesn't backup all files whereas I'd like a disk image. Is it just hyberfil and pagefile, or more selective, and how does one persuade W7 Backup to do full images of non-OS partitions?
Thanks.