Windows 7 Home Premium with Windows Virtual PC & Win

leelord · 08 Jul 2009

WOW, you're a saving grace with all this infomation! And with screen shots no less. THANK YOU! Now I have to decide if want to revert back to ordering 7 Home Premium and do an update since my current Vista Home Premium won't support 7 Pro... or to go with 7 Pro and do a clean install. Yes I would save all my drivers of course. I used to use DriverMax but that doesn't support 64bit OS. I found another... Driver Magic. that does. It supports Windows 7/64bit. I don't particularly want a dual boot with Vista and 7 but now have to decide update or clean install.

Originally all I wanted was to update to 7 Premium with a minimum of problems which of course would be the drivers. In doing the windows 7 upgrade advisor all my devices/drivers, except for my card reader, are supposedly compatible with 7 and from what I've read in groups if they work in Vista they'll work in 7?

NOTE: I've already ran the AMD tool and virtualization is supported but not currently enabled. I read in this group where once you're running the XP Mode in the VPC it becomes enabled. You're been a BIG help.

Thank you again SO MUCH! Lee

Night Hawk · 08 Jul 2009

One thing to know about the Home Premium edition for 7. It doesn't support the XP mode unfortunately while the Pro, Ultimate, and Enterprise higher priced editions do. The Home Premium is intended more the typical novice to mid range user for strictly home use there.

You know the typical gaming, email checking, multimedia, etc while the pricier editions with more features included and increased support for advanced setups will. As for DriverMax, Driver Agent, and any other driver finder I typically find those useless and often unreliable.

Remember 7 will be a totally new version where you will want to plan a fresh start at first. Many elect to set up a dual boot with the newer OS or version simply to keep everything running on the present version of Windows or OS in use going until confident the newer will become the default OS on the system. I did that for Vista as well as for the 7 betas then RCs until making some large changes.

leelord · 08 Jul 2009

I responded to your post but don't see it so I'll re-write.

Thanks so much for all the information you provided, the many links and screen shots. You've been a BIG help! Now I have to decide whether or not to re-order Home Premium 7 or stay with 7 Pro. Originally all I really wanted was to upgrade with minimal problems, meaning drivers and some software but was a bit concerned about compatibilty. When I ran the Upgrade advisor for Windows 7 there were no problems except for one device, my card reader host controller. I assume office 2003 was ok also as it didn't show as a problem. Neither did Norton save and Restore which I use weekly to create an image. In some posts I read people say if drivers and programs work in Vista they should work in 7.

As for staying with Pro 7 and doing a clean install, I already ran the AMD tool and yes the virtualization compatibilty check was ok. It was supported but not enabled. Someone mentioned in a post that it becomes enabled when running XP Mode in VPC.

I'm really leaning toward just updating. As I stated before all I wanted in 7 Pro was the XP mode just in case I needed some programs to run correctly.

Thanks again SO MUCH! Lee

Night Hawk · 08 Jul 2009

You should make make alright there. And just about any Vista 64bit update should go right on the 64bit 7 and run without a problem.

The differences seen between editions is more features and optional support for other things and doesn't impact compatibility with device drivers and software updates that presently run on Vista.

leelord · 08 Jul 2009

OOPS.. yes you did get and responded. Sorry! Now I feel foolish in sending you yet another somewhat similar mail. Anyway you mention those drive backup programs as useless. They're the only ones I know for that purpose. Do you have any others or let me ask, how do you back up your drivers? You know you're talking me into keeping my current order of 7 Pro. You're probably right. No, you ARE right, it's best to start anew. Lee

Night Hawk · 08 Jul 2009

Generally when you go right to a support site and select the correct driver set or updated application portion for something you download that into a folder(temp usually). The tip is having your own custom folders to store updates in like one for any video, another for sound, board, and even another for an addon device to avoid confusion.

With the "spur of a moment decision" here to wipe a drive entirely being a custom build with more then one hard drive the process is made easier by having a main folder or two for all types of updates. On a single drive system you can have a local folder for storing things for ease or even a second partition on the drive for storage and backup purposes.

With most Vista updates besides service packs and Windows updates you would be upgrading over the Vista installation with the Home Premium 7 while the pro is a different story where you will likely need to perform a custom install in order to replace the existing copy of Vista. That means a fresh install of everything all over!

The Vista compatible updates you store separately will still be there if not replaced by newer downloads by the time 7 is out. But you have those ready to go once 7 is on.

The selected folder shown in the image here is for the 64bit RC presently installed on the host drive. You'll note that each sub folder is for a specific type of file or for a particular hardware as well as those for various utilities and system tweaks being tested or simply tried out as well as stored locally on the host drive itself.

leelord · 08 Jul 2009

Yes I see what you did with the image of your folders. Very concise. I'll start downloading separate drivers and storing them on my external drive. Damn, I should have known that but I've always used one of those programs I mentioned but never have had to restore any drivers that way. I had no idea if that was a dependable way or not. Actually I Have an HP computer and can go my my specific computer downloads on their site. I'll start downloading one by one. I'm still not sure what I'll do about upgrade or clean install but as you stated, a clean install is always best. Hmm guess I just answered my own question. Again you don't know how much I appreciate your help. Thanks god for the forums. I really haven't posted much in any of them in the past but will now. Lee

Night Hawk · 08 Jul 2009

For 7 you came to the right place!

While you are here look over the various tutorials you'll find here and not elsewhere for the most part. I think you'll soon notice the collection is as large as the library of Congress thanks to the efforts put in by Brink and a few others!