Real time to get Windows 7 functioning as XP install

[Duke of Alinor]

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]

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]

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]

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

 

[gregrocker]

Pirate seaweed.

 

[whs]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

 

[whs]

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.

What "real answer" did you expect?

 

[smarteyeball]

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.

I posted no personal time as I didn't believe it was necessary or pertinent to add any further info that hadn't already been covered by others.

To clarify my reasoning:

I was an early Vista user and have also been using Windows Seven since October 2008 starting with build 6801 and have used the vast majority of available builds up to, and including, the RTM version.

By comparison, my training time to a user making the switch straight from XP to Seven is significantly different and as such, not really applicable.

I also have all my drivers and applications on a separate hard drive, which further reduces the time taken from installation to operating.

I also have multiple installations and so I backup / copy my user directories that contain most of my application settings etc, which further reduces my time in 'readying' a system to a satisfactory state.

Personally I can have a new Seven installation with my common core apps, settings, updates and a few tweaks done in under an hour if need be.

Conversely, I can also spend weeks 'getting around' to certain things.

Had I posted that earlier, it would have either been misconstrued as 'bragging' or 'stating the obvious', hence the the reason for my personal omission.

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

Deletion is not necessary, and yes this is a help forum - but perhaps some further clarification as to the exact nature of help that you require may be in order :huh:

 

[Joan Archer]

Well said Smarty,

Now as for this little old lady doing it, well I'm certainly no expert when it comes to computers but, it took about 20 minutes to do the actual install then it wasn't that long to do a WET transfer of my settings from my Vista partition and I was up and running.
I didn't time myself as it's an ongoing thing and there are sure to be programs that I find and must have, so how do you put that into the equation, days, months, what, in fact I've only just installed the software for keyboards, I've never had to bother before so add that to the time since I got Windows 7 installed last October

 

[mpcrsc562]

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.

Excuse my ignorance, but what did I miss? Who's bragging? Training...? For what? The time you spent in installation and finding drivers seems to me that you tried to install this operating system on fairly old hardware. It is not mandatory that you have to buy a new computer to use Windows 7, and I think that Microsoft should be a little more forthcoming about the fact that people who are trying to install this operating system on older hardware may face some hurdles and obstacles. Installation time may be longer and finding drivers--especially 64-bit versions--may prove to be difficult.

Again, braggin? My hardware is but a year old--motherboard, cpu, ram purchased 2009 and solid state drives just purchased within the last month. Most, if not all of the peripheral items attached to my computer Windows 7 was able to provide the driver without me doing a thing -- Hauppauge TV tuner, the display driver for the videocard, the monitors -- heck, even my cell phone! There is absolutely nothing installed inside or peripherally to this PC of mine that there was not a driver for. This is my baby...

However, I have a PC in my garage that I use for ALLDATA to diagnose my vehicle--right now it has XP on it. Not too long ago, I installed Windows 7 Enterprise (trial) 32-bit. The PC in question is a Compaq Presario SR1200NX -- a PC from around 2004! with a 2GHz Sempron 2800+ that I installed an extra 1GB of ram. The whole installation process was less than 30 minutes! I don't have to add any time for program installation as I did not add any extra programs.

I think I can speak for many when I say that I'm sorry to hear of your problems you've had with Windows 7, but in my honest opinion, you could have come to the forum a lot sooner for help than after this 60+ hours you have put in only to be bitter about it now. Again, that's my opinion.

Lastly, this:

There is great truth in the statement you get faster with more installs, .

I don't know if this was your first time doing this and I don't know if you tried the route of clean install or in place upgrade. There is always going to be something that is your first time doing and it will probably be your longest time doing. I think about this often: I was always trying to squeeze extra perfromance from an older PC I had. Tweeking here and there. Overclocking. I tried setting up a RAID 0 to install my operating system on. The first time I tried to set up RAID, I was confused. I eventually got it working. It worked well for a while--until blue screens daily. First, it wasn't the fault of the operating system I was using--very important. However, whenever I found myself in a spot of unknowing, I set my laptop up next to my desktop and Googled (that is how I found Vista Forums). Forum after forum, tech site after tech site--I searched and scoured until I found what I needed. If I found a How-To, I would, again, have my laptop next to my desktop so that I would have to rely on my memory in trying to perform the steps of the tutorial. And, everything I tried did not work and I had to live with that. Hell, even on my baby--I bought DDR2-1066 ram to compliment my Phenom II only to find out that there is a limitation with the AM2+ chipset that prevents me from running my 1066 ram at 1066 speed--I gotta live with that. In my case, though, I wish I had of researched more before my purchase and I would have just bought 800MHz ram.

Anyway, to state again, I'm sorry to hear of your troubles. However, don't think that everyone who has replied to this thread is immune to having problems. Some may be able to solve their problem without intervention from anyone else. Others may rely on forums such as this. The point is: you found Seven Forums... You have people from all over the WORLD who all have something constructive to input. Use them.

 

[devildog93]

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.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[gregrocker]

However, I have a PC in my garage that I use for ALLDATA to diagnose my vehicle--right now it has XP on it. Not too long ago, I installed Windows 7 Enterprise (trial) 32-bit. The PC in question is a Compaq Presario SR1200NX -- a PC from around 2004! with a 2GHz Sempron 2800+ that I installed an extra 1GB of ram. The whole installation process was less than 30 minutes! I don't have to add any time for program installation as I did not add any extra programs.

However, whenever I found myself in a spot of unknowing, I set my laptop up next to my desktop and Googled (that is how I found Vista Forums). Forum after forum, tech site after tech site--I searched and scoured until I found what I needed. If I found a How-To, I would, again, have my laptop next to my desktop so that I would have to rely on my memory in trying to perform the steps of the tutorial. And, everything I tried did not work and I had to live with that. Hell, even on my baby--I bought DDR2-1066 ram to compliment my Phenom II only to find out that there is a limitation with the AM2+ chipset that prevents me from running my 1066 ram at 1066 speed--I gotta live with that. In my case, though, I wish I had of researched more before my purchase and I would have just bought 800MHz ram.

Anyway, to state again, I'm sorry to hear of your troubles. However, don't think that everyone who has replied to this thread is immune to having problems. Some may be able to solve their problem without intervention from anyone else. Others may rely on forums such as this. The point is: you found Seven Forums... You have people from all over the WORLD who all have something constructive to input. Use them.

A true mechanic - knows how to troubleshoot.

What is often the missing link with people seeking help here is the ability to troubleshoot that a mechanic picks up on the job. It takes a combinaton of smarts, critical reasoning, research skills, scanning Google results, etc.

You're right that they have made the first step when they find this forum. But then they need to be able to take the help and maximize it with their own research and trial/error. There also needs to be an eagerness to learn, almost the polar opposite of complaining.

Never complain about learning, it is a great asset and something to be proud of and built upon.

 

[Lordbob75]

Alright. Besides the obvious troll post, I will post what I have done.

I grew up using XP and my main OS. Used it for years (after I got rid of 98, XP was like a piece of heaven).
When Seven finally came out, I loved it!
I started using the beta, so that is where I will start on what I did.

Training Time: 5 Minutes
Install Time: Roughly 30 minutes, most of it reading a good book while it installed
Time to set everything to preference and explore a bit: 30 minutes
Program installation: 2 hours (I hate that part)

That is my first experience setting up Windows 7 to function as I needed it for that time.
The next thing I did was set up my computer to be able to print from my parents computer (which the printer is hooked up to) that ran on XP.
Research Time: 30 minutes
Set up Time: 10 minutes
Printed test page successfully

The last thing I did (a little bit later) was to set up my parents external drive so that every computer in the house could access it (2 XP computers, 1 Vista, 2 Seven).

Research Time: 0 Minutes
Setup Time: 5 minutes on parents computer, 20 for the rest (total)

Total Time: Less than 4 hours

So contrary to your expectations, not everyone has as much trouble as you.

Why is this? My first guess would be an older computer, and an even older (or obscure brand) printer.
The next problem is that you were trying to use a network printer (which I have had little success with, they are very complicated. It is far easier to set up printer sharing from a computer hardwired to a printer), that was also unsupported (read: too old).
Your different network card may not have been supported by Windows 7, or you did you find drivers, but the motherboard card probably would have worked just fine (read: better).

The next big issue was trying to use Workgroups. This has never been a useful feature, it is far easier to simply partition a section of your drive and set it up as a network drive. (takes 5 minutes)
Setting up the UI to look like XP is impossible, because it is NOT XP! Every person I have seen that hates Seven so far is because they want it to work like XP, and they bitch that it is too hard (read: you). It is not XP, it is Seven, get over it or don't use it.

Lastly, no one claimed it was a service pack. This is not Windows XP Service pack 5. This is Windows 7.
It is a new OS, not an update/upgrade.

~Lordbob

 

[CarlTR6]

Very well said.!

 

[Dave76]

Well said Lordbob,

Couldn't have said it better myself...

What's this about making Windows 7 function as XP?

Best way is to......... use XP.

Time spent, 1 sec of contemplation, 1 sec decision, O time to install XP.

XP was good in it's time, it's now time for Windows 7.

 

[Duke of Alinor]

Lordbob, Perfectly posted. times, opinion and humor.

Yes, this is a troll. I am trying to get more to post like you did. The system spec in my info here is what I am installing on, hardly old or slow. I never thought to not use homegroup or workgroup DOH!

Yes, I am trying to hang on to interfaces from XP and OSX and any other OS that works better than Win7 for me. Some parts of Win7 are just poorly done, we need to discuss these, help others and get the word back to manufacturers.

In the early days of XP I set up a Raid 0 with the OS. I reinstalled weekly and thought it was me. Nope, turns out Microsoft never allowed for the file flush in the Raid and could corrupt itself by shutting down early. Tech support finally admitted it and said "Install on an IDE drive".

WHS - something like -
I am an IT pro so training time is difficult to measure. Win 7 beta times probably do not count but now it takes me an hour or so to set up a customer's computer unless they want networking with Macs and XP machines. Workgroups and permissions on a small setup of 5 or so takes another hour. I always leave the default UI in Win7.