Upgrading to Windows 7- I need help!!

[Suzanne]

I followed the directions to upgrade from Vista to Windows 7 and everything works right up to the screen that pops up saying "Compatibility Report (saved to desktop)". Then nothing else happens. Left it for over an hour and no upgrade, it's like it froze but I can close the window and then the upgrade stops. What the heck??!!! I'm using the 32-bit disc because that's what my system it was using.


ANY help would be greatly appreciated.

[Don]

You can go into msconfig, shut down all your startup items (firewall, antivirus, messenger services, etc) and try again
OR your can back up all your files on a dvd or another partition separate from the one you operating system is on and do a clean install

The best bet is the clean install. I actually thought that was the only way you could install Windows 7, I didn't even know there was an upgrade option.

[Voyager]

I hope you did a backup. Never mess with the OS unless you do a backup first.

[T-Bone]

I'd avoid the upgrade altogether and go for a completely clean install. Any problems or issues your PC had before the upgrade will more than likely be there after it. What i'm thinking happened is that when you upgraded from Vista, there were specific drivers for certain hardware items made for Vista and now that 7 is in place, it doesn't like the Vista Drivers. One thing you may want to try is uninstalling any and all drivers for all your hardware such as Video, Audio, Printer, Digital Camera, Webcam, Scanner, and other items. After you uninstall all drivers, unplug any extra hardware or USB cables except for the mouse and keyboard.


Download C Cleaner from here:

http://www.ccleaner.com/

When you run Ccleaner, you'll notice different cleaners you can use on the left. Use the top 2 only. Run the first one which is the recular cleaner. Analyze on the bottom left and when it's done analyzing, then clcik the clean on the bottom right.

When that's done, change the cleaner to Registry, and then analyze. What this will do is find all the leftover and unused extentions and crap from your registry. Things you've already deleted and uninstalled, but they left footprints in the registry. When it's done scanning, click the botton in the lower right to get rid of all the shit. You don't need to create a backup either.

Then restart the PC. When Win 7 boots up, it will see the audio and video and install it's own drivers. When it's fully up and running, go do a Windows Update and look for anything extra.

Then find each piece of hardware you have like the Printer and whatever else and go to that manufacturers website and download the drivers for that specific model and save them to the desktop. Make sure that you get the specified drivers for either 32 bit or 64 bit Win 7 depending on what you have. If neither is there, try the XP drivers first. If you have Windows 7 64 Bit, then try the Vista 64 bit drivers.

Plug each hardware item back into the PC. Windows will see it and ask what to do. Just click out of everything and when that's all done, install the correct drivers for that piece of hardware.



Good Luck


If this doesn't work to solve the problem, then you may need to do a complete reinstall from a clean drive.

[Rip Rokken]

I did a clean install on my 2 home systems and laptop, and upgraded from Vista at the office. I also hung up during that upgrade, and unplugging my HP LaserJet did the trick. If you try the upgrade again, disconnect ALL peripherals except for mouse and keyboard, and I'd also recommend uninstalling (or temporarily disabling) your antivirus software. Be real careful of startup gadgets, and it's a good idea like was suggested to use MSCONFIG to turn off anything unnecessary. Be careful in there if you don't know what something is -- try to stick to the obvious stuff, like printer status monitors, Kodak camera stuff, Adobe startups, etc. Good luck! I think you'll be way happy with Windows 7 over Vista.

[Suzanne]

Thanks for the help. I figured out what was wrong. I had updates waiting before I even started the upgrade. I downloaded those and then started the upgrade again and it did fine. I like this Windows MUCH better than Vista.

[Rip Rokken]

Good to know! Enjoy!

[T-Bone]

I did a clean install on my 2 home systems and laptop, and upgraded from Vista at the office. I also hung up during that upgrade, and unplugging my HP LaserJet did the trick. If you try the upgrade again, disconnect ALL peripherals except for mouse and keyboard, and I'd also recommend uninstalling (or temporarily disabling) your antivirus software. Be real careful of startup gadgets, and it's a good idea like was suggested to use MSCONFIG to turn off anything unnecessary. Be careful in there if you don't know what something is -- try to stick to the obvious stuff, like printer status monitors, Kodak camera stuff, Adobe startups, etc. Good luck! I think you'll be way happy with Windows 7 over Vista.

And if you go into MSCONFIG, make sure you use Selective Startup, and go to the STARTUP tab and not the system tab or you'll be sorry.

In the startup tab, take the divider line between Command and Location and move it to the right so you can see more of the Command section. If you're on a LapTop, you'll have to leave certain things alone where as on a Desktop, you can disable more.


If it's a LapTop:

LEAVE these alone


Antivirus stuff. Whatever AV you have, leave it checked. For Norton, this also covers things that are Symantec labled or Symnet
Anything that says something like Synapsis or similar. This is your touchpad drivers and you'll need those.
Anything related to wireless or connectivity. Or you won't have the icon to connect to your router.
Anything that has system32 in the command description.
Anything Lepmark. Lexmark printers need their drivers running. HP's may too, so if you have a HP Printer, then you'll leave those alone too.
If you have an HP or Toshiba laptop, then leave anything with their name in the title alone. For some reason, their OWN little startup items rely on each other and disabling one or two affects the rest


If you have a Desktop:

Disable everything except for the AV stuff, Lexmark stuff and HP or Toshiba labeled stuff.



Restart the PC. Upon restart, you may get a little warning saying that you used the System Configuration Utility. Just cjeck the box that says do not remind me again.



If you restart and notice anything not working that you think should be, go to the MSCONFIG again and look closely at the things you unchecked and see if you can figure out which command entry corresponds to that item and re-check it and restart


When you