We can say for sure that
our own Windows 7 upgrade experience didn't take, oh say,
a whole day, but according to Microsoft, your own just might. The boys and girls in Redmond set out with a goal of seeing the Vista to
Windows 7 upgrade accomplished around five percent faster than an upgrade to Vista, and while it seems that they succeeded, the staggeringly wide range in install times has us a wee bit concerned. A variety of testing situations were put in place, and nearly every profile was tested on low-, mid- and high-end hardware. A clean install of Windows 7 on mid-to-high-end hardware took just a half-hour, but a 32-bit upgrade on a mid-range machine with 650GB of data and 40 applications took an astounding 1,220 minutes, or just under 21 hours. The wild part here is that it's not all that uncommon for a power user / all-around nerd to have a half-terabyte of information and two score programs, and in anticipation of one install actually taking over a day, the team didn't even bother testing this path on a low-end rig. Good thing our imaginations are in check, huh?
[Via
ArsTechnica. thanks Martin]
posted September 12th 2009 3:38AM
I uninstalled most programs and moved most files to an external hard drive, but still the installation took a morning and afternoon for a 4GB DDR2, 500 GB, and 2.0 GHz DC laptop.
Two words, Fresh install.
people will find any excuse they can to bash MS... its both sad and funny at the same time
I keep all my major pain-in-the-butt install apps in virtual machines. Things like Visual Studio. I have a few freeware and simple apps I reinstall by getting the latest versions on the web. The rest of the drive is just data/games I can copy wholesale.
Install new OS, install vmware, download a half dozen apps, copy over my data/games (which I have a secondary backup on another server).
At work, for shits and giggles, we upgraded one of our XP machines to 7. We upgraded to Vista first and then 7, if you count the times we had to restart the process because of applications it complained about it, I can see it. It probably took about that much time to fully do it, including fixing issues after 7 was complete. If you have the time and willing to research stuff on the internet, it worked and that machine is running better than before.
I will be using SCCM to zero touch deploy Windows 7 to the entire company when we are ready to go, should save a lot of time and possible headache (once we get our process down).
I should've reported this story a month ago.
I've tried twice now to "upgrade" from 32-bit Vista Premium to 32-bit 7 Ultimate, twice now and each time I had to leave it on over night while I slept because it gets stuck at 63% of the very last part.
Well over 30 hours and still no upgrading. wtf
Did you perform a clean install? That could be the case.
I have two terrabytes of data but I am not foolish enough to keep in on C. THat's why you have a C drive and then map the data on a secondary or thrid drive. Easy to wipe out your OS.
I have Windows 7 RTM and I did the upgrade from Vista. It only took minutes on my system. and I haven't had any errors at all. So... yeah.
I meant to type 45 minutes. Sorry.
Grossly exaggerated!!
Just upgraded last week to 64bit RTM Professional version. Took about an hour.
@dtomilson, @Mark Anderson
Because the majority of IT departments simply avoided to upgrade to Vista, and the incompatibility issues seen in it can be found in W7 too.
Please, don't start saying I'm criticizing MS just on a "I-do-it-just-to-do-it".
You ARE free to update, clean install, invest or waste your time on whatever OS in whatever computer you want.
I'd be a moron to say you can't!
But I don't feel a moron if I notice that the vast majority of MS' OS is XP based, and - sorry dtomilson - this community is VASTLY bigger than Mac one (you can't compare them and the repercussions on the users, the businesses and so on), thus deserving a LOT MORE of care from MS, who produces the OS we're talking about.
I understand: different technologies, approach to security, drivers management, whatever-you-want make XP and W7 two worlds apart.
Well, considering the huge XP-based community of users, I FEEL they would have deserved more choices by MS, imo, after the not so brilliant experience of Vista.
They deserved the flawless experience I had with Snow Leopard, and more.
We're talking about how to make a user experience easier and pleasant, not how to move a mountain from the Earth to the moon, come on!
I'm sure MS has got a LOT of brain power, money, resources to make a transition between OSes smoother.
That's all folks...
Enjoy your OS, whatever it is.
@nanto
I agree with you: in this article Engadget definitely gives a reader the picture of an indefinitely long install. And that's absolutely false.
About the update times: that's what I observed on my 3 Macs, more or less.
@Jagster, @Mark Anderson
I agree with most part of your thoughts (21 hours install is a very singular and particular case, the best thing for a power user is to reinstall everything from a clean install, they're used to that, etc etc): however, put it simple, I can't understand the tough and someway offensive attitude you have - expecially in words you choose - while facing different or opposed opinions. Maybe you think it's normal. Well, I don't.
Best Regards to you all
Luca
OMFG!! 21 hours?? that should be a server with so many saved programs or something! 0_0 i did an clean installation on my medium range laptop, and it took around 25-30 minutes. installing all the drivers and have everything normal, around 45 minutes
my bad, i installed windows vista home premium 32 bit. i forgot to put the os i installed.
Engadged has been very classy towards Windows 7 until this post. I hope they redeem themselves.
To all who may think about replying- just ignore and report. This troll isn't worth the time or effort.
Some you actually talked about Apple Mac OS X Snow Leopard! Enjoy you Windows 7 and 21 hours Install time. If you don't have the RROD on the 360 you can kill time by playing games. LOL!
Do you know what choices mean?
Oh wait you don't...you're an Apple user. Enjoy your 32-bit kernel in Snow Kitty.
I recently did the "upgrade" route with a new 64bit Gateway lappy, took just under an hour, preserved all programs and drivers in tact - then hitched up to Windows Home Server, backed the 168gb install up in 17min. To put this in perspective - it took just over 2 hrs to pull 8gb of files off the old Inspiron 8200 and transfer them over to the new laptop by usb stick. So upgrade was NOT an issue.
@jorden:
The Kernel in 'Snow Kitty' is 64 bit, but on must consumer machines defaults to 32bit. The reason is simply: It makes all the drivers for your 3.party hardware keep working, until they release 64 bit versions. Ohh, wanna try it? Hold down the 6+4 keys while booting = boot in 64 bit kernel!
No need to go and buy + install another pricy OS to ger 64bit support!
Exactly, but reading and comprehension seems to be a prevailing issue with Windows advocates. Apple has provided a way for 32/64 bits to cohabit happily, while paving a continued smooth transition to 64 in the future.
Unlike Microsofts amateurish method of providing 32/64 bit compatibility.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/technology/#sixtyfourbit
A lot of the negative figures you all report OH so often on Windows tend to be grossly overstated. Why is that? Is it just a journalism thing? The more controversial the headline the more hits an article gets?
It won't take the average user anywhere NEAR 21 hours, not even a "power user" considering they'd probably have enough sense to know how to streamline the installation process.
On my old, shitty PC currently being used mainly as storage with over 750GB of crap (though half of it simply albums and movies in the best quality I could acquire) and more programs than I even care to count, an update from Vista to 7 took a long ass time, of course...but nowhere near a day. And that was only because it is not my main PC, so it didn't matter that it was out of commission for an extended period of time, and I don't have the patience to go through all that old shit to see what I may or may not still need on it.
I EXPECTED it to take forever, and I planned on running into problems especially with some of the older hardware, but it went pretty much swimmingly. Vista was a nightmare, but that was because it had even older hardware at the time...so it wasn't the OS's fault, it was a lack of support from the hardware manufacturers...something apparently OFTEN forgotten when reporting on issues with Microsoft OSs.
I knew they had a 64 bit kernel...but not default. You shouldn't need to be holding down all these keys all the time to do stupid things. I'm sorry, but I don't want to sit there and wait for my computer to boot, I can press the power button and go to the bathroom or something.
You think it's confusing 32/64 bit CHOICES. It's not all that complicated. Huge corporations have systems that are all still 32-bit, do they want to upgrade that hardware? Probably not. This brings in the choice thing.
Apple doesn't have that problem...corporations don't use their products.
Besides...Apple releases the hardware, correct? They have complete control and that's what makes them better, right? Shouldn't they be providing 64-bit drivers? Shouldn't it auto-default to 64-bit kernel if the drivers are there? That would seem to make sense, would it not?
Microsoft has provided just as easy of a path to a 64-bit future, and have been doing it for years now. If the hardware is there, 64-bit it is, which emulates 32-bit software for a hassle free transition. Again, you have no idea how many 32-bit Windows systems are still out there. And yes, they WILL run Windows 7 just fine.
Random helpful note: it'll certainly take a long time if you have the floppy controller enabled in the BIOS but no floppy drive enabled (which is rather common, in fact, as some BIOSes still come with the controller enabled by default, but most people don't bother getting a floppy drive any more). That causes the install process to seemingly hang for excruciatingly long periods in three separate places. So, uh, don't do it. If you've got no floppy drive, disable the controller in your BIOS. Wish I'd found that one out before I cancelled the install process five times wondering what the hell was wrong with it.
"The wild part here is that it's not all that uncommon for a power user / all-around nerd to have a half-terabyte of information and two score programs"
It's also not all that uncommon for a power user / all-around nerd to do the right thing, and perform a clean install.
buy a MAC screw bill gates before he screws you he has designed windows to spy on you and what you are doing to get out of his antitrust lawsuit he now has one of the most intrusive database ever conceived that is why there are so many unnecessary updates it upload enormous amounts of data to government handlers
wake up people windows is not your friend
towpro18, you can keep believing that and shelling out 200% more on similar hardware, and I'll take my extra $800 and go on vacation somewhere with my Windows 7 laptop.
and don't even get me started on the iPhone app censorship argument. Talk about controlling and spying, Mac is brainwash-ware.
I DONT KNOW WITH CONSTANT UPGRADES, VIRUSES, HACKERS, ETC. EVEN WITH ALL THE 'SO CALLED' FAIL SAFE SECURITIES WE CAN INSTALL MABY I'LL GO BACK TO PUTTING PEN TO PAPER AND FAX COMMUNICATIONS. YOU'LL BE SUPRISED HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE STILL DOING THIS, LIKE THEY KNOW SOMETHING WE DON'T AND ARE MUCH HAPPIER THIS WAY. THINK ABOUT IT BEFORE YOU QUICKLY HACK OFF AN ANSWER IN AN ANGRY MODE TO THIS SUBMITTAL. PEACE!
I would rather wait a 100 hours then screw around with a MAC.
Are the benifits of Wndows 7 over Vista worth the extra trouble for a not so computer smart home user. I don't like some of the operation of Vista,however it is working okay. ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Why would you ever want to do an upgrade? That sounds like a recipe for disaster. Clean install is ALWAYS the way to go. You could do a clean install along with your 40+ programs in a couple of hours, and you'd probably save yourself a 1/2 dozen registry errors and program failures.
Maybe challenging to you, which is why you use a Mac. Anything more than 1 button is probably too much for you to handle.
I only bought Vista a year ago. I REFUSE to upgrade to yet ANOTHER version of Windows anytime soon!!!
Best advice...throw your piece of crap PC out and buy a Mac!!!! I bought a Mac Airbook 2 months ago and will NEVER have a PC again!!!!! Put it this way my Mac has not locked up or crashed ONCE in 2 months...bet you can't say that about your PC!!!!!!
Bet i can......
my windows computer hasnt crashed since i got it.... which was 3 years ago
well, other then that one time i tried to make a 2.3 gigabyte picture as my desktop wallpaper.... but that would happen to any computer
Sorry from the technically challenged! This is all gobbledegook to me! Wish me luck when my new HP arrives by Fedex today! YIKES! :-)
When stuff like this comes up I call my 15 year old neice to do it for me. If its more complicated than put in a disk and right click its either her or Dell service.
Easy solution ASK FOR THE CD! PROBLEM SOLVED
They have just stopped with Windows 98, dag nabit!
Get a Mac!
Or you could GET A MAC
This upgrade stuff is just a lot of hoo ha. I have Windows 98 SE and it's stable and works great. Why fix it if it's not broken? Bill Gates got my money once, I can't help it if he blew it and wants more. Sorry I missed out on Windows 2000 ME and XP,Vista and Windows 7. Bill is just going to have to manage his money a little better because he's not getting anymore from me!
Most of the power users and nerds that I know would have their data on a seperate hd/partition and only have to deal with the applications and a very small amount of data. That way the install goes pretty quickly. I did a Dell Latitude 800 and a Dell Inspiron 600, both very old laptops, and the upgrade took less than two hours in both cases.