Upgrading to Windows Vista: Is your Hardware Ready? Are You?

New PCs that are being sold with Windows XP are being “branded” as Windows Vista Capable and/or a Windows Vista Premium Ready PCs, thereby guaranteeing the upgrade success on the hardwar

Upgrading to Windows Vista:

Is your Hardware

Ready? Are You?

Expert Reference Series of White Papers

With Windows Vista® finally shipping, customers who want to upgrade or migrate to Windows Vista have a number of choices and decisions to make Before you decide, you need to know if it will work with your cur-rent system’s hardware and software Bear in mind that a great majority of the “upgrades” to Windows Vista will come from:

• A new PC purchase with the new operating system installed, or

• The purchase of a Windows Vista-ready PC with a sticker, certificate, or placard that will allow a free or discounted purchase toward an upgrade

More importantly, will the machine you already own meet the strict hardware requirements? New PCs that are being sold with Windows XP are being “branded” as Windows Vista Capable and/or a Windows Vista Premium Ready PCs, thereby guaranteeing the upgrade success on the hardware; as will be described later in this white paper

Should you or shouldn’t you upgrade - that is the question The intent of this white paper is not to elaborate

on the features of the Windows Vista operating system (with the exception of a few worth noting), but rather

as an aid in your decision to upgrade Your choices will become clear as a result of the education you will receive by reading this article

There are two major items to consider:

• Is the hardware compatible and

• To which version of Windows Vista should you upgrade and from which previous operating system This white paper is divided into three sections:

• Section 1 describes the different versions of Windows Vista

• Section 2 lists the hardware choices necessary to run the different versions of Vista

• Section 3 is discusses tools available to help determine and decide if Windows Vista will load on your machine and also run your applications

Section 1: The Software

There are six (6), yes, six, versions of Windows Vista to which you can upgrade, migrate, or do a clean install

Mark Mizrahi, Global Knowledge Instructor, MCSE+Security/MCT

Upgrading to Windows Vista: Is your Hardware Ready? Are You?

Figure 1 Four Most Commonly Used Versions of Vista

The following chart from Microsoft’s website shows the features of the four most commonly used of the six Windows Vista versions

Table 1 Features offered with four of Windows Vista versions.

Features Home Basic Home Premium Business Ultimate

Most Secure Windows ever with Windows

Quickly find what you need with Instant

Search and Windows Internet Explorer 7 3 3 3 3

Elegant Windows Aero desktop experience

Best Choice for laptops with enhanced

Windows Mobility Center and Tablet PC

Collaborate and share documents with

Experience photos and entertainment in

your living room with Windows Media

Enjoy Windows Media Center on TVs

throughout your home with Xbox 360TM

Help protect against hardware failure with

Business networking and remote desktop for

Better Protect your data against loss or theft

with Windows BitlockerTMDrive Encryption 3

So, what are the other two versions? They are the Starter Version and Enterprise Version However, Microsoft says that the Vista Starter is not available in the United States Their descriptions are as follows:

Windows Vista Starter

Available in 119 emerging markets, Windows Vista Starter provides individuals and families with the basic ben-efits of Windows Vista at an affordable price Designed for first-time PC users, Windows Vista Starter is easy to learn and includes help features tailored to beginner users

Maintaining the goal of making technology accessible to customers in emerging markets, Windows Vista Starter offers a basic set of features targeted to beginner users at a price that fits their budget, thereby avoid-ing piracy Windows Vista Starter will be available* at an affordable price from OEM and system builder part-ners, and through government-sponsored programs

Windows Vista Starter includes more help features for first-time PC users With localized and customized sup-port, step-by-step guidance, and interactive video demonstrations to help perform the most popular tasks, Windows Vista Starter makes it easy to use a PC in any language

*Note: Windows Vista Starter is not currently scheduled to be available in the United States, Canada, the

European Union, Australia, New Zealand, or other high-income markets as defined by the World Bank

Windows Vista Enterprise

Windows Vista Enterprise was designed to help global organizations and enterprises with complex IT infra-structures lower IT costs, reduce risk, and stay connected If your organization has these requirements,

Windows Vista Enterprise will provide additional layers of protection for your sensitive data Building on the features in HYPERLINK "http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/editions/business.mspx" Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise provides higher levels of data protection using hardware-based encryption technology It also includes tools to improve application compatibility and enables organizations to standardize by using a single worldwide deployment image It also adds BitLocker full drive encryption, Virtual

PC express, the subsystem for UNIX and full multilingual support Advanced networking and the Domain Model is supported

Windows Vista Enterprise is available only to Volume License customers who have PCs covered by Microsoft Software Assurance These customers are also eligible to acquire an optional subscription license for the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack for Software Assurance This software extends the value of Windows Vista Enterprise by:

• Reducing application deployment costs

• Enabling delivery of applications as services, and

• Allowing for better management and control of enterprise desktop environments

Together, these technologies deliver the most cost-effective and flexible Windows desktop management solution

So, here is what it comes down to as far as the “street” is concerned Retail customers have four choices:

Windows Vista Home Basic is for cost-conscious PC buyers who want basic functionality without a lot of

extras It provides the simplified Vista user interface but does not support DVD burning or Media Center fea-tures; nor does it support any of the highly publicized 3-D graphics, TV Tuning, and Tablet PC support This ver-sion might be installed on entry-level PCs for manufacturers who want to advertise a more popularly priced

PC This can provide opportunities to sell upgrades to a version with more features; get ready for the sales pitch

Windows Vista Home Premium adds the Aero interface; integrated desktop search; Media Center features;

and support for DVD burners, TV Tuning, and Tablet PC This will be the default installation for most mid-range PCs In fact, it’s a simple test: If the computer has a DVD burner, it will probably get Vista Home Premium

Windows Vista Business adds the Aero interface, support for Tablet PCs, integrated desktop search,

collabo-ration tools, full disk backup, networking and remote desktop features, as well as all of the base features of the operating system, TV Tuning, and Tablet PC This is the baseline operating system for business customers Advanced Networking and Domain Support are also included

Windows Vista Ultimate is positioned as the one that “has it all.” It includes all the features in the other

retail versions as well as corporate features like BitLocker drive encryption It includes a host of other features such as Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Media Center, TV Tuning, and Tablet PC Advanced Networking and Domain Support are also included

Are you ready for the Biggest Change of All? These four retail versions are included on either CD or DVD.

The product key, which is entered at the beginning of the installation process, determines which version gets installed That’s potentially very good news for retail customers, who should be able to use any Windows Vista media to reinstall the operating system (provided they haven’t lost the product key)

Corporate customers who have PCs covered by Microsoft Software Assurance or a Microsoft Enterprise

Agreement have it easiest of all: They get one version, Windows Vista Enterprise, which includes BitLocker encryption, Virtual PC Express, the Aero interface, and more The idea is to give corporate customers a single image that they can customize and deploy to meet their own needs

With a single media source, it should be possible for a Windows user to upgrade to a more feature-rich version without a lot of hassle Buy a new product key from a retailer or direct from Microsoft (the price would depend

on the specifics of the upgrade – jumping from Home Basic to Ultimate would incur a higher cost than going from Basic to Home Premium or from Home Premium to Ultimate)

If the upgrade premium cost is low enough, this could be the ultimate “upsell” opportunity vendors look for You want Media Center features? Buy a $50 upgrade (actual price may vary), get the product ID via e-mail, and install the new version from your existing media For that matter, you could upgrade a handful of comput-ers on a home or small business network with one DVD and a quick visit to an online license reseller

Now let’s upgrade, but from what? From how far back can I upgrade?

Upgrade Planning for Windows Vista

For many of you, the Windows Vista experience will begin with the purchase of a new PC For others, however, the experience begins by upgrading their current PC, and it’s important to know and understand the upgrade options

Your upgrade options are dependent on the version of Windows that is currently running on your PC Below is some information to help you start planning for an upgrade to Windows Vista

The Options

You can upgrade from your current edition of Microsoft Windows XP or Windows 2000 to a corresponding or better edition of Windows Vista by purchasing and installing an upgrade copy of Windows Vista Depending on which edition of Windows you are running and the edition of Windows Vista you would like to install, you have two options for the installation process:

In-place upgrade

You can upgrade in-place, which means you can install Windows Vista and retain your applications, files, and settings as they were in your previous edition of Windows

Clean install

Upgrading to Windows Vista with a clean install means that you should use Windows Easy Transfer to auto-matically copy all your files and settings to an extra hard drive or other storage device, and then install

Windows Vista After the installation is complete, use Windows Easy Transfer and reload your files and settings onto your upgraded PC You will then need to reinstall your applications This is also known as a migration in some tech support environments

I ran Windows Easy Transfer and it’s very similar to the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard in Windows XP, which works by collecting your profile and copying it through various transfer methods from the old to the new PC This tool is built around the fact that the default locations for saving your documents, settings, favorites, and mail store locations are saved to your profile folder under the parent folder of Document and Settings This entire location can be transferred, if you choose

Table 2 The Upgrade Options Mapped to the Different Windows Vista editions.

Note that any Microsoft operating system prior to Windows 2000 cannot be upgraded to Windows Vista Also

note that an upgrade from Windows 2000 is not an upgrade at all, it is a clean install Get ready to back up your data and reinstall you applications

The following chart presents a bit more detail with the four versions of Windows Vista with regard to the major features available, or not available, suggested retail price (actual prices may vary), and upgrade path summary

Table 3 Windows Vista Major Features.

Window Vista is being released for the first time as a true x64-bit operating system “Intel Core 2 Duo” and

“AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual-Core” are x64-bit CPU chips available at an affordable price, so your choice to move from 32-bit to 64-bit computing becomes much more realistic

I have loaded the 64-bit version of the operating system, and I did not notice any significant performance increase I was not running any demanding applications that would make use of 64-bit processing, such as CAD or Video and Imaging applications It’s hard to tell the two different bit versions apart, but when it comes down to getting drivers to function on the 64-bit version, well, that’s another story Hardware makers are get-ting up to speed on 32-bit drivers for these devices; 64-bit drivers are scarcer As time passes, this too will get better

Window Vista Edition Home Basic 1 Home Premium 2 Business 3 Ultimate 4

Features:

Windows Mobility and Tablet PC

Support

Business Backup and Networking,

Remote Desktop

Price:

Footnotes:

1 Allows in-place upgrades from XP Home

2 Allows in-place upgrades from XP Home Media Center

3 Allows in-place upgrades from XP Home, Media Center, and Professional

4 Allows in-place upgrades from XP Home, Media Center, Pro, and Tablet PC

In addition, Windows Vista will be Microsoft’s first operating system to truly support, from the initial load of the operation system IPv6, the next version of TCP/IP; which expands the current 32-bit address space to 128-bit on each individual PC

Another feature carried forward from Windows XP is Fast User Switching This is now supported with a Domain Model

Section 2:The Hardware

When Microsoft posted the minimum hardware requirements to run Windows Vista, any veteran of previous operating system knew that, yes, it will run, but probably not as fast and without all the features The fol-lowing chart from Microsoft lists the specifications that are the bare bones (not very realistic) minimums that define a PC that meets the minimum supported system requirements to run the core features of Windows Vista with the basic user experience

Table 4 Windows Vista Minimum Supported System Requirements

A reality check of what a machine can run dictates a more demanding configuration Microsoft has classi-fied two categories of PCs that can run Windows Vista They are a Windows Vista-Capable PC and a

Windows Vista Premium-Ready PC

Microsoft defines these two categories as follows:

Windows Vista-Capable PC

A new PC that carries the Windows Vista-Capable PC logo can run Windows Vista All editions of Windows Vista will deliver core experiences such as innovations in organizing and finding information, security, and reliability All Windows Vista-Capable PCs will run these core experiences at a minimum Some features

Footnotes:

1 Processor speed is specified as the nominal operational processor frequency for the device Some proces-sors have power management, which allows the processor to runast a lower rate to save power

2 The CD-ROM may be external (not integral, not built into the system)

available in the premium editions of Windows Vista, like the new Windows Aero user experience, may require additional or advanced hardware

The Windows Vista Premium-Ready program denotes hardware that can deliver these premium experiences, including Windows Aero, a productive, high-performing desktop interface Features available in specific

premi-um editions of Windows Vista, such as BitLocker Drive Encryption, may also require additional hardware The detailed information below can help IT professionals make informed buying decisions today

Figure 2 PC Hardware Specifications.

Windows Vista-Capable PC includes at least:

• A modern processor (at least 800MHz

• 512 MB of system memory

• A graphics processor that is DirectX 9 capable

What Is a Windows Vista Premium-Ready PC?

A Window Vista Premium Ready PC is a new PC capable of delivering an even better experience than a

Windows Vista Capable PC These are PC’s meeting the Windows Vista Premium Ready requirements that can deliver the Windows Aero user experience that includes additional benefits such as:

• Improved productivity

• Real-time thumbnail previews

• New 3-D task switching

• Interface scaling

• Enhanced visual quality

• Glitch-free window redrawing

• Visual-style translucent window frames and taskbar

• Enhanced transitional effects

A Graphics Processor Unit (GPU), also known as your video graphics card, which supports the Windows Driver Display Model (WDDM), is an important part of the Windows Vista Premium-Ready requirements, such as the ability to watch and record live TV However, this feature may require additional hardware such as TV tuner

Windows Vista Premium-Ready PC includes at least:

• 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor

• 1 GB of system memory

• Support for DirectX 9 graphics with a WDDM driver, 128 MB of graphics memory (minimum), Pixel Shader 2.0 and 32 bits per pixel

• 40 GB of hard drive capacity with 15 GB free space

• DVD-ROM Drive

• Audio output capability

• Internet access capability

Look for the Express Upgrade to Windows Vista Logo as shown below

Figure 3 Windows Vista Express Upgrade Logo

Feature-Specific Requirements.

TV Tuning: Requires a TV tuner card and a remote control that complies with the Windows Vista Remote

Control Specification for TV functionality and an optimal TV viewing experience One (1) GB of system memory

is recommended for best Media Center performance

BitLocker Drive Encryption: Requires an integrated Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2 chip, or the

encryp-tion key can be stored on a USB 2.0 key