Vista Upgrade
From VMIL Support Encyclopedia
Vista is Microsoft's new magnum opus, designed to replace the venerable and finally stable XP operating system. There are several key differences between the two operating systems (besides the 'ooohhh...shiny..' crap) that effect how they function and are worthy of keeping in mind when upgrading. There are six retail editions, but most likely you will be using 'Ultimate' in the VMIL, because we're awesome like that.
For more information and background than I care to type about here, see the Wikipedia page for Vista
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[edit] System Requirements
Vista is even more resource intensive than XP, so keep that in mind when running software. Official specs aside, for our uses, you will need a dedicated graphics architecture, i.e. a stand alone video card that is at least DirectX 9 compatible (more on this later) as well as >1 GB of RAM and a 2GHz processor. You can download the upgrade adviser from Microsoft, but it really only measures whether or not the system will run, not how well it will run.
Why all this? Well, the new interface, called Aero, with all its glassy special effects is very resource intensive. You can change the interface to resemble XP and/or Windows 2000 and the resource requirements will decrease, improving performance somewhat.
Also, Vista is optimized for dedicated hardware, instead of on-board resources, like memory, graphics, and sound, so it helps to actually have, you know, dedicated hardware.
[edit] Installation Notes
The installation process is much more straightforward than XP (and prettier). It still doesn't have drivers for many devices, such as PCI SATA controller cards, but it now allows you to load them via CD, DVD, and flash storage, instead of just floppy disks.
Since the operating system itself is larger, it takes longer to install.
Vista can actually be installed without a license key and will remain active for a period of 30 days, after which, you will not be able to use the computer without a key. You can reset the counter up to three times by opening a command prompt and running "slmgr -rearm" which will allow you to run Vista for a maximum of 120 days. This is not recommended because it may require a reinstall when you do eventually enter a product key. If you do not enter a key in the allotted time, Windows will run in a reduced functionality mode, locking you out of most programs and only allowing one hour of access to a web browser.
It is also required to activate Vista online, which can also be forgone for a period of 30 days, usually to no ill effect.
You will need to create an account but it can't be called administrator, though the account you create will be an administrator account.
[edit] Functional Differences
Workflow
The Recycle Bin is the only desktop icon. The other standard locations are accessible via the Start Menu.
The explorer window has changed substantially. In addition to removing the word "My" from "My Computer," "My Documents," etc, the start menu has an integrated search. Since Vista actively indexes your hard drive, the search function is very quick and you will get results as you type, similar to Help Topic Indexes.
The address bar now has "breadcrumbs" which allow you to access any directory upstream from the current directory, as well as neighboring folders. There are only two navigation buttons, back and forward, as well as an embedded search bar.
On the right side of the screen is a sidebar that allows you to incorporate "gadgets" (sound familiar?) of varying degrees of utility. It uses about zero processor power and 15 MB of RAM, so you can leave it alone unless it seriously bothers you.
Pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del brings up a complete screen with the standard options (logout, Lock Computer, Task Manager, etc), the only difference being it takes up the whole screen.
Setting default programs for particular extensions is simpler. In the start menu, click on "Default Programs" on the lower right to adjust your settings.
DirectX 10
DirectX is Microsoft's answer to OpenGL. It is a series of programming interfaces for multimedia applications and games. The newest versions, 9Ex and 10, are exclusive to Windows Vista. They are backwards compatible with previous versions and support older graphics hardware, but shine with dedicated compatible video cards.
Security
- The security system is much more annoying now, especially during the initial run. To install or run just about any piece of software, you will have to authorize it first by entering an administrator password (even Microsoft software). Subsequent runs will not have the prompts and the OS will become less annoying as time goes on. You can disable the very annoying security popups, it is called "User Account Control", and you can find it in the Control Panel -> User Accounts. You have to reboot after you change this setting.
Default Behaviors
Network Shares
- Vista has different default network settings than XP. On its first boot, Vista cannot see network Samba shares and NT shares. This means you won't be able to see your network drives until you change the settings. To change this, go to the control panel and select "Admin Tools" (you may not see this until you switch to classic view.) Go to 'Local Security Policy' > 'Local Policies' > 'Security Options'. Change "Network security: LAN Manager authentication level" to "Send LM & NTLM responses." ONLY AFTER THIS CHANGE will a vista PC be able to see samba and NT4 shares. Thanks Alex
User Interface
- The Aero GUI offers several changes from the classic style (2000) and XP (Luna). It has some neat transparency effects that look cool and only minimally intensive with the proper hardware. Much of the functionality with windows remains the same.
Power Management
- Vista's default power scheme is designed to conserve power, so if you leave the computer by itself, it will turn "off." The hard disks, fans, and video card will go to sleep and the computer will consume minimal power, but will almost instantaneously reawaken. It is safe and no data is lost when the computer goes to sleep, but can be annoying if you are in the middle of a job, or want to leave the computer in the process of rendering or something.
Default Programs
- Every extension will open with a windows program until a new program is installed. As mentioned above, this is easily tweaked. Microsoft has retooled many of the default programs and file handlers to deal with more formats and use less resources, making them more competitive with third party options. Microsoft now has its own integrated DVD authoring and burning software that is compatible with virtually all formats.
[edit] Known Issues
Nero Burning Rom Problems
Nero Burning ROM seems to have problems in Vista. I'm using Nero 7.5.7.0 in Vista Business 64bit, and Nero works, but crashes from time to time. Added 07/12/2007 by alazarev
Graphics Adapters
Rather than stalling the whole system, a bad instruction to a video card will simply cause the driver to be reset. This prevents a system shutdown and loss of data. As a consequence, more stringent requirement will be placed on video cards. There will be less support for generic cards and in multi-card arrangements, Vista will insist on the cards having to be absolutely identical. That is, using an ATi card and a third-party card with the same chipset in a Crossfire arrangement will result in an angry screen of blue.
Slow Copying
Copying files across the network may cause the system to seize. A hot fix is available on the Microsoft website.
Undetected Boot Device
During boot, the OS may return an error that says it cannot find "WinLoad.exe" or that it cannot find a boot device. this typically occurs when Vista is installed on a partition that is not the primary. This is triggered by peripherals, namely external hard drives and printers. The solution is to unplug the externals during boot.
COM Surrogate Errors
Certain video files will produce this error when Windows Explorer tries to show thumbnails or render a preview. Some of the older ffdshow codecs and Nero codecs are particularly susceptible. The solution is to upgrade the codec to the latest version or to disable thumbnail previews for video files.
A more thorough fix involves turning off the Data Execution Prevention script. Right-click on "Computer" in the Start Menu and select Advanced System Settings > Advanced > Settings > Data Execution Prevention > Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select. Then click on "Add", browse to C:\Windows\System32\dllhost.exe and click "Open", then "OK." Make sure the box next to "COM Surrogate" is checked.
Shaky Firefox
Mozilla Firefox may shake under Vista when the bookmarks toolbar is enabled and empty, i.e. no bookmarks. The simple solution is to disable the toolbar or add a bookmark.
Resource Usage
You may notice that an alarming amount of hard drive space and RAM is being used by system processes. This is due to implementation of SuperFetch, a technology that takes idle system resources and uses them to do things like pre-load commonly used applications. This allows for much faster program loading and more efficient use of memory. The resources will be freed should an active program require them.
Idle Hard Drive Access
Even when no program is being used and the system is idle, you may hear the hard drive churning or see the processor light flicker. This is due to Vista actively indexing the drive. It will improve search performance and will not impede normal usage.
Third Party Support
Rumors abound that Microsoft Software for Vista uses undocumented API calls, i.e. Microsoft programs get to access parts of the operating system that other developers can't see. This allows Microsoft software to run more efficiently with Vista and puts other developers at a significant disadvantage. If it were true. As always, Microsoft denies these rumors, but various groups, like the EU, are not so quick to dismiss these allegations. Companies, notably Google, have complained that their offerings for Windows are deliberately put at a disadvantage because Microsoft includes their own versions of their software and bundles them with the OS. In EU countries, Vista is released without a web browser, media player, and search utilities to comply with their anti-trust rulings.
However, it is in Microsoft's best interest to foster third-party development so it is likely that reports of incompatibility are overblown. As of this writing, Vista is still a new offering and much of the software being used are ports from XP, so there will inevitably be some problems and hiccups. Patches are being released all the time, both from Microsoft and from the respective third-party developers (like Adobe).
Miscellaneous
- Dynamic Volumes are only supported on Ultimate Editions of Vista.
- Vista does not support the EAX sound standard at all. Any software not updated to use OpenAL will be stereo only.
- Adobe CS2 software may have trouble updating, as well as some display errors.
- More...
