Upgrade from factory Home Vista Basic to Ultimate

I recently ordered a t61 with vista home basic because I have a vista ultimate disk at home. I was just wondering what is the best method to install vista ultimate?

I'm kind of afraid of doing a clean install incase it doesn't properly download all the right drivers rendering certain features useless (such as the airbag feature on the HD). I read through the whole clean install guide and I'm afraid certain things won't work like the hard buttons for sleep, volume controls, etc.

Isn't there a way I can just 'update' my vista basic to ultimate without going through this whole process if I have the ultimate disk? Also, what is all this bloatware? Can't I just uninstall it instead of doing a clean install? Thanks so much. I'm confused on this

 

I was hoping I could do the Anytime Upgrade myself as I have a dirt cheap copy of Ultimate I snagged from the MS store.

If it IS infact that simple, then I believe you just punch in the code and voila.

If it isnt, then I will just reinstall from scratch. I'm waiting to see how much crapware is on there as well though, I may just wipe it all anyhow.

Can you post a quick SS of your startmenu? I also ordered a t61p with basic for this exact reason. Curious what all is on there by default.

 

Wow, I haven't done it, but I'd be surprised if it's "punch in the code and voila". I'd think it must have some apps to install from the DVD. . . MCE, RDP, Bit-locker, some other bits and pieces.

 

that's what im wondering...is it as simple as put in the ultimate dvd..punch in code and it'll install all the files that are not in basic?

 

I was under the impression it just downloaded from MS - this could be way off though.

 

after you put in the anytime upgrade dvd and enter in the code, it takes around 20 minutes for it to fully upgrade it to ultimate. its not like some software where you can "unlock" all the features just by changing a product key.

 

Thanks guys for help on this; I should receive my T61 tomorrow and want to do exactly that upgrade (cheap Ultimate disc from my university).

Is the newly installed Vista Ultimate as clean as what one gets with a clean install, or is it some kind of hybrid version between the pre-existing Basic and the newly installed Ultimate?

I'm not sure my question is clear. Basically I want to know if upgrading (as opposed to "clean installing") from Basic to Ultimate will be the same as upgrading from XP to Vista. I know the latter is not so ideal to get a fresh, clean, fast running computer.

Thanks again!

 

That makes an awful lot of sense to me. . .otherwise there'd be no point in having to have a specific DVD with "Anytime Upgrade" on it to identify those discs that are capable of the operation.

 

if you're going to upgrade from XP...definetly do a clean install...

as for upgrading from vista basic...i hope its not as 'messy'

 

What panteedropper said is all you need to do for an upgrade to Ultimate.

As far as a clean install, the guide in my sig was put together with the idea of having the "cleanest" install possible. Which includes cleaning out ThinkVantage stuff, but that doesn't mean that you can't install the ThinkVantage utilities.

The "air-bag feature" you are talking about is called Thinkvantage Active Protection System (click for description). It is available for download here: Active Protection System.

As far as various buttons not working. Those people didn't install the "hotkey driver" and/or "system interface driver".

All drivers and Thinkvantage utilities are available from the Lenovo Support and Download page. Just to be safe you can always back-up the c:/swtools/drivers directory to make sure you have all drivers and utilities. But you'll find the latest releases on the website.

Good Luck.

 

If you already purchased a Vista Ultimate key code, why not just go through with a clean install instead of doing the upgrade? After the upgrade you'll have all types of files, etc, still remaining on the system from the previous OS version (from what i've heard). With a clean install you'll have a "fresh" system.

 

yea..but from going to basic to ultimate...what 'other' kinds of files are possible?

It's a diff story if you upgraded from XP or something

The reason why I don't want to go through a clean install is I gaurantee you im gonna mess up the drivers or something and certain things won't work anymore...im not too computer savvy

 

Thank you for the active protection system download site. I went to http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/think/thinkvantagetech/downloads_support.html and if you scroll down to where there is active protection system...it says '
Active Protection System™

This feature comes preloaded on selected systems only. It is not available to download at this time.' ... So i was afraid that feature would be gone with a clean install

I also wanted to ask you if the "thinkvantage system update" utility automatically downloads the 'hotkey driver' and 'system interface driver' as well...and if so...does it miss anything? Thank you!

 

thanks eyecon82. No, I'm not updating from XP. I'm updating from Vista Basic, but I was using the upgrade from XP as a comparison point. I guess I'll see how much of the bloatware I can uninstall and decide whether I want to clean install or not. I think you can't mess up that much with the drivers on a clean install, and the guides on this forum seem to be really good.

 

It's best to look at the actual "support and downloads" page to find out what is actually available for download. If you go to the Driver Matrix Page (that link is provided in the clean install guide) you will see almost every driver that is available. Including Thinkvantage Utilities.

It probably does. There have been reports that the system update utility does not always find ALL of the drivers needed and sometimes it doesn't find the newest released drivers. If you are "computer savvy" enough to need a Thinkpad, I bet you are computer savvy enough to install some drivers Each driver has instructions, but the instructions for most of those drivers consists of just downloading the file and then double clicking the file.