Vista: When Going Clean Is the Only Option

I am renewing this thread after seeing so many people facing problems with XP to Vista upgrade.. I have added a poll to the thread.. We may be able to find out if this is for real.. The poll is for poeple who upgraded.. Not a clean install..

NBRs, who has/had major issues with the upgrade, please mention if your upgrade was any one of the follwing..

"Certain permutations of Windows cannot be upgraded and require a clean install, according to Microsoft:

• Windows XP Professional moving to Home Basic or Home Premium
• Windows XP Media Center moving to Home Basic or Business
• Windows XP Tablet PC moving to Home Basic or Home Premium
• Windows XP Professional x64 moving to any edition
• Windows 2000 moving to any edition of Vista
• Any version of Windows prior to 2000 moving to any edition of Vista"

 

So people, Help others to help you!!!

 

After upgrading to Windows Vista for my friend's desktop, he had a couple of application problems which were solved with patches/ new versions.

Upgraded XP Home -> Vista Home Premium.

 

According to this article in extremetech there shouldn't be any noticeable differences between upgrading and installing Vista fresh. Vista's install method is much different from previous Windows products.

To sum up the linked section of the article, Vista basically copies any relevant data (documents and programs etc.) to a separate space and actually removes XP. It the installs itself on the "clean" drive and you're off to the races. If you continue reading the article they have some benchmarks which show there is little benefit (and in some cases detriment) to reformat and install Vista.

 

Exactly my point, ProntoR2.. We know Vista adopts a modular method for installation (which i am yet to comprehend completely!) and it shouldnt be any different if u r doing a clean or upgrade.. But then why this statement from MS? If there is any truth in it, then there IS a component of the old OS which will affect Vista.. or to say the least, the modular installation is not completely OS independent..

My questions are, why is it OS dependent? Why CANT one do any of these 'forbidden' upgrades? (may be Chaz, Andrew or someone in NBR may be able to expain)

If this indeed is true, dont you think that this should be brought to the attention of the users who decide to upgrade to Vista? May be many of the vista probs that we see in NBR itself, are because of this exact issue.. i donno.. Perhaps..

 

Hmmm, I see what you mean. I didn't completely read your original post.... my bad. As to why you can't always upgrade I'm not really sure. It would seem to me it's more likely Microsoft just not wanting you to than anything else. I've read that all Vista discs are the same, and only the product key determines what features are activated, and it kinda sounds like like a similar situation. If I dig up anything I'll post it here...