Sony :: FZ190 Upgrade From Vista To Win 7an UPGRADE Not A Clean Install
Oct 26, 2009
With all the hand wringing folks have been doing about the lack of drivers for a clean install of Win7 I thought I'd jump in to the deep end of the pool with my FZ190 and investigate an alternative. My good friends Rajesh and Dr. Pratik have done clean installs of Win7 on FZ models, but I decided to take a different approach... the "dreaded" OS in place upgrade. Partly out of curiosity, I wanted to see if it would work, but mainly because I have a ton of software that would need to be reinstalled, if I did a clean install. That would mean days or weeks of inventorying every thing I have installed, digging up installation media and then installing all the stuff. I just don't have the spare time. So...
This past weekend I imaged my C: drive (all my data and I mean ALL my data is on D:, I am a fanatic about that). MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A BACKUP OF YOUR C: DRIVE BEFORE YOU TRY AN UPGRADE! I ran the Windows 7 Update adviser and it said I had some issues:
Quote:
NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT - NVIDIA Not compatible The driver installed for this device is not compatible with Windows 7....................
I'm thinking about purchasing windows 7, do i need a clean install of windows vista to upgrade? and also do i need to get all the drivers ect like in the clean install of vista if i wish to upgrade? i have a vaio vgn-fw21L
Has anyone done this on an Acer laptop? I recently bought a 5515 for my parents and after seeing all the bloatware that came on it I figured I'd do a clean OS install. I backed up the CD Key using the ABR utility and backed up all the drivers. I then started the new OS install and get all the way to "completing installation" and it sits there spinning for a good 20-30 mins before it freezes. I tried the 32 bit version first followed by the 64 bit and had no luck either try. I eventually reinstalled the factory settings using the recovery disc.
I should be getting my upgrade (Pro 64) within the next week and was wondering which method is better. I obviously know that it will run a bit faster for the first month or so with clean install, however, my concern is with the activation of the dell free upgrade version. Will it simply be boot the free upgrade disk and install and it will be activated fine? Or, is there more to it? Also, say a year from now I wanted reformat/reinstall win 7... How would I go about doing that with the dell free upgrade DVD?
I'm installing a Western Digital Scorpio Black WD3200BEKT 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Notebook Hard Drive into my E1705.
Yesterday, I pulled the old drive and put the WD into the bay, booted from Windows MCE CD, Windows installed files, rebooted and went to the GUI install screen. I tried to install 5 times and every time I would get the infamous 33/34 minute hang up.
I've read that this is usually due to the install media being corrupted, or Windows not being able to install a piece of hardware. So I also tried my second, never before used Windows MCE install disk (Dell had sent me two copies). That produced the same results.
My only conclusion is one of two possibilities. One, I just got a bum hard drive. I already have a replacement drive on the way from newegg to cover that base. Two, I read that some copies of OEM operating system disks will not install with certain changes in hardware. Anyone heard of this? Is our copies of Dell Windows MCE stripped down in some way? Is it possible that our copy of Dell Windows would not recognize a WD hard drive?
Would seem really strange that a simple change in hard drive, especially considering Dell designed the bay to be plug-n-play upgradeable, would prevent a clean install of Windows.
I just received Windows 7 Upgrade Disc from Dell, and it says "Windows Vista Business to Windows 7 Professional Upgrade" on the disc and COA also says "Win Vista Bus to Win 7 Pro UPG Fullfill."
I was curious if it is really impossible to do a clean install with upgrade disc as regular upgrade disc is. (At least I was told that it is impossible), but I did not want to upgrade my notebook to Windows 7 yet.
So, I gave it a try on VMWare. It installed just like regular Windows 7 disc in a empty HDD. It even took COA that came with the upgrade disc. I did not try activating because it probably will fail if it uses SLIC to activate, or in worst case, it will get activated on my VM, and I will be unable to active it when I actually want to upgrade my notebook's OS
I have a Japanese VGN-Z90NS, and after getting it back from Japan for a minor repair, decided to put Vista Ultimate x64 on there to take advantage of my entire amount of memory.
Some may have seen this thread: Sony Z HD install and 64bit upgrade problems
On at least the older Vaio Z series (the Z90, Z5xx in the USA, etc.), I have confirmed that the EFI thing is an issue if you try to install a slipstreamed SP1. I happen to have a genuine Vista Ultimate x64 install disc that is RTM, and it installed just fine with no EFI issues.
To get the 64-bit original Sony drivers, download them here or here.
Once you download all of the Sony drivers, download Universal extractor from here, and run it against all of the EXEs you downloaded to strip the model check.
To get the Intel 4500 graphics driver, download it here
NOTE: My Z does not have the built-in camera or fingerprint security, so you'll have to figure that out on your own. Somehow my notebook no longer has bluetooth after being fixed (looking into that ...), so that isn't in this list either. I do have one device that I can't find a driver for, and I bet it's bluetooth since everything else is fine. I'll update if I sort it all out.
Install Process that works: 1. Vista x64 2. Vista x64 service pack (if needed) 3. Intel chipset driver - reboot required 4. Intel Matrix Storage Manager (I have the RAIDed SSDs and definitely need this) - reboot required.......................
if there was a way to do a clean install of Vista (preferably Ultimate 64-bit) on the Vaio Z and have functioning s1/s2 and speed/stamina and Wlan controls. I found the guide for 7, I was wondering if there was something like it for vista, or at least a place where i can get the drivers. My viao Z came with alot of "bloatware", and i'd like to have it snappy.
There are already a couple of "guides" floating around that describe how to install a clean copy of Windows on Sony laptops.
The process is fairly simple and involves installing certain Sony software and drivers in particular order (according to Sony).
For FW series, the guide is here: Official Vaio FW Clean Vista Install Guide
When I first installed Windows Vista Ultimate, I had no problems getting everything to work EXCEPT for the following:
1) CompactFlash (JMicron JMB368 ExpressCard CF) driver is not available on Sony's web site. When inserting the card, it does not show up as a drive in Windows Explorer. After some time playing around, I figured the following 2 ways to make it work:
a. Insert your card, go to device manager and click on "scan for hardware changes" b. Boot Windows while the card is inserted
2) SD card slot works but is not mapped to any drive. While Ricoh MS driver automatically creates a drive, there is no driver on Sony's web site that would do the same for SD slot.
Sony's support is useless to a point where they told me that the reason why my CF cards do not show up and there is no drive mapped to the slot is because the laptop does not support cards larger than 4GB (and I have only 8GB Sandisk cards) What a joke. I finally managed to get a 2nd tier technical guy on the phone who said that Sony does not provide CF drivers and that there is nothing they can do about it..........
Let me first start by asking your forgiveness if I have stuffed this quick little guide in the wrong spot. I spent a rather brief 10 minutes searching this forum, and I don't believe I am repeating a write-up someone has already done that follows this simple method. If I am incorrect, I ask a moderator to please place this post in its proper home. As you can see, I am not an avid poster here, and I really don't want to be slammed for not searching with enough gusto, etc.
Alright, on to the quick 'n easy...
I have a new VGN-AW235J, so proceed with courage and fortitude if our letters don't match. I found this as I was trying various ways to cleanse this beautiful machine of it's bloatware. It worked for me, and that is all I will claim.
This method requires that you create the restore DVDs.
If you don't have a handful of restore DVDs, go do that now and come back...and while you're up, bring a snack.
One more disclaimer: I didn't take the greatest notes while doing this, so my instructions may be sufficiently vague to cause minor trepidation on the part of the reader. With that being said, each step should be fairly obvious while in front of your machine...DVDs in hand..........................
Just a quick guide on how to make a bootable DVD using your Sony Upgrade Discs so you can do a clean install.
1) Insert your upgrade DVD into your DVD Drive and load up "Windows Explorer"
2) Browse to your DVD rom drive and expand it, there should be a bunch of directories, and you should have 2 that are called "Win7OS32" and "Win7OS64".....
I got my laptop but did not do a clean install. I just removed all the bloatware I could think of. Is there a guide to do just that though, get rid of all the stuff that shouldn't be there so that you essentially have a clean install without all the bloat or footprints of it?
I have a valid license for Vista Ultimate 64bit. If I order a Z series with Vista Home 64 (cheapest option), will I have any problems updating it with my Ultimate 64?
In particular.. will I have all the necessary disks to install any Sony software that would normally come with the laptop? (stuff particular to the laptop.. like making everything work.. I don't care about 3rd party junk software like antivirus, works, etc).
I have an Upgrade dvd Vista business to Win 7 that I received for my z790. Finally got around to install Win 7 and seems like I will need to install Vista first to be able to use the upgrade DVD. Any workaround?
My secondary objective is to install new SSD.The way I see it now:
1. Ghost XP on SSD
2. Install Vista on SSD
3. Install Win 7 on SSD
Is there an easier way to do it? Any more pitfalls to avaoid? Thanks!
the only Win 7 key that I have is the upgrade Vista to Win 7. Am I correct that retail/all versions install Win 7 disk will not let me use this key?
I opened up my Z last night and changed the stock HDD to a new WD Scorpio Black 320gb 7200rpm HDD. Aside from some difficulty with one of the screws already having a stripped head, it was a fairly simple process.
I turned the Z back on and installed Vista Home Premium x64 SP1 from the OEM disc that I bought for my custom-built desktop computer (to clarify, this means it's the official MSDN release of Vista x64 SP1 from March '08, w/ no embedded drivers), using the Vista product key under the bottom of my Z. All was well until the install completed and Vista rebooted... it gave me the blue screen of death. I shut down the Z and turned it back on -- same result. Then I started the Z and jumped into the BIOS immediately, took out the Vista install disc, and started -- this time it didn't blue screen and the Vista install completed and successfully booted to the desktop.
I was tired and went to bed at that point before installing any drivers, but I'm concerned that my install may be corrupted and that I should attempt it again (perhaps ensuring that I remove the install disc immediately upon the reboot?). Could the blue screen be an issue associated with my Vista SP1 disc not having the right SATA drivers for the Z? If that's the case, I may have to try to create a new Vista install disc with the drivers slip-streamed in.
Another odd thing was that, when choosing where to install, Vista saw the only partition on the HDD as "Disk 0 Partition 3." The HDD is brand new -- I remember back to when I installed Vista on my desktop and it saw my hard drive as "Disk 0 Partition 1." There was no missing space, it had the 298.9GB that you'd expect for a 320GB drive.
If I buy the windows 7 upgrade (only $49!) do I have to upgrade my vista or can i keep vista and have windows 7 at the same time in a dual-boot situation? Does anyone know if this is allowed?
I downloaded all win 7 drivers, and I'm ready for a clean install of Windows 7 Ultimate 64b on my Vaio. I wonder whether it would be wise to first install the bios upgrade for Win 7, version R4041M3, before I start the OS installation?
Friend recently purchased this new laptop, but it's a bit sluggish. i want to do a clean install, but of course there was no Windows Vista DVD provided. How do i create a copy of the Vista installed on this Acer laptop? Does Acer ERecovery spit out a Windows image or does it copy over all the bloat ware as well? Is it hidden in some folder like Lenovos?
I decided to hold off on upgrading to Windows 7 on my Studio 1555 but I wanted to perform a clean install of Vista. So I popped in the Vista installation disc that came with the computer, partitioned the hard drive, and installed Vista. Now it is up and running but with a few problems. The problems are; (1)the ethernet controller is not recognized, (2)the intergrated camera is not recognized (when I open Webcam Central is says "Please plug in a supported webcam), and (3) the displays that used to show up when using the brightness and volume function keys no longer appears. I installed all of the drivers on the drivers and utilities disc that came with the computer but these problems are still there.
I just got a studio 1737 and want to do a clean Vista 64 Home premium install. I was going to follow Les's guide in the main dell forum but it seems media direct 4.0 will not allow me to boot from the cd.
So I want to boot from Vista and reformat and install the OS.
Which route should I take for my new SXPS 16 - Clean install Vista from scratch along with all the drivers and programs I want or just uninstall the stuff that I don't want?
I want to do a clean Vista install on the above notebook, and if the time comes, restore the setup (OS) to the default config with minimal effort. Read a lot of threads on how to do this, but just need some help/advice on the following.
Currently the HDD partitioned as: 110MB (EISA Config), FAT16 Pri 10GB, RECOVERY (D:), NTFS Pri 136GB, OS (C:), NTFS Pri Act 2.5GB MEDIADIRECT, FAT32
Discs supplied with laptop: Vista Reinstall DVD, Dell Drivers & Utilities, Roxio, Dell MediaDirect
What I want is to do a clean Vista install to the OS (C:) partition (formatting it), but still keep the other partitions in case I have to resell my notebook. My main concern is not being able to restore the factory image back to C .....
why is my installation of vista freezing on the last step? its either freezing or taking a very long time. its been at the last step for about 20 minutes so far. It did this last time i tried to do a clean install with a dell disc without knowing about installing vista on hp machine with a dell disc. but now i have used vlite and made a anytime upgrade disc and took out the tell stuff according to this tut. the green progress bar isn't moving either. at the bottom of the screen where it says the upgrade may take several hours to complete, my screen doesn't have that.
Firstly I apologize if this has been asked earlier, but I couldn't find an answer to my question. I have a 1530 on order. The OS will be Vista Premium x86. There are 2 things I need to do-
1. Upgrade the HD from a 5400 to a 7200, I have the HD.
2. Install Windows Vista Business - I have an original retail version, and I absolutely need this.
I have the Vista Business Retail DVD. What I want to do is have Windows and the dell partitions configured exactly as they came with the original computer, only with Vista Business, and on the new hard disk. I don't want to alter Media Direct, or delete the restoration partition. Everything should be the same except the Windows Versio
I am trying to upgrade to windows 7 with the free windows 7 upgrade kit I have both Cds and i put in the home premium windows 7 cd it starts up and tells me "run-time error 70' permission denied"
my laptop is Fw490jeb
I have noticed that when I try to run "model.txt" it does not show up and when I go to system it does not detect my processer and other things...
How would we go about upgrading the Vista OS to 64 bit? Apparently had no choice of ordering 64 bit when I took advantage of the free vista upgrade from xp professional.
Now I want the 64 bit instead of the 32 bit, but I have the 32 bit CD. Anyway to obtain the 64 Bit CD and use the 32 Bit serial I received with the Vista upgrade CD?
