Installing Windows 7

Windows 7 Home Premium Family Pack Upgrade – A Great Deal

If you have multiple home computers the Windows 7 Home Premium Family Pack (Staples) for $149 3/pack is a great deal for a 3 computer upgrade resulting in a $50 per computer upgrade.

With multiple computers this 3 pack upgrade, you can upgrade your least used computer and test it.  This allows you to find out what software/hardware may or may not work.  This is similar to my situation where I installed a Dual Boot with XP and Windows 7.

I have found that the Windows 7 is fast and stable on my machine, Core 2 Duo 2.8ghz, 4gig Ram, 512mb Video card, which is newer hardware but average for todays systems.  Moving from Win Xp I have been content with some programs for multiple years, but some compatibility issues have surprised me and some were less surprising.  Outlook 2003 not connecting to my SBS server 2003 Exchange did surprise me especially it all being from Microsoft.  Another one that surprised me was my WS_FTP 2007 which is not that old, but it would also not work in Win 7, but I could upgrade to WS_FTP 12 which would work.  But I am also looking at a Free OpenSource FTP Client (File Zilla).  OpenSource applications, Open Office, and Google Docs are great alternatives to being forced to buy new software all at once for multiple computers if there are compatibility issues.

If you want to run Windows 7 on your PC, here’s what it takes:

• 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
• 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
• 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

Outlook 2003 not connecting to Exchange Server 2003 in Windows 7 64-bit

Outlook 2003 “can’t resolve or connect exchange 2003″. I am using Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, and when I went to reinstall my outlook 2003 it will not connect to the Exchange Server.

I am on a small “Domain” using SBS 2003, and I have connected to the domain and can access the shared drives on the server fine.  When I start to setup my Outlook 2003 to connect to the Exchange Server, I enter the server name and it finds it.  I enter the user name and it resolves the name.  I then “Finish” the setup and it cannot connect to the server.

If anyone has some ideas on how to resolve this, please let me know.  I will also post a solution if/when I find one.

I found in a Microsoft TechNet forum a similar issue:   win 7 64-bit can’t resolve or connect exchange 2003

Windows 7 and XP Dual Boot Installation

Before you Install for a Dual Boot, Backup your XP boot drive just to be safe.  I used Acronis True Image and Created a Recovery Boot CD.

The XP installation is on my C: drive.  I already had a 2nd partition on my drive where I will install Windows 7.  In “My Computer” I labeled the 2nd partition “Win7″.  If you have a 2nd Drive that will also work or you can use partitioning software like Partition Magic to resize a large drive to have 2 smaller partitions.  Make sure the partition is formated as NTFS.  After cleaning off my 2nd partition I make sure the XP install is not using the 2nd partition for Virtual Memory.

Now for the Windows 7 DVD:

I am installing windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit.  Unless you have a good reason to install the 32-bit Windows 7 because of software or hardware compatibility issues, installing the 64-bit version is recommended.

I double check the DVD drive is set in the boot priority before the Hard Drive, Insert the Windows 7 DVD and then Reboot.  Your system should come up with something similar to “Press Any Key to Boot From CD…” and do as directed.

After the first couple of screens booting from the DVD, it seemed to take quite some time without much happening.  I feared a system lockup and rebooted, but the next time I allowed it to just wait it out and then it gave me my options for install.  To setup the Dual Boot, you need to select “Custom Install”, then select the partition you want to install to.  Then I see the “Copying Files” notification and then after a while, it will change to “Installing…”.  I let it do it’s thing and then came back a short time later.

It will ask the normal questions, Time Zone, Time, Date, and then it will ask what kind of network you are connecting to.  Then you get to create a user account.  That’s about it and your in your new Window 7 installation.

You then should be able to reboot and get a boot option for “Windows 7″ which is the default value and “Earlier Windows Version”.  If you don’t make a selection it will boot to Win 7 after about 30 seconds.

What to do Before Installing Windows 7

I will be upgrading to Windows 7 from WinXP.  This is not a true upgrade as Win7 will have to be a clean install and will NOT import setting from my Win XP.

BEFORE INSTALLING:

1. Write down a list of applications to re-install and locate the Software for installation.
2. Backup documents\files to a separate or external drive.
3. Decide where you will install the new OS. (I am installing on a 2nd partition of my drive and Dual Boot)
4. Research applications that you will be re-installing for compatibility issues with Win7. (Older hardware and related software may have problems or may need updated software to be installed in Windows 7)
5. Backup the Boot Directory in case of problems.

Purchasing Windows 7

Background
I am an advanced computer user, but I have stayed away from the release candidates of Windows 7. I have not updated any of my computers at home to Vista and have not regretted that move. I am in the mindset that it’s time to move forward and I am looking to slowly upgrade our computers to Windows 7. I feel that if I stay with XP it will be shortly in a death spiral and hardware or software will be slowly forgetting about trying to be compatible with it.

My main computer had a recent hardware failure so that I was practically forced to upgrade to my Mainboard, processor, memory and video card to acceptable standards for Windows 7. I have a PC with a 2.8ghz Core 2 Duo processor, 4gig Ram (1066), and GeForce 9600 GT w/512mb.

SO…..
It’s Oct. 22 and Windows 7 is now available for purchase. Well it is, but it isn’t where I live. I was looking for the Windows 7 Ultimate upgrade edition. I went to our Local Staples Office Supply store. They did not have “in store” upgrades that would let you upgrade from Windows XP or Vista. They only had upgrades that would let you go from Windows 7 Home to Windows 7 Home Premium Or Ultimate. Maybe they will get some soon.

Since they did not have the regular Windows 7 Ultimate upgrade in the store, I purchased it online from Staples.com. I was told in the store that it would normally be received the next day from the website if ordered before 2pm. When order confirmed the website also suggested that it should be received the next day.