The new Windows Vista operating system is the best ever from Microsoft. Microsoft has built several tools to make it quick and easy to upgrade from Windows XP. There are also tools for system administrators to upgrade hundreds or even thousands of PCs in an automated way. There has been some confusion about the PC system requirements to support Vista. This post will explain the system requirements, tools to help you upgrade, and provide some real life examples of large upgrades.
Can my existing PC handle Windows Vista? - The short answer is YES, if you have a 1 GHz processor, 1 GB of memory, and 15 GB of free disk space. Here is a link to the precise system requirements for various versions of Vista.
Can I upgrade to Windows Vista and transfer all my files? - Windows Easy Transfer is a free utility to help you automatically transfer all your files and folders, email messages, settings and contacts, photos, music, and videos, Program data files and settings, User accounts, Windows settings, and of course your Internet settings. It is all automatic!
OK, What if I have hundreds or thousands of PCs to check? - OK, but what if you are a system administrator for a company and have hundreds, or even thousands, of PCs. How do you inventory all these PCs, examine the system configuration for each one, determine which ones can be upgraded "as is", and which ones might need a memory upgrade? Microsoft has a cool program called Windows Vista Hardware Assessment tool.
The Windows Vista Hardware Assessment tool provides secure, agentless inventory for up to 25,000 computers. It collects and organizes system resource and device information, network wide and remotely, from a single networked computer. The tool generates a summary report for all PCs, and a detailed spreadsheet that lists all kinds of interesting stuff for each individual PC like; CPU model number, graphics card compatibility, available disk drive space, and a list of all software loaded on the PC. You can get more technical details on these tools from the product manager, Baldwin Ng, at his blog.
Listen to this quote from Kathy Lin, IT Manager at Sporton;
Compared to the Windows XP migration two years ago, the tool saved significant time and effort ―We had to check every detail manually last time,‖says Lin. With this tool, we received all of the information we needed in 30 minutes and were able to build a cost-saving plan for upgrading the necessary hardware,‖Lin says. ―We completed this assessment 90 percent faster than the last one.
Sporton had originally planned to purchase 150 brand new PCs・retiring half of its computers. The tool revealed that only 12 percent actually needed to be replaced. ―"We have saved more than U.S.$20,000. We just need to upgrade the memory and hard drives on a few systems. The cost of upgrades is much cheaper than replacing an entire computer."
Sumeeth Evans is IT Manager at Collegiate Housing Services, a company that manages housing facilities for students in 27 cities across the United States. CHS planned to replace all of their 84 computers believing they would not meet the Vista system requirements. Evans ran the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment tool and found that 70% of the computers could run Vista with minor hardware upgrades...a huge savings.
Evans was able to perform the entire inventory centrally from his computer. "Once I got the scan going, I didn’t have to get up from my desk to go to a PC to find out what the hardware specifications were," Evans says. "I never had to physically touch any of those machines." He says the tool’s wizard was easy to use. And the detailed, comprehensive reports were generated in a matter of hours, not days.
In addition, because the inventory was agentless, the tool left no residuals on the inventoried computers. "It doesn’t install code, so that is one less thing to worry about," Evans says. "If there is an agent, you don’t know what it might do."
How do I deploy Windows Vista to all these machines? - Microsoft has two tools to help with software deployment; Microsoft Zero Touch Installation, and Microsoft Lite Touch Installation for environments without SMS. These tools make it simple to deploy Vista to lots of PCs in an automated fashion.
Windows Vista is a great Operating System, more secure than ever before, and easy to upgrade. Try it! I think you will be impressed.
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I have Vista running on my primary desktop computer (my 2nd computer after my laptop), and I think you may be jumping the gun calling Vista the best operating system ever from Microsoft. It will be, but not likely until a couple of service packs from now.
In terms of the Vista desktop experience though it is mostly disappointing because I had already seen much of it on Mac OS and Linux! Hopefully, Microsoft has learned the runaway software product lessons, and has rediscover "release often".
Those large organization deployment features sound wonderful!
Posted by: Lloyd Budd | July 17, 2007 at 05:06 PM