Switching Dell Optiplex 360 from xp to vista

[ydono]

Hi. I have a Dell Optiplex 360 that came loaded with xp and vista. It also came with a windows 7 upgrade dvd.

I opted for xp and it has been running on xp. I need to upgrade to vista for obvious reasons. As mentioned, it is already installed on the computer but I have no clue how to go about switching the computer over from xp to vista. Can someone walk me through this or provide a link to a support article that has step by step instructions.

If possible, including how and what to backup first so I don't loose emails, favorites, docs, etc. that would be great too.

thanks!

 

[Laquer Head]

Hi. I have a Dell Optiplex 360 that came loaded with xp and vista. It also came with a windows 7 upgrade dvd.

I opted for xp and it has been running on xp. I need to upgrade to vista for obvious reasons. As mentioned, it is already installed on the computer but I have no clue how to go about switching the computer over from xp to vista. Can someone walk me through this or provide a link to a support article that has step by step instructions.

If possible, including how and what to backup first so I don't loose emails, favorites, docs, etc. that would be great too.

thanks!

Obvious reason to switch to Vista..??

One dead OS to another dead OS with an option to upgrade to another soon to be dead OS??

 

[ydono]

Yeah, I have to upgrade so that I can run a variety of softwares that are no longer working with xp. for now, vista will work. turbo tax needs vista. once I get my taxes filed I will then upgrade to windows 7 (cause I have the cd and it is free). it should buy me some time.

 

[Laquer Head]

Yeah, I have to upgrade so that I can run a variety of softwares that are no longer working with xp. for now, vista will work. turbo tax needs vista. once I get my taxes filed I will then upgrade to windows 7 (cause I have the cd and it is free). it should buy me some time.

Fair enough if they are software specific things, but Turbo Tax doesn't need or require Vista, works on 7, 8, 8.1, & 10

I would go right to 7, and then take advantage of the free upgrade to Windows 10

 

[Okedokey]

^ This.

 

[ydono]

the provided dvd for windows 7 will only work from vista so I need to get my computer to vista first. does anyone know how to do this? both xp and vista are preloaded. how do i switch over to vista?

 

[Okedokey]

Boot to the Windows 7 dvd and upgrade via the install options.

 

[ydono]

the windows 7 dvd and upgrade is made to work from vista but I am currently using the computer in xp mode. so, wouldn't I need to switch the computer into vista mode first?

 

[johnb35]

Are you saying you have a dual boot so that you can either boot to xp or vista? How many hard drives are in the system? Can't you boot to vista and insert the windows 7 upgrade dvd and run the upgrade?

 

[ydono]

I do not know if it is a dual boot but I do know it came loaded with both xp and vista. I can try to simply boot to vista and see if that works. how do I do that?

sorry, please tell me how to check and see how many drives are on the computer so I can answer that portion of your question. thank you for your time.

i did look under computer - advanced settings - startup and recovery. Under default operating system, the only option is xp. but, as mentioned, it did come with vista also loaded. I also have a vista reinstall cd but it says right on the cd that vista is already loaded on the computer.

 

[johnb35]

So how do you know that you have both XP and Vista on the machine? Usually that means a dual boot scenario. When you turn the computer on, do you get a menu asking which OS you want to boot to?

 

[johnb35]

I also have a vista reinstall cd but it says right on the cd that vista is already loaded on the computer.

Just because it says that doesn't mean it is. Do you know how to access disk management? disk management will show us what drives and partitions you have.

 

[ydono]

there are two partitions. one says OS (C) NTFS hEALTHY (System) and the other is blank to the right of the icon, is a FAT file system and says Healthy (EISA configuration)

 

[johnb35]

Then you only have 1 OS installed. Use the windows 7 dvd to upgrade from XP. You'll have to backup any data you need because you will need to format the drive and install 7 fresh as you really can't keep any existing files or programs going from XP to 7. Then after the upgrade, get the free windows 10.

However, what are your system specs? What processor do you have and how much ram is installed? If you don't have decent enough specs, there is no sense in upgrading because it will run like crap.

 

[ydono]

doesn't it matter that on the windows 7 dvd it says: "windows 7 upgrade from vista"? it doesn't need to be upgraded to vista first?

 

[beers]

Alternatively you can import any previous TurboTax return into their cloud product, completely alleviating any of these dependencies.

it doesn't need to be upgraded to vista first?

No. It was the same even back to Windows 98 upgrade edition where you can just have the previous OS CD.

You can also do a fresh install and edit a registry value for the upgrade version to not complain about the upgrade here:
http://winsupersite.com/article/windows-7/clean-install-windows-7-with-upgrade-media-128512

 

[ydono]

owever, what are your system specs? What processor do you have and how much ram is installed? If you don't have decent enough specs, there is no sense in upgrading because it will run like crap.

Intel(R) Core (TM)2 duo CPU
E7500 @2.93GHz
2.93GHz, 2.98GB of RAM

good enough for 7?

 

[johnb35]

The machine only supports up to 4gb ram. Minimum these days is 4gb. What do you plan on using this machine for?

 

[ydono]

The machine only supports up to 4gb ram. Minimum these days is 4gb. What do you plan on using this machine for?

internet, microsoft word and excel, some photoshop,email - nothing too big

my word and excel are 2007

 

[johnb35]

You should be fine then. I'm sure you have a 2gb and a 1gb stick of ram installed. You would have to remove the 1gb stick and put in a 2gb stick of the same speed that is already installed. Maxing the ram out would help some.