laysman217 Posted February 7, 2011 Report Share Posted February 7, 2011 Hi All, i was just wondering if it is possible to install windows vista as my OS off a disc instead of windows 7 which is pre-installed on my laptop. my reason is because i cant install my programs which i need for college on my new laptop running windows 7 home premium. to my bitter disappointment i found this out the hard way when i tried to install the programs and they wouldnt work and then found out that they wont work on windows 7 after i bought the laptop. my silly fault i know. anyway if this is possible could you let me know and if you know where i can get windows vista home premium or any version of vista from for reletively cheap let me know also becuase i was looking on the microsoft site and they dont seem to be selling it anymore.Kind regards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digerati Posted February 7, 2011 Report Share Posted February 7, 2011 First, there are not too many things that work on Vista that won't work on Windows 7. Usually the problems are for software written for XP or before. Surely your college supports Windows 7 - they know many of their new students will be coming in with new notebooks preinstalled with Windows 7. I suggest you contact your college IT department and see if they can help. Note that Microsoft offers students Microsoft software at considerable discounts and I am sure if you went to your college bookstore, they could help you select what you need and that would include Vista, if that is the problem. But I think the better solution is to upgrade the programs you need to use to newer versions that will run with Windows 7. So instead of getting Vista, you can get the latest Microsoft Office 2010 Home & Student instead at a decent student discount and legally install it on 3 computers in the same family. Going to Vista will hold you back over the next couple years until you will be forced to upgrade. Moving to Windows 7 will allow you to move forward for several years to come. If you have to spend money anyway, either for Vista, or for new versions of the programs you need, the better investment is going new, rather than old.Consider this too - your computer hardware devices are all currently using, and I assume working fine with Windows 7 drivers. To run Vista, you will need to install Vista drivers. And there are many, even in totally integrated notebooks. Motherboard drivers include drivers for the chipset, sound, graphics, drive interfaces, network interfaces, mouse, keyboard, USB, power management, etc. So you would have to get those drivers from the notebook maker's site and install them. It can all be done, but it will take a lot of time and effort to get the notebook and new operating system setup they way you like, tweaked and ready to go again. A lot more than it would to just upgrade your old programs. Many hours versus a few minutes. Not to mention you risk losing any data you have already saved, unless you keep a current backup handy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laysman217 Posted February 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2011 Hi Digerati,Thanks for the reply. it has helped alot. i need to consider a few things now. thanks for the help and i will be sure to let you know how i get on. thanksRegards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 As a matter of interest to those on here who may be better able to help you than I can, what programs won't run for you. I use several very old programs on Windows 7 which date back to pre XP. I still use Office 2000 for instance. I also use a very old picture browser which I used originally on W 98. Also a very old version of Most popular solitaire, and an even older version of Minesweeper, (I don't like the Microsoft versions). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opensourcejohnny Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 I've personally never heard of an issue going from 7 to Vista, any problems I've heard of was compatibility with XP and back (as stated above). Have you thought of looking into a VM? If you've got a copy of the software for Vista VirtualBox is great VM software. Links VirtualBox if you want to check it out. Hope that helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laysman217 Posted February 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2011 Hi Guys, really sorry about the delay on replying i forgot i actually posted it here too. i also posted this problem withing a different group on this forum.ye i found it strange too that the program would not even install. opensourcejohnny: this is actually what i did end up doing and virtualbox is the VM that i used also i did have an issue with USB connection to the VM but its resolved now also. apologies again for not keeping this thread up to date.Regards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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