Is there a painless way to upgrade from Win 7 to Win 8?

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I support a small office with a half dozen PC’s all running Win7. The users are not interested or skilled in modifying or customizing the Windows file system or user interface. They are only interested in using the system to get their work done. So my question is: is there/will there be a simple painless way to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8 where all user files/programs remain intact, AND the user interface for Windows 8 is reasonably close to the user interface on Windows 7? And if so, where are the best clear, detailed instructions for how to accomplish this upgrade? What I hope is that I can buy the $40 upgrade, take a CD to each PC and run it, then return an hour later, and Windows 8 is done and working on that PC. Is this a possibility, or is this too much to hope for? Thanks for any comments from persons who have experience with upgrading to Windows 8.

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Supposedly the upgrade process for Win 8 is the best ever. See this threadfor information. Even doing this, I believe you will have to do some customizing for each PC to allow users to get into the Desktop UI. Or perhaps a simple training program. I put together a simple tutorial on Taking the Scary out of this OS.

I would also look through some others of these threads as there is a lot of information on how to use Win 8. The 3 sticky threads contain much of this info.

note: I said supposedly because I have not personally done this.

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I have used the upgrade process (to go from CP to RP) and it was fast and painless.

Even so, you should do a complete backup first, because with millions of people upgrading, it is a virtual certainty that some will go wrong. It also couldn’t hurt to have a UPS to plug the computer into before starting.

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If all your users are happy with Windows 7, then why are you thinking of going to Windows 8?
Mainstream support for Windows 7 will extend until 12 January 2015 and extended support until 14 January 2020.

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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Use of any OS in an work-place environment requires careful planing and preparation. In even a small office there should be a business plan that indicates what the return on investment will be, what the implementation risks are and what mitigating steps have been taken. For a small office, the plan does not need to be a hundred page document: a simple plan indicating to the boss that you have covered all reasonable bases.

OK, so upgrading 6 boxes would only cost $240, but if the upgrade breaks something, that cost could suddenly be 10 or 100 times greater. For example, your current backup strategy may very easily be broken by adopting Windows 8. To fix that would incur additional costs, which might come as a rather unpleasant surprise.

If you feel that Windows 8 offers something that could improve productivity etc, I would buy a spare PC or two, create multiple images, then test various upgrade paths, plus software and hardware compatibility. Based on the results from those tests, you could develop a business plan to upgrade.

There are free 90-day evaluation versions of Windows 8 Enterprise RTM available to the general public for exactly this purpose. Download from MSDN here

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I’m with BATcher if Windows 7 is working and the users aren’t into customizing then why bother going to Windows 8? Is there anything in Windows 8 you specifically need? From what I see in many places it seems like Windows upgrades frequently have problems and rarely work that great. A clean install is really the best choice.
Joe

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2012 09 21
Thanks to everybody for your comments. Here are some of my responses:
My main reason for upgrading to Windows 8 at this time is the relatively low cost and the expectation that upgrading will become necessary at some point in the future anyway, possibly at higher cost then. Might as well do it now and get it over with. I have also been impressed with the reported ease of upgrading, although I haven’t done it myself. It seems that the ease of this upgrade is significantly better from previous ones which were often plagued with problems.

I do have the impression that Windows 8 is somewhat faster and has some other desirable new features, although probably nothing that is essential for our current operations.

I agree with Tinto Tech that something in the upgrade likely won’t work, incurring additional cost, and that Windows 8 backup features are apparently inferior to Windows 7. The extended support termination dates for Windows 7 are another reason to hesitate to upgrade. I have heard of Windows 8 Enterprise RTM, but I’m not familiar with it, and I’m not sure how or whether it is different from the “regular” Windows 8 version, so I hesitate to spend a lot of time trying to figure that out.

So I remain somewhat uncertain about whether upgrading is advisable right now, but I do want upgrading to be as painless and transparent as possible whenever I do have to do it.

Any further comments gratefully received. Thanks !!!!

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Actually, the Win 7 backup features seem better than Win 7. File Historyappears to be an ideal backup feature for automatic data backups. I have heard and read very good comments about it. I have not tried it myself until I actually install Win 8 Pro on our PC’s. File History has been discussed in other threads in the Lounge as well.

The Imaging capabilities of Windows have never been good in my opinion. I much prefer 3rd party apps over Win 7’s Backup and Restore app. I do not know what the Imaging ramifications are in a business scenario.

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Regardless, you should evaluate the product in your environment and decide if it meets your needs – what improvements in productivity, or technical capabilities overcome the outlay in time and material. There are simply too many things in business environment that could affect the decision, it’s impossible for us to accurately advise you on all aspects here.

At present all we know is that you have six PC’s on Windows 7. What I can say though is that given your comment about Windows 7 backup, it sounds like you have a peer-to-peer network running standalone workstations in a workgroup rather than a centrally managed domain joined Server-Client network. That being the case, it does get easier, but there are still lots of things to consider, a sub set of which might include:

Backup – central or client based
Disaster recovery – imaging or local recovery consoles
Power supply protection – UPS hardware and software compatibility
Hardware compliance and compatibility – printers, scanners, faxes, etc…
Physical security – of hardware if you already use a physical solution…
Data security – vpn access, encryption, privacy, etc…
Email clients – IMAP or POP (a big issue in the native email program in Win8), or desktop clients such Outlook, thunderbird etc…
Data migration – you will want to get your business data off a box that is being upgraded and then re-import it. Taking a chance is dangerous.
Legal requirements for data segregation – a possibility, for example in a legal partnership. Local file encryption compatibility if employed should be thought about.

My recommendation remains to get at least one new (or unused) Win 7 machine on your network and run the upgrade evaluation. Only then will you be able to make a rational decision.

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Medico, did you mean that Win *8* backup features seem better than Win 7? I agree that Windows backup features have always been problematic, and it’s a mystery to me why Microsoft can’t get it right. In addition, Dell adds their own backup features to their PC’s which seem to damage the Windows 7 backup features in all of the Windows 7 PC’s that I have bought. But if Win 8 backup is actually better than Win 7, that would be good to know for sure.

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Yes that is exactly what I’m saying. File History is an automatic Backup app included with Win 8 has that gotten great press. I would think for someone with extensive data backup requirements this would be ideal.

The Imaging in Win 8 is no better than Win 7, but data backup does indeed seem to be.

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Since Windows 7 is supported until 2020 you’ll probably replace your PC’s before that.
Joe

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Of interest: A clean installation of Windows 8 does not offer an image backup in its backup utility. However, If you install Widows 8 over an existing Windows 7 installation, not only are all programs, files and settings incorporated into Windows 8, but also the backup options of Windows 7 (including image backup). One wonders if the retail version of Windows 8 will offer this later in October?

My Rig: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core CPU; ASUS Cross Hair VIII Formula Mobo; Win 11 Pro (64 bit)-(UEFI-booted); 32GB RAM; 2TB Corsair Force Series MP600 Pro 2TB PCIe Gen 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD. 1TB SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2 NVME SSD; MSI GeForce RTX 3090 VENTUS 3X 24G OC; Microsoft 365 Home; Condusiv SSDKeeper Professional; Acronis Cyberprotect, VMWare Workstation Pro V17.5. HP 1TB USB SSD External Backup Drive). Dell G-Sync G3223Q 144Hz Monitor.

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I still can not understand that why all users which are happy with Windows 7, are thinking of going to Windows 8? Windows 7 is supported until 2020, so if you do not have any problem then why this switch?

Because Windows 8 is a better Windows 7? Better performance, faster boot times, faster file operations, better OS tools in general terms (Task Manager, for example).

The reason people seem to loath Windows 8 (the UI changes) is, actually, a minor nuisance. This statement is being made by someone working everyday on a laptop running Windows 8 RTM. I think people will be missing out on a great OS because of reasons that can easily be overcome, if they do not upgrade to avoid the UI changes. Plus, the upgrade cost will be just $40, if done before the end of January 2013.

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I have to agree with Rui once again. In addition to the different reasons he mentions you can customize Win 8 so that you will not generally realize you are not on Win 7 and yet gain the various things Rui mentions.

I do not go to the Modern UI very often, but the Free Cell and Mahjong games from the app Store are quite nice. You can remove everything from the Modern UI if your wish. Just leave the Desktop Tile. This will allow you to easily switch to the Desktop UI.

I spend most of my working time on the Desktop and play time on the Modern UI.

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You are welcome.

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Drew,

I applaud your commitment to Windows 8, but would you or any of your staff walk into a business environment and, without any testing or audits, drop a new OS onto all the desktops and “hope” it works?

@rfarmer: there is a key piece of info that you need to be aware of. For previous versions of Windows Microsoft released a standalone Upgrade Advisor which one could run as part of a system wide audit to establish a picture of what applications were compatible or not and what drivers might need updated etc. That tool is not available separately in Windows 8. It is built into the installer. So what you might ask? Well, in order to establish if there are any inconsistencies, incompatibilities or other surprises lurking, you must purchase Windows 8 to find out if it will work with your system. Not good if you have committed to upgrade only then to find there is a problem.

Yes, go ahead and purchase the 6 upgrade licences when they become available, but I strongly advise that you first download the either the Release Preview or the previously linked to 90-day trial licence version of Win8 Enterprise.

No matter how easy the upgrade installation process is, it would not be good news if it breaks something in your business.

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100% agree with your additional comments there Drew.

Have a great day.

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I think that is better to format your pc and then install the windows 8 because you gonna have like e new pc 🙂

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I always recommend a Custom Install as well. Win 8 has been shown to Upgrade better than any other OS to date, but I believe this is somewhat dependent on how good the underlying OS has been before the upgrade. I never wish to take the chance so I Custom Install every time. I feel this gives me a pristine installation.

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Thanks to everybody for all of your comments on my original question. It seems that I learn something from almost every post, along with some additional questions, which I list below for any further comment:
–I had assumed that upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 8 would preserve any previously installed programs, but Drew said “only programs, software have to be reloaded…” Is this correct? do programs previously installed on Windows 7 have to be reinstalled after an upgrade to Windows 8?
–Thanks to Tinto Tech for the additional detail that the Upgrade Advisor is no longer standalone, but a part of the Windows 8 installer. This may create a problem of course. Since each of the PC’s is slightly different, is it somehow possible to run the Upgrade Advisor on all of these PC’s without actually installing Windows 8 to see what incompatibilities might exist on each PC? Or does running the Upgrade Advisor require installing Windows 8 for the Upgrade Advisor to give its results?
–Drew mentions the “Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 7.0.” Is this the same thing or different from the Windows 8 Upgrade Advisor?
–Despite previous discussion, the most recent two comments then recommend a disk format and full (destructive) installation of Windows 8. While it is clearly true that a full installation is better, my question is whether an Upgrade would be “painless” and almost as good. If a full installation is highly recommended or necessary (as was the case with previous Windows versions), then it’s clear that I will NOT do the upgrade since the benefits are not likely to outweigh the hassle of doing the full upgrade.

Thanks again for any continuing comments.

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I had assumed that upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 8 would preserve any previously installed programs, but Drew said “only programs, software have to be reloaded…” Is this correct? do programs previously installed on Windows 7 have to be reinstalled after an upgrade to Windows 8?

Software should not have to be reloaded unless you are upgrading a 32 bit version to a 64 bit version. See: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj203353

Despite previous discussion, the most recent two comments then recommend a disk format and full (destructive) installation of Windows 8. While it is clearly true that a full installation is better, my question is whether an Upgrade would be “painless” and almost as good. If a full installation is highly recommended or necessary (as was the case with previous Windows versions), then it’s clear that I will NOT do the upgrade since the benefits are not likely to outweigh the hassle of doing the full upgrade.

You will find people on both sides of this issue. I believe that it depends on how stable your current installation is and how long its been in existence. If your current installation is stable, you could always try the upgrade install and if it doesn’t turn out to be acceptable, you could then go for a clean install. All you’ve lost is time….

Jerry

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I never had issues doing direct upgrades. The only time I used clean installs was when I moved from 32 to 64 bit, as Jerry pointed out.

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Rfarme
For a start I would upgrade yourown machine and see if you think it makes a worthwhile improvement in productivity and worth the time and effort of doing the others. There are mixed feelings on how much speed improvement there is. Testing on one machine will also show if you have major compatibility problems with existing hardware and software. Personally I’m in the clean install camp past upgrades haven’t worked out that well for a lot of people. Before doing anything I would image each PC before upgrading with good backup software like Acronis True Image
Joe

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If it isn’t broke, don’t try to fix it. Dumb move. If you are worried about increases in Win8 pricing later, but the discs now and put on the shelf, otherwise, ignore Win8 until you find a compelling need for it.

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@ruirib
Faster file operations?
What I saw so far (Release Preview and RTM) was plain old NTFS.

@Rfarmer
What is the business need to update? !!!

Have you already seen a running Win8 system? Have you shown it to your boss and has he liked it? I doubt it. You will have to buy and install something like Start8 from Stardock on every machine to keep the users happy as you describe them.

IF THINGS ARE WORKING SMOOTHLY DO NOT CHANGE!

Your hardware will be obsolete and/or breaking down long before Win7 support ends. AT LEAST wait for the first 6 to 8 months of real world experiences.

The short term relatively cheap update option smells to me like a lure to get us to do what will be good for Micro$oft. Many times it was a rat when I smelled one.

And then, last but not least, there is the history of Micro$oft’s consumer operating systems;

[*]Windows 1, 2 and 3.1 crashing, crashing and not loved
[*]Windows 3.11 usable (with limits)
[*]Windows 95 crashing too often
[*]Windows 98 2nd ed. usable
[*]Windows ME the least loved step child
[*]Windows XP Good (as per SP2)
[*]Windows Vista mostly a bad joke (we were not prepared for the real hardware requirements)
[*]Windows 7 IMHO the best yet (out of the box)
[*]Windows 8 ???

Added that just for kicks; it always was a “bad” one followed by a good one and so on. I trust only God, definitely not Micro$oft. Meaning let the market sort it out.

Frankly spoken, if your company employs six people 600 or 700 dollars difference for a later upgrade should not be a breaking point, IMHO at least.

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@Drew1903
I like your post, what you say makes a lot of sense. We seem to be on the opposite ends of the spectrum but anyway, thanks.

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I would install Win8 as a dual-boot program, until you’re sure you’re happy with it. If you have a desktop, or the rare mega-laptop with 2 HD’s, and keep your OS/programs on 1 drive and your data on another, I would buy a new HD and install Win8, and your programs, on the new HD, and swap them out when & if you want to go from one to another.

I would NOT go to Win8 by upgrade until the very end of the opportunity period, until there’s a base of users out there with some initial experience with the OS. Make sure it’s not “Vista II”, and that using the OS fits better- or at least as well- with your daily user experience than Win7 which, as others have noted, will be supported until 2020, and which seems, at this time, to be better optimized for the keyboard/mouse user. Even if you do, backup-backup-backup (yes, 3 diffeerent modes, in case one corrupts) so you can go back to Win7 if you become disenchanted with Win8.

Also, if going with Win8 eventually, why not wait and get a new device optimized for this radically-different OS, such as Windows Surface, or the new laptop designs coming out with either rotatable or detachable touchscreens? (Assuming you have the money to make this an affordable option.)

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P.S.- I realize my post was focused on the individual user, not the small business with multipe computers/workstations. Still, I would wait to install Win8 until there’s real-world experience with this OS to reference, and the triple backup before upgrade would still hold.

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@eikelein,

The speed of file operations are not dependent on the file system alone. Have you tried file copying or file deletion comparisons with Windows 7? My experience is that those operations are faster on 8.

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The speed of file operations are not dependent on the file system alone. Have you tried file copying or file deletion comparisons with Windows 7? My experience is that those operations are faster on 8.

No, I have not yet Rui. I had two separate systems where I replaced broken/bad HDD and re-installed the original Vista systems because I want to get the “cheap” upgrade version. So currently I don’t even have a working Win8 system anymore.

But I will certainly do that, it is on my Win8 To Do list; and it will happen on the same machine, my current “production” system with Win7 64-bit via dual boot.

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No, I have not yet Rui. I had two separate systems where I replaced broken/bad HDD and re-installed the original Vista systems because I want to get the “cheap” upgrade version. So currently I don’t even have a working Win8 system anymore.

But I will certainly do that, it is on my Win8 To Do list; and it will happen on the same machine, my current “production” system with Win7 64-bit via dual boot.

Ok, Eike, then you should really give a try.

I think Microsoft could have made life easier for its users and itself regarding UI changes. It’s a shame that a decision like that of removing the Start button, bringing nothing in terms of advantages, has already been so disadvantageous in terms of public perception of the new OS. If you forget the new Metro interface, the underlying OS is the best and fastest Microsoft has done. Regarding file operations, I am still using Teracopy on 7, which is quite more useful, efficient and informative than Windows Explorer, and I haven’t really missed it on 8 (haven’t installed it yet).

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I have three high end desktops win 7 max RAM 2 TB drives etc, one laptop Crucial M4 SSD 8 GB RAM Win 8 RTM/Win 7, one XP netbook, a Galaxy Tab original 10.1 and a Galaxy smartphone. I mention those last because they are getting sold and replaced by a Windows 8 tablet not necessarily the surface and a Win 8 phone ( yes I know we refer to the mobile version as RT)

I bought my Lenovo quad i5 in March so it did not qualify for the 14.99 either.

I am just answering the first question another way. What I do is do images and keep clones so I have at least two drives for each computer, and two 1 TB drives for the everyday/week back up duties on the two hard docks. I have smaller 500 GB drives and one 320 in the desktop 3.5 size, and one 500 GB laptop mechanical drive that came with it, and one 128GB SSD M4 that is now in it with Win 8.

MY way of doing it all right is simple. Right now every month for Windows updates I take the anti-static pouch with the setup with all apps and data 500 GB mechanical laptop drive out, and after I update the SSD with Windows 8 on it, I remove the battery and swap drives, then update my 500 GB Win 7 mechanical drive and do all the flash/Java/MSE/Foxit etc updates needed for it. Then swap back to the SSD with Win 8 Preview and update that throughout the month.

I already have enough drives to make sure I am happy with Win 8 on all my systems and will make images of about 56GB each of the clone disks, and use them for the clean Windows 8 install. That gives me a hard drive for each with my old Windows 7 and all apps made for each machine and hardware set, and a separate Hard drive with Windows 8 for each machine with all the same apps and docs on it for each machine. This eliminates any flaw from taking each machine down from dual boot issues, application incompatibility, etc. It takes less than a minute to R&R the laptop drive, and an extra minute to disconnect the desktops and do their drives. All licenses are good because there will never be two copies on any machine any time just the legally licensed ones for each of my machines.

I can switch back any time, and after a few cycles will determine when I can stop doing updates for both and use 8 exclusively, at which time the Windows 7 drives that are set up will be put up to be used in an emergency if I have the hard drive fail. I can go back to Windows 8,and do a month three months or a year or two of Win 7 updates and use the drive.

I am waiting for the cost of SSDs to come down this time next year and will then pick up a 256 or thereabouts size drive for the laptop and all the desktops, and retire the large drives to data backup duties and images and storage. Music and videos are shared on a 2 TB external drive hooked up to the Linksys 3000 dual band router as a mini NAS device. If I exceed that much music and data for my home network then I will add a four tier hard drive NAS with four bays and put the 1 TB drive in, then add 3 TB drives as needed starting with one. I will use them in normal mode not RAID as they will have clones made every so often too.

I have found that regardless of preferences on image software I use Win 7 imaging and restore and have done restores already easily, I used Acronis and Ghost years ago, and have no issues with folks that prefer them, and also like some of the free software out there. Whatever works for you is what you need to use. I have to just bite my tongue when folks say Windows imaging does not work and easily. Their Win 7 data back up is not used by me and I dislike it. I simply answer that I image with it, I have restored two of my systems with it, one several times, and used to do images and restores to/from windows 8 and to from Windows Vista on my old laptop using Acronis TI 10 which worked on VISTA with a new boot disk from a trial for hardware support on my old laptop before I started experimenting with SSDs and swapping drives with systems on them already on my new laptop.

I have found that many people will always recommend what they use as they know it and can help with it. Some here swear by Acronis and swear at Win 7 imaging yet I use it fine. I don’t care what programs my folks I support informally (One Pawn shop and family friends, I am retired) use, as long as they use something. I keep images of their systems here from their last visit. They have to sit through the cleaning or repair or pay. If it takes me 8 hours we have a nice 8 hour visit. If they don’t have the time I don’t for free either. I am not codependent and that is fair and how I keep them from taking advantage and also disregarding their security at home.

Were I you RFarmer, I would do a system now with RTM preview, or whatever the current Win 8 free one is. Load all your software on it and see what it takes for them all to play nice with your server. Then get used to them. I would also try the programs that boot straight into Windows and restore the start button which I am not doing. See how they play with your hardware and software environment. Then do the same as soon as the full Win 8 is available to you before you commit the company money.

Then no dual boot, software/server, or other issues will bite you unexpectedly. It has to run in the hardware and user environment so I would test it that way.

I had about the same number of machines to support but I had a server, and only because the owner wanted it. I was second in command there so I still set up each workstation as a standalone with redundancies in the servers with Acronis enterprise to do the images, safe partitions and still did the old fashioned removable daily server hard drive data swaps.

My point here is that with a minimal expense for extra hard drives for each, about 50 bucks per machine, you can have some users using 7 and some 8, but as we know in the end all will be using 8 because of the apps. Google and Windows 8 are compatible. Even though I will no longer let Google spyware on any of my machines as soon as I get Windows RT or 8 tablets and phones, some folks will straddle two or three ecospheres (Windows/OSX/iOS/Android) and that is fine with me. They run what they pay for and I run what I pay for. Google sells advertising mainly, Apple and MS sell products for money not our private data. I hope they provide ecospheres that are even better then Android for their respective users, tighten up security of our data so I can not have Google and the next can have Google. TANSTAAFL applies today as it did before, I prefer to pay in dollars if I can.
:^_^:

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Rfarmer – have you read these useful Wikipedia articles?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_8
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Features_new_to_Windows_8
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_features_removed_in_Windows_8

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I find Windows 8 faster than 7 IE 10 nice, and no need for the third party mods except for the one that boots directly into desktop. But that is only because I don’t use apps now. Later that will change I am sure once I get a Win 8/RT tablet and phone.

I have three high end desktops win 7 max RAM 2 TB drives etc, one laptop Crucial M4 SSD 8 GB RAM Win 8 RTM/Win 7, one XP netbook, a Galaxy Tab original 10.1 and a Galaxy smartphone. I mention those last because they are getting sold and replaced by a Windows 8 tablet not necessarily the surface and a Win 8 phone ( yes I know we refer to the mobile version as RT)

I bought my Lenovo quad i5 in March so it did not qualify for the 14.99 either.

I am just answering Rfarmer’s first question another way.

What I do is do images and keep clones so I have at least two drives for each computer, and two 1 TB drives for the everyday/week back up duties on the two hard docks. I have smaller 500 GB drives and one 320 in the desktop 3.5 size, and one 500 GB laptop mechanical drive that came with it, and one 128GB SSD M4 that is now in it with Win 8.

MY way of doing it all right is simple. Right now every month for Windows updates I take the anti-static pouch with the setup with all apps and data 500 GB mechanical laptop drive out, and after I update the SSD with Windows 8 on it, I remove the battery and swap drives, then update my 500 GB Win 7 mechanical drive and do all the flash/Java/MSE/Foxit etc updates needed for it. Then swap back to the SSD with Win 8 Preview and update that throughout the month.

I already have enough drives to make sure I am happy with Win 8 on all my systems and will make images of about 56GB each of the clone disks, and use them for the clean Windows 8 install. That gives me a hard drive for each with my old Windows 7 and all apps made for each machine and hardware set, and a separate Hard drive with Windows 8 for each machine with all the same apps and docs on it for each machine. This eliminates any flaw from taking each machine down from dual boot issues, application incompatibility, etc. It takes less than a minute to R&R the laptop drive, and an extra minute to disconnect the desktops and do their drives. All licenses are good because there will never be two copies on any machine any time just the legally licensed ones for each of my machines.

I can switch back any time, and after a few cycles will determine when I can stop doing updates for both and use 8 exclusively, at which time the Windows 7 drives that are set up will be put up to be used in an emergency if I have the hard drive fail. I can go back to Windows 8,and do a month three months or a year or two of Win 7 updates and use the drive.

I am waiting for the cost of SSDs to come down this time next year and will then pick up a 256 or thereabouts size drive for the laptop and all the desktops, and retire the large drives to data backup duties and images and storage. Music and videos are shared on a 2 TB external drive hooked up to the Linksys 3000 dual band router as a mini NAS device. If I exceed that much music and data for my home network then I will add a four tier hard drive NAS with four bays and put the 1 TB drive in, then add 3 TB drives as needed starting with one. I will use them in normal mode not RAID as they will have clones made every so often too.

I have found that regardless of preferences on image software I use Win 7 imaging and restore and have done restores already easily, I used Acronis and Ghost years ago, and have no issues with folks that prefer them, and also like some of the free software out there. Whatever works for you is what you need to use. I have to just bite my tongue when folks say Windows imaging does not work and easily. Their Win 7 data back up is not used by me and I dislike it. I simply answer that I image with it, I have restored two of my systems with it, one several times, and used to do images and restores to/from windows 8 and to from Windows Vista on my old laptop using Acronis TI 10 which worked on VISTA with a new boot disk from a trial for hardware support on my old laptop before I started experimenting with SSDs and swapping drives with systems on them already on my new laptop.

I have found that many people will always recommend what they use as they know it and can help with it. Some here swear by Acronis and swear at Win 7 imaging yet I use it fine. I don’t care what programs my folks I support informally (One Pawn shop and family friends, I am retired) use, as long as they use something. I keep images of their systems here from their last visit. They have to sit through the cleaning or repair or pay. If it takes me 8 hours we have a nice 8 hour visit. If they don’t have the time I don’t for free either. I am not codependent and that is fair and how I keep them from taking advantage and also disregarding their security at home.

Were I you RFarmer, I would do a system now with RTM preview, or whatever the current Win 8 free one is. Load all your software on it and see what it takes for them all to play nice with your server. Then get used to them. I would also try the programs that boot straight into Windows and restore the start button which I am not doing. See how they play with your hardware and software environment. Then do the same as soon as the full Win 8 is available to you before you commit the company money.

Then no dual boot, software/server, or other issues will bite you unexpectedly. It has to run in the hardware and user environment so I would test it that way.

I had about the same number of machines to support but I had a server, and only because the owner wanted it. I was second in command there so I still set up each workstation as a standalone with redundancies in the servers with Acronis enterprise to do the images, safe partitions and still did the old fashioned removable daily server hard drive data swaps.

My point here is that with a minimal expense for extra hard drives for each, about 50 bucks per machine, you can have some users using 7 and some 8, but as we know in the end all will be using 8 because of the apps. Google and Windows 8 are compatible. Even though I will no longer let Google spyware on any of my machines as soon as I get Windows RT or 8 tablets and phones, some folks will straddle two or three ecospheres (Windows/OSX/iOS/Android) and that is fine with me. They run what they pay for and I run what I pay for. Google sells advertising mainly, Apple and MS sell products for money not our private data. I hope they provide ecospheres that are even better then Android for their respective users, tighten up security of our data so I can not have Google and the next can have Google. TANSTAAFL applies today as it did before, I prefer to pay in dollars if I can.
:^_^:

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I bought a complete Laptop that was Windows 7 capable. The laptop has an Intel T2400, 2 Gigs of RAM, a 120 Gig SATA drive a 14″ 1024 X 768 LCD display, DVD player, wireless adapter, 10/1000 Wired adapter 56 K Modem, Touchpad, 2 hour battery and charger. My total cost less than $200.00. I have installed every release so far of Windows 8 and customized it until I was happy with that release. I wiped the drive and installed the next release when it became available. That way, I did not loose anything and I know EXACTLY what I will do when Windows 8 becomes available.

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The more it’s installed from scratch, the easier and quicker the install goes. I make a notation of the steps and apps, customizations so I do not forget anything. It seems Win 8 is so much easier installation than others, and I have used them all from 3.1. When I was using Win 7 DP, it was only part time. DP was pretty rough. When I installed Win 8 CP, I spent almost full time, and with Win 8 RP and now the Ent Eval, 100%. I have made a final Image of Win 7. I am counting the days until Oct. 26th. I expect to be able to finish 2 installations of Win 8 Pro, complete with Images in less than a day. Both PC’s are presently using Win 8 Ent. Eval.

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@ruirib and
@Drew1903

You guys and many others know your ways around your computer(s) and Windows.

I mostly deal with self-proclaimed “computer illiterate” home users. I can’t wait for the first reactions from that crowd. Resistance to change (in all areas of life!) is one of their major common denominators.

Maybe there is a chance for “teaching” some basic, basic paid classes?

Some questions re. only two examples, first Solitaire and the Automatic Updates:

[*]For Solitaire a 100MB download? PLEEEAAASE!
[*]Where is the option to turn off the eye candy animations?
[*]Where is the option to turn off the noise of the sound effects? In Metro there is no easy access to the loudspeaker icon in the task bar…
[*]What is the technical advantage to force the user into full screen mode if you want to play a Solitaire while a big update runs and you feel you better keep an eye on the Windows Update window?
[*]I am still searching for an option to bring back the Automatic Update notification in the task bar.

I know, this all is only my thing; I am really curious for how my customers will react. I figure we are heading for interesting times.

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•Where is the option to turn off the eye candy animations?

Same place its always been:
Windows key + Pause Break
Advanced System Settings
Advanced tab
settings button under Performance.

•Where is the option to turn off the noise of the sound effects? In Metro there is no easy access to the loudspeaker icon in the task bar

Windows key + c to open Charms bar
Click on Settings
Click on the speaker icon

See how much simpler this is than clicking on the speaker icon in Windows 7 :rolleyes:

Jerry

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New operating systems always bring change. Windows 8 is a big change, there is no denying. The issue is whether the change makes it worthy to upgrade or not and the reply to that will vary. Probably, for less experienced users, who are happy with Windows 7, there is no reason to upgrade. Many users are happy with what they have. My wife still uses Vista on her laptop and I haven’t even considered putting 7 there, lest I am blamed for anything going wrong :).

About your issues, some of them are just changes that you will have to accept. I like that I get notified of available updates at the logon screen and I have started to logon much more often, as cold reboots are so much faster now. The update icon can still be found at the usual place when you are updating (I don’t have automatic updates enabled, I rather be informed and choose to update when I want). I find the overall scheme a bit less intrusive, in 8.

I understand preferences regarding metro apps. I quite like the pdf reader app, probably the one I use the most. Metro apps being full screen is just a new thing. Guess we’ll adapt.

Metro is a big change and we’re seeing version 1.0. I bet things will change a lot in the future. The new Metro UI will mature and I am sure some of our annoyances will be less so with time and some will be solved by changes in the OS.

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I think perhaps when asking about “eye candy” you are talking the stuff that happens when a game is over. I have also found that annoying, but have found no way of turning it off.

For the sound effects, while the Solitaire main screen is open, Use the Charms Bar, Settings, Game Options. Turn the sound off or down there.
(To open Charms, place your cursor in the upper or lower right corner and slide along the right edge of the screen, or simply use Win key + C)

I do not hear these sound affects because my PC is generally muted.

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Anyway, there is a really quick, easy simple way to deal w/ the Speaker & w/out going to Charms Bar. Right on the Taskbar itself, near the time & date is a wee arrow…when you click on it you get “Show Hidden Icons”, one of which is the Speaker.

In Metro? :confused:

Where is the option to turn off the noise of the sound effects? In Metro there is no easy access to the loudspeaker icon in the task bar…

Bruce

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Metro??? Meaning Modern UI or something more specific??… maybe we are talking about 2 different things. Please forgive if I’ve misunderstood & gone barking up the wrong tree.

Well, not the Paris underground.

Someone had said find the Speaker icon in Settings of the Charms Bar. To which I said, don’t have to bother going there since it’s in the Show Hidden Icons (arrow) on the Desktop Taskbar. Takes less than going into the Charms Bar. And, basically where it’s always been.

The question was about metro not desktop.

Bruce

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Not being a smart-ass but, it is (now) called Modern UI.

Do keep up. That was last month. This month it’s “Windows Store App Space”:

‘Metro-style’ apps are now to be known as ‘Windows Store’ apps
“So, is “modern” Microsoft’s new substitute for Metro? Nope.”

Next month: TIFKAM (The Interface Formerly Known As Metro)

Bruce

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I’ll just start saying “that other UI”. So now we have Desktop UI and “that other UI”. My fingers are going to get sore typing that.

Come on MS settle on one thing for all our sanities!

So is it Modern UI and Windows Store Apps, or Windows Store Apps Space and Windows Store Apps. I can’t keep up. This is the only part of Win 8 that is confusing and terrible to me.

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I Like Bruce’s suggestion best:
“TIFKAM (The Interface Formerly Known As Metro) ”

Jerry

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For anyone who might still be interested:

My tentative decision is to go ahead and upgrade from Win 7 to Win 8 on the systems I support for the following reasons:
1. The Storage Spaces feature promises to simplify backups (although I’m still not quite sure how it works, but I’ll start another thread to ask about that, if necessary).

2. The additional promised speed is positive, but not persuasive by itself.

3. The (formerly known as) Metro interface is a negative feature but apparently can be avoided without too much trouble.

4. The low upgrade price is attractive.

5. The upgrade process itself from Win 7 to Win 8 does seem to be mostly painless, at least in simple situations.

So thanks again for all the helpful comments. (and any additional thoughts still welcome.)

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@Rfarmer: Have your users expressed any opinions regarding Win8?

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John259: No, my users are not technologically aware of Windows 8, nor of whatever differences/advantages may exist between Windows 8 and windows 7. They trust my judgement, which is why I am trying to make sure myself of what to expect.

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John259: No, my users are not technologically aware of Windows 8, nor of whatever differences/advantages may exist between Windows 8 and windows 7. They trust my judgement, which is why I am trying to make sure myself of what to expect.

Fair enough. So IMHO as part of your assessment you will need to judge how much training they will require, how much productivity will be lost before they become confident with the new setup, and the consequent costs to your company. Of course, you might well conclude that all of these figures are zero.

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I would recommend a simple tutorialthat might be all you need to get past the Win 8 shock when they first turn on the PC. As far as customized training for your particular needs, IMO when working on the desktop there is little or no difference in the looks and feel of Win 8 over Win 7, assuming spending about a half hour of time to customize the OS. I might also recommend hiding the Charms Bar.

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If a person was paying attention, when they went to the MS site to download the desired version of Windows 8…..just about one inch lower on their screen was the Official Product Activation Key printed plainly on the screen. For goodness sake…Write it down!
What could be any simpler?

Windows 8 is not an upgrade version of Windows. It’s a completely NEW OS, that will wipe out any OS that it’s loaded over.
Plainly, there is NO Upgrade to Windows 8. People who have no clue as to what Beta Testing is all about, should not be messing around with Windows 8 at all.

😎

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Windows 8 is not an upgrade version of Windows. It’s a completely NEW OS, that will wipe out any OS that it’s loaded over.
Plainly, there is NO Upgrade to Windows 8.

The $40 upgrade asked about in post #1 will be available in less than two weeks.

Bruce

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This thread should be cross-referenced to this Lounge thread.

Pay close attention to the articles I reference there, as these do include useful information about Final Release Versions and licensing terms.

For a business or network deployment where Volume Licensing does not apply, I would upgrade only one machine first, making sure to have both System Image and Data Backups for that machine. Then decide if the process went well enough to deploy over the remaining machines or network.

For your employees, not only a tutorial, but access to Woody Leonhard’s For Dummies book might be a great help. One copy might not be enough for the entire office.

Even for a half-dozen networked computers, this upgrade could present considerable support issues early on. Especially if you move up to using Storage Spaces with Thin Provisioning. That’s a whole other tutorial.

-- rc primak

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There is likely no “need” to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8, unless you have been hypnotized by the Microsoft pied piper.

Many have been; I can tell from their responses when I say something like the above:

“You have to keep up with the times.” — Why? And who determines what is required by the “times”?

“You just have to put up with whatever hassle is involved.” — Not me!

However, if you “want” to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8, the easy way to do it is as follows: as you purchase new PCs, get them with Windows 8. Then, when most of the company is on Windows 8, begin to replace the older, Windows 7, PCs with Windows 8 PCs.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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