[judenihal]

In my computer, ALL my devices are Vista compatible, but they are not Windows 7 Compatible since Microsoft made a dumb desision with releasing an Operating System 2 years from when they released a new operating system.

Now, to the question. Since all my drivers will work perfectly in Windows Vista, would it be better for me to install Windows Vista SP2 on my computer, install ALL the software and drivers for my PC, THEN upgrade to Windows 7?

If Vista and Windows 7 is the same, it shouldn't downgrade performance rather than clean install, shouldn't it?

I am currently running XP right now and I feel that upgrading might be a good option for me. Or, should I just stick with Windows XP and maybe install Windows XP 64 bit if I want a 64 bit operating system?

 

[TwoCables]

Quote:

Originally Posted by judenihal In my computer, ALL my devices are Vista compatible, but they are not Windows 7 Compatible since Microsoft made a dumb desision with releasing an Operating System 2 years from when they released a new operating system. Now, to the question. Since all my drivers will work perfectly in Windows Vista, would it be better for me to install Windows Vista SP2 on my computer, install ALL the software and drivers for my PC, THEN upgrade to Windows 7? If Vista and Windows 7 is the same, it shouldn't downgrade performance rather than clean install, shouldn't it? I am currently running XP right now and I feel that upgrading might be a good option for me. Or, should I just stick with Windows XP and maybe install Windows XP 64 bit if I want a 64 bit operating system?

I went straight from XP to Windows 7 with a fresh, clean install (beginning with a reformat) using the Upgrade version. Everything works absolutely perfectly in Windows 7. I have no compatibility issues.

Oh, and my motherboard was manufactured in November of 2006.

Therefore, I recommend that you go straight to Windows 7 as well.

 

[judenihal]

Hmm.... I have X Fi Elite Pro. Will that sound card work in Windows 7?

 

[TwoCables]

Quote:

Originally Posted by judenihal Hmm.... I have X Fi Elite Pro. Will that sound card work in Windows 7?

Check out my sig rig. I have absolutely no compatibility issues. I went straight from 32-bit XP to 64-bit 7 with this system.

But just for the sake of getting started, here's the X-Fi driver straight from Creative's support website:

http://ccftp.creative.com/manualdn/D..._2_18_0013.exe

Here are the details about this driver:

Quote:

Release date : 26 Jun 09 This download is a driver providing Microsoft® Windows® 7, Windows Vista® and Windows XP support for Creative Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ series of audio devices. For more details, read the rest of this web release note. File Name : SBXF_PCDRV_LB_2_18_0013.exe This download is a driver providing Microsoft® Windows® 7, Windows Vista® and Windows XP support for Creative Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ series of audio devices. For more details, read the rest of this web release note. This download supports the following audio devices only: Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty® Professional Series Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty Champion Series Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro Sound Blaster X-Fi Added Features or Enhancements: For systems using Windows 7 or Windows Vista What U Hear feature is enabled. To find out the Product ID of your audio device and if it supports the following feature in Windows XP, click here. Dolby® Digital and DTS® decode re-established for sound cards that included decoding in their Windows XP drivers (Not applicable for products that included a 3rd party software DVD player license in the package). Requirements: Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit, Windows 7 32-bit, Windows Vista 64-bit with Service Pack 1 (SP1), Windows Vista 32-bit with SP1, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE) 2005 or Windows XP MCE 2004 Sound Blaster X-Fi audio devices listed above Notes: Do not install this driver for Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio. To install this driver Download the SBXF_PCDRV_LB_2_18_0013.exe file onto your local hard disk. Double-click the downloaded file. Follow the instructions on the screen.

However, I recommend using Daniel_K's X-Fi Support Pack 2.0 since it does provide a slightly better sound quality.

http://www.filefront.com/thankyou.ph...738f76c6b8bf31

As long as you download the drivers that say they are designed for the 64-bit version of Windows 7, then you should have absolutely no problems. Like I said, my motherboard is 3½ years old, and it works perfectly with the 64-bit version of Windows 7.

So again, I recommend that you go straight to Windows 7 just like I did.

 

[chinesethunda]

my old computer at home was bought in 2004 and it had xp 32 bit and i just installed w7 on it a fresh install with a msdn copy of windows 7 and it works just fine, this is a old stock computer and i was able to run w7. i suggest finding the drivers and then install w7 and then see what drivers you need to install because some may not even need drivers.

 

[TwoCables]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chinesethunda my old computer at home was bought in 2004 and it had xp 32 bit and i just installed w7 on it a fresh install with a msdn copy of windows 7 and it works just fine, this is a old stock computer and i was able to run w7. i suggest finding the drivers and then install w7 and then see what drivers you need to install because some may not even need drivers.

This is true. When I installed 7, it recognized my entire system and caused it to work "right out of the box", so to speak. It perfectly recognized my entire motherboard, my graphics card, my monitor, my sound card, my mouse, my keyboard, my printer - everything. My system worked right away just like it does after I install all of the right drivers after a fresh installation of XP.

But I still made sure that I installed the drivers that I wanted to use - especially the official driver/software packages for both my graphics and sound cards. That way I could have the manufacturer's control panels.

Every time I would install XP, I'd start with a 640x480 resolution and 100% generic drivers for everything - except for the sound card (no generic driver for it). It didn't know the name of my motherboard, my graphics card or my monitor (or anything, really). I couldn't even access the internet until I installed my motherboard's drivers because I use its onboard Ethernet ports. But after the fresh installation of Windows 7, I even had full internet access in addition to my native resolution of 1680x1050. It really threw me off!

So yeah: I think that it's very unlikely that you will have compatibility problems.

 

[chinesethunda]

yeah i have found that w7 is really good with the compatibility stuff, i have yet to run into any issues with the several computers i have w7 on, from really old like aforementioned to my newer laptop

 

[judenihal]

Okay about the sound card, I want to use my original Vista driver CD. I don't want to install a Web Driver since all the extra software won't be installed. Is there like a way of getting a Windows 7 Installation CD or something?

 

[SimpleTech]

Quote:

Originally Posted by judenihal Okay about the sound card, I want to use my original Vista driver CD. I don't want to install a Web Driver since all the extra software won't be installed. Is there like a way of getting a Windows 7 Installation CD or something?

Um, you can get the driver off of the Creative website. It doesn't install any other software other than the driver itself.

 

[Mr. Mojo]

I'd just go to the manufacturer's site for each component and dl the latest Win 7 drivers.

FWIW, I did an upgrade install from Vista Ultimate x64 to Win 7 x64 on my sig rig, and it had no problems with software or hardware. Later on I formatted and did a clean Win 7 install, but it was not due to a compatibility error, I just needed to "clean house".

 

[ricsim78]

Clean install is better and highly recommended. Yes, it is a pain to go through all of it, but you end up with a much cleaner operating system.

Also, though people here are saying they had no troubles, you can and will experience problems. Especially drivers (such as your Creative Labs card) will not work at all. Plus, Creative Labs drivers are almost impossible to take out every last trace of.

I say start fresh and you will likely be happier you did. I can get my Windows 7 install back to how it was setup within 2-3 days with ease.

Without a clean install, you are just asking for trouble (possible issues) and you will be starting off with a "dirty" installation instead of a clean one. Take you more time to clean it up (probably will not be able to clean out every bit anyhow) than it would be to redo it from scratch.

 

[TwoCables]

Quote:

Originally Posted by judenihal Okay about the sound card, I want to use my original Vista driver CD. I don't want to install a Web Driver since all the extra software won't be installed. Is there like a way of getting a Windows 7 Installation CD or something?

Don't use the Vista driver CD. Just download one of the drivers I linked before:

http://ccftp.creative.com/manualdn/D..._2_18_0013.exe

However, I once again recommend using Daniel_K's X-Fi Support Pack 2.0 since it does provide a slightly better sound quality. I forgot to say that it is also a complete software package. And by complete, I mean COMPLETE.

http://www.filefront.com/thankyou.ph...738f76c6b8bf31

But if you don't want to go with Daniel_K's, then just download the official Creative driver I linked above, and then download anything you're missing from Creative's website, such as the Console Launcher:

http://ccftp.creative.com/manualdn/A...LB_2_61_09.exe

Try to trust me: I will not allow myself to steer you in the wrong direction. You're on Overclock.net, so you have nothing to worry about.

 

[judenihal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwoCables Don't use the Vista driver CD. Just download one of the drivers I linked before: http://ccftp.creative.com/manualdn/D..._2_18_0013.exe However, I once again recommend using Daniel_K's X-Fi Support Pack 2.0 since it does provide a slightly better sound quality. I forgot to say that it is also a complete software package. And by complete, I mean COMPLETE. http://www.filefront.com/thankyou.ph...738f76c6b8bf31 But if you don't want to go with Daniel_K's, then just download the official Creative driver I linked above, and then download anything you're missing from Creative's website, such as the Console Launcher: http://ccftp.creative.com/manualdn/A...LB_2_61_09.exe Try to trust me: I will not allow myself to steer you in the wrong direction. You're on Overclock.net, so you have nothing to worry about.

What about if I use the Vista Drivers (install in compatibility mode) and then install the drivers you specified? I mean isn't all Vista drivers supposed to work with Windows 7 since Microsoft decided to release Windows 7 before XP users are still deciding to go up to Vista?

And thanks for the links, I do trust you, just not sure why I can't use Vista drivers in Windows 7, but the main reason why is because the software I have contains everything, where the links you specified doesn't include everything the CD does.

I also don't get how the Daniel K version is better quality than the Creative default one. Are the drivers more stable or better support to make the sound card work or something? Or is it just tweaked to add an effect to make it better?
Thanks for the answers.

 

[TwoCables]

Quote:

Originally Posted by judenihal What about if I use the Vista Drivers (install in compatibility mode) and then install the drivers you specified? I mean isn't all Vista drivers supposed to work with Windows 7 since Microsoft decided to release Windows 7 before XP users are still deciding to go up to Vista?

The reason why most Vista drivers work just fine in Windows 7 is because Windows 7 is Vista, but it's just a refinement of the OS.

Anyway, it would be an absolutely huge waste of your time and energy to do it this way. There's no reason to do it this way (trust me: I know what I'm saying), and it could cause problems. It's absolutely not worth it at all.

Just download either the driver/software package from Creative's website, or use Daniel_K's X-Fi Support Pack 2.0. Please just trust me. I wouldn't be spending all of this time telling you the same things over and over if I didn't believe in it 100%. I would tell you flat out that I'm not 100% sure. But I am 100% sure, so please just trust me. If you download the official one from Creative's website and find that you're missing something (which is very unlikely), then you can just download it from Creative's website!

Quote:

Originally Posted by judenihal And thanks for the links, I do trust you, just not sure why I can't use Vista drivers in Windows 7, but the main reason why is because the software I have contains everything, where the links you specified doesn't include everything the CD does.

Trust me: you don't have to worry about it - especially if you use Daniel_K's X-Fi Support Pack 2.0.

Quote:

Originally Posted by judenihal I also don't get how the Daniel K version is better quality than the Creative default one. Are the drivers more stable or better support to make the sound card work or something? Or is it just tweaked to add an effect to make it better? Thanks for the answers.

I don't know the specifics. All I know is that I get slightly better sound quality with his driver. It's not huge, but hey: better is better.

 

[IronZ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by judenihal What about if I use the Vista Drivers (install in compatibility mode) and then install the drivers you specified? I mean isn't all Vista drivers supposed to work with Windows 7 since Microsoft decided to release Windows 7 before XP users are still deciding to go up to Vista? And thanks for the links, I do trust you, just not sure why I can't use Vista drivers in Windows 7, but the main reason why is because the software I have contains everything, where the links you specified doesn't include everything the CD does. I also don't get how the Daniel K version is better quality than the Creative default one. Are the drivers more stable or better support to make the sound card work or something? Or is it just tweaked to add an effect to make it better? Thanks for the answers.

When you install the 'drivers' from the CD, it is actually doing different installs for each program (the simplest way to explain it anyway). You will want to download the Win7 drivers from the web, then download the (hopefully) Win7 versions of whatever software you want as well.

If it sounds like you are doing something that is questionable and others tell you not to do it......don't, lol. Messing around with installing drivers for other OS's is a sure way to screw up an install, just use as much Win7 compatible stuff as you can, then try Vista stuff if there is no Win7 available.

Z