Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor Beta

Advertisement (Why?)

Thanks to Radish™ for the heads up on the forum.

It looks like Microsoft wants to make sure you know if your computer is ready for Windows Vista. Currently, the beta only works on Windows XP systems. Chances are, if you are running something older than Windows XP, your computer won’t run Windows Vista anyways. It’s nice to see a downloadable tool in advance. So that you do not have to buy Windows Vista and then find out your computer won't run it.

In the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) portion of the site, Microsoft also mentions the minimum system requirements for Windows Vista are the following:

• An 800 MHz processor.
• 512 MB of RAM.
• A 20 GB hard drive with 15 GB of free space.

The Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor is a small beta application that you can run on your current Windows XP-based computer to find out if it's ready for an upgrade to Windows Vista. When you run the Upgrade Advisor, it will scan your computer and generate an easy-to-understand report of any known system and device compatibility issues, along with recommendations on how you can get your PC ready for Windows Vista. Microsoft plans to add functionality to Upgrade Advisor, such as checking how your software applications will run with Windows Vista. Download the beta version today and check this site in a few months for a new version.

Download: Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor (3.97MB)

View: Neowin Discussion

View: Upgrade Advisor Website | FAQ

(2 replies) #1 James on 18 May 2006 - 19:57

Darn, no x64 support, no shock here I guess.

#1.1 WindowsNT on 18 May 2006 - 20:20

nothing new there. i'm in 2 minds should i dump x64 and go back to x86.
First WMP11 and now this. What is Microsoft playing at with x64 support.

#1.2 j0j081 on 19 May 2006 - 00:35

@1.1 Get real. Microsoft has been doing a pretty good job coming out with x64 versions of their products. We just got IE7 and the 64 bit Windows Defender not long ago also. Give them at least a week or two.

#2 PureLegend on 18 May 2006 - 19:57

Cool!!!

#3 nezermundy on 18 May 2006 - 20:04

Dam, need a new Graphics card...

Only 64MB!

#4 niel19_us on 18 May 2006 - 20:05

I builded my desktop computer 4 to 5 years ago and it will run "Congratulations! Your PC can run the core experiences of Windows Vista."
BTW
Athlon XP3000+
1280MB DDR Ram
400+ GB HDD (Set of 3 IDE)
ATI X850 PEXT 256MB (I installed couple of months ago)

(1 reply) #5 minkcar on 18 May 2006 - 20:05

YEY my PC meets all requirments for Ultimate

#5.1 MtDewCodeRedFreak on 18 May 2006 - 20:45

Me too!!!

#6 voidunknown on 18 May 2006 - 20:06

Good news for me. My work machine, home desktop machine, laptop and media centers will run it.

#7 Philip Hristov on 18 May 2006 - 20:08

It says that it cannot run Winsat...

#8 b0m8er on 18 May 2006 - 20:13

NIce

(2 replies) #9 tiwaris on 18 May 2006 - 20:16

If the bare minimum amount of RAM required is 512MB, then at least 1G is required to run VISTA normally and 2G to run it fast. This implies that VISTA is over-bloated. GUI of win95 was more responsive on a normal PC (at that time) than would be the GUI of VISTA on an Alienware system at present. MS is eating all the megahertz. Making apps overwhelmingly larger increases the time to load an application.

Another example of overbloated software is Adobe reader (87 megs for just reading a pdf file).

Enough of moaning. /me gets back to work.

#9.1 McG on 19 May 2006 - 05:33

At first I was going to argue with you, but you actually made a great point with the Win95/Vista comparison.

#9.2 pandr on 20 May 2006 - 08:30

512MB is not the minimum amount of memory you must have, but it's the value in order to have the Capable Vista Logo and this means that with 512MB you can use Vista smoothly (OS + Applications). The latest Vista build run fast with 512MB RAM.
In other words:
512 MB Its a recommended amount to run both the operating system and applications without reaching a bottle neck in performance.

Last edited by pandr on 21 May 2006 - 15:41

#10 Aahz on 18 May 2006 - 20:21

WTF is with application after application from MS NOT supporting x64? I don't even have x64 and it's ****ing me off

(1 reply) #11 angrybrit on 18 May 2006 - 20:26

Quote -

System Compatibility Status
Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor could not run Winsat. System compatibility status could not be evaluated.

!!!

#11.1 voidunknown on 18 May 2006 - 20:28

Did you put the dynomite into your floppy disk drive and light it first? If not, try that.

(4 replies) #12 mentalindustries on 18 May 2006 - 20:27

"Either
a) upgrade your graphics adapter to one that has TV output or
b) connect via an Xbox 360 or other Windows Vista-compatible media center extender"

AGP 6800 Ultra not enough for them?
and it has DVI *2 and S-video

Me thinks they got bugs

#12.1 voidunknown on 18 May 2006 - 20:29

Yea, its not beta or anything...

I have a 7800GTX and I got the same thing. Probably because I checked that I wanted to watch TV. I think its looking for a TV tuner card actually.

#12.2 mentalindustries on 18 May 2006 - 23:23

I got a tv card as well.
although i need to contact manufactuer for drivers

#12.3 Devion on 19 May 2006 - 15:11

Quote - mentalindustries said @ #12

You need to read the exclamation because yes your graphics card does fail if you do not have the correct TV.

If you would like to connect this PC directly to a TV and you do not have a high definition display that accepts PC video input, you will need to upgrade your graphics adapter to one that supports TV output. Alternatively, you can use this PC as a media center host and connect to a TV through an intermediary device such as an Xbox 360 or other Windows Vista-compatible Media Center extender.

TV output is a RF cable.

They do have an error here as in you do not need a HD TV to have pc inputs many non HD tv's have svideo.

So aslong as you have a TV that has DVI,svideo,composite,vga inputs you can easily output to it from your current graphics card. If you only have a TV that does scart you will need a MCE extender.

The good news is if your tv has scart there is a BIG change that you will have a composite inputs and failing that you just do this :

Svideo - Composite - Scart

#12.4 bush on 20 May 2006 - 00:23

looks like you, guys, checked all available options

i went through the list and found out that i don't need anything besides the two default options

#13 stezo2k on 18 May 2006 - 20:32

lol typical, i click "start system scan" and it wont start

#14 Vomer on 18 May 2006 - 20:34

Based on your selections, Windows Vista Home Basic appears to be the edition that is right for you.

YAY!

(1 reply) #15 planetik on 18 May 2006 - 20:36

Wow. Has Microsoft heard of SELF-CONTAINED PROGRAMS?
Installing a program that you'll use once in a lifetime and is 3MB is just... retarded.

#15.1 clonk on 18 May 2006 - 21:07

There are good reasons to offer it as an MSI. This allows an organization to deploy this program via a GPO for example.

#16 trek. on 18 May 2006 - 21:00

Horray, my computer can run all aspects of Ultimate... but I already knew that... 5381 is installed on my other partition

#17 Crono21 on 18 May 2006 - 21:30

Neat for people planning to get Vista. Im not. Theyll have to force the money from my wallet before ill upgrade to Vista. XP Pro is just fine for me, and I plan on it being suitable for several more years.

#18 rm20010 on 18 May 2006 - 21:44

Argh, and they don't provide system 'ratings' like in the Vista betas.

For a 3 MB program which could've been easily done through an ActiveX control on a Microsoft site, this tool could be a lot more useful.

(1 reply) #19 narshornsyst on 18 May 2006 - 23:06

Yes but you can run winsat in cpommand line and .... surprise !!!

#19.1 Kanel on 20 May 2006 - 12:58

How? Please help.

I can't find any Winsat service or file.

#20 toadeater on 19 May 2006 - 00:54

• A 20 GB hard drive with 15 GB of free space.

15GB?

#21 Octol on 19 May 2006 - 01:35

I just ran it, and it told me I don't have enough free disk space. I have to assume it meant on my system partition, since I currently have 500 MB of free disk space available. I've already installed Vista as a virtual OS (using both VMWare and Virtual Server), so I already know it works. Still, it's nice to know about that extra free space requirement on the system partition.

#22 californi4 on 19 May 2006 - 04:19

20GB hard drive with 15GB of free space!

what have they got there that takes 15GB! imagine the time it would take just to read this from the harddisk.

someone over there forgot to turn off "debug mode" while building all the code.

/me wonders if there's some code for PNG support in this 15 Gigs....

#23 Andy13 on 19 May 2006 - 04:41

At least it isn't 50mb like XP's upgrade advisor.

I wish they'd update those Misc hardware icons tho - a Windows 95-era yellow question mark doesn't fit in very well.

The weird thing is, tho, the wizard said I can run Aero but I don't get the full Aero experience just yet.

-Andy

#24 Colin-uk on 19 May 2006 - 06:54

first it said it couldnt run

then it said i need to increase hard disk space, but thats only because my C partition on my 250gb hdd is about 30gb with 5gb free space, i can just increase the partition

so i should be ready

(1 reply) #25 Chicane-UK on 19 May 2006 - 07:45

Wow.. my 3.2GHz P4 with 1GB of RAM can run the core experiences of Windows Vista.

What a joke.

#25.1 DKAngel on 19 May 2006 - 07:48

eaheaheah my 3800+ Athlon64 X2 1gig of ram and my 128meg x1600pro can only run the core experiences of Windows Vista. thats even more of a joke

i think a few things are broken

#26 LoofyGun on 19 May 2006 - 08:35

System Compatibility Status
Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor could not run Winsat. System compatibility status could not be evaluated.

...

#27 ThePitt on 19 May 2006 - 15:33

the funny thing is that you can have an interfase pretty close or sometimes even better than vista, with a Pentium1 90Mhz, 64MB of RAM and 10GB of HD.

#28 m-head on 19 May 2006 - 16:33

Installer crashed. Gave up. My computer will run Vista anywho....but in the same way that a slug runs.

#29 oqwarrior on 19 May 2006 - 21:09

Microsoft's website now says that the tool is unavailable.

#30 techdude5875 on 19 May 2006 - 21:19

When is it comming back, why did they take it away?

#31 JamesNL on 19 May 2006 - 22:17

I'm running IE7 beta 1 here, and I can't use the tool. (I get a The page cannot be displayed error)
If they wanted to run it as a webpage, why didn't they just give me a .hta?

#32 DariusVE on 20 May 2006 - 01:53

The Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor beta is currently unavailable, please check back soon. We apologize for the inconvenience.

#33 greg098 on 20 May 2006 - 04:51

mine failed lol it says i need more then 5gb of space to run windows vista...guess i had better delete some stuff cause my hard drive is 80Gb and almost full lol

(1 reply) #34 paraman on 20 May 2006 - 06:20

Is there no way to uninstall this once the scan is over? I didn't find any Add/Remove Programs entry.

#34.1 rIaHc3 on 20 May 2006 - 09:25

Make sure in Add/Remove Programs that checkmark box next to "Show Updates" is checked

(1 reply) #35 rIaHc3 on 20 May 2006 - 09:25

Could someone upload the .msi to http://www.megaupload.com ?

Thanks

#35.1 Kanel on 20 May 2006 - 12:57

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YOTUMDMX

#36 techdude5875 on 20 May 2006 - 21:50

PEOPLE!!! NEWS!! WINSAT AURORA WORKS!

Commenting has either been disabled on this article or you are not logged in. Click here to login or register, its free!

Note: Anonymous commenting is disabled in order to keep the quality of responses to a high standard.

Neowin.net