Upgrade

[sippo]

I'm planning a windows 7 upgrade and Office 2010 on our 500 PC's on my own over the summer, including upgrading our PDC to 2008r2.

Any tips/suggestions?

[SYNACK]

Do a test lab first for the users to get used to/shake out bugs with maybe. They have probably been using it at home for a while anyway so this is not as much of a concern.

[sister_annex]

You will need to do the PDC first - as an upgrade to 2008R2 requires forest and schema updates if you want the 2008 R2 features

Make sure your backups are working properly (obvious I know)

I agree with @SYNACK it also gives you chance to get GPO settings correct and other stuff too...

[sonofsanta]

Get working on it now. It's a fair old change and there's not much time left before the summer break...

(says the man who began sorting his Windows 7 GPOs on Monday, some 9 months later than anticipated)

[FN-GM]

[QUOTE=sister_annex;846144]You will need to do the PDC first - as an upgrade to 2008R2 requires forest and schema updates if you want the 2008 R2 features[QUOTE]

Not really true, PDC have been gone for years. You can upgrade your domain controllers in any order. You dont have to do the one that holds roles first. Infact to setup Windows 7 group policies you can use server 2003.

[sippo]

Get working on it now. It's a fair old change and there's not much time left before the summer break...

(says the man who began sorting his Windows 7 GPOs on Monday, some 9 months later than anticipated)

But the head is reluctant to sign the PO as our XP network is stable and works. He doesn't see the need, but we need to keep with the times I tell him...In an ideal world I would have had the PO signed off weeks, if not months, ago.

Maybe I'm biting off more than I can chew!

[sonofsanta]

But the head is reluctant to sign the PO as our XP network is stable and works. He doesn't see the need, but we need to keep with the times I tell him...In an ideal world I would have had the PO signed off weeks, if not months, ago.

Maybe I'm biting off more than I can chew!

You need 2008R2 to administer Windows 7 and correctly lock down the network. You need Windows 7 because in April 2014 Microsoft end Extended Support for Windows XP and stop providing security updates. XP also has a long history of security vulnerabilities inherent in its design, as exploited by malware as recently as Flame this month, and I will bet you actual money that there are dozens, if not hundreds, of zero-day exploits out in the wild that are being kept quiet by people waiting for the end of extended support. May 2014 will see a massive surge of malware on older Windows machines and Microsoft will do nothing about them, having already extended that 2014 deadline from its original 2011 date (i.e. ten years of support was extended to thirteen) - they will not extend it again.

We're also beginning to see software that requires newer versions of Windows. We got Sibelius 7 earlier this year and it won't run on XP. If you're on the EES licensing scheme, Windows 7 itself will not cost you any extra, and if you're not already on EES, it is a more cost effective way of getting Windows & Office than buying the perpetual licenses.

Others can chip in more, but essentially "it works ok" is only true now, and won't be in two years. Better to do it in a measured, prepared way in advance than in a panicked, forced-hand manner over an Easter holiday in 2014.

[Michael]

You can control 7 workstations using 2003 and RSAT installed on a 7 workstation. A native 2008 R2 server is better and highly recommended, as of course 2003 Server is the same generation as XP. It also will be retired in the relatively near future.

Sonofsanta is correct with regards to Windows XP's Extended Support ending in 2014. You'll also find there are or will be more applications which no longer support XP, but only Vista or later. Drivers are also a big headache on newer hardware and in some cases, there are no drivers at all.

Windows 7 itself isn't that much of a change to end users in a domain environment, however migrating from Word 2003 to Word 2010 is the biggest change. 99% of users hate it initially, as they were so used to the old interface. I've heard the argument many times about, why change it? Or I want the old version back, but users do adapt the more they use it.

The biggest worry/concern I have with future Microsoft products - in other words, Windows 8 and Office 15; will they be similar to Windows 7 and Office 2010 in any respects or will Microsoft insist on re-designing interfaces with every major release? It is a major problem, as schools and businesses cannot re-train their users every few years. It's just too costly and too time consuming.