SimpleSi Posted June 22, 2011 Posted June 22, 2011 I just ordered 7 desktops (Win7 Pro) to replace all the teacher desktops at a school and just unwrapped the first one to start my journey into setting it up and getting all the old software (inc Blackcat SUper Tools!!!!!!!) that the school "needs" But...inside the box there is an XP Pro "downgrade" DVD! Do I say a quick thank you to the Gods and install it or bite the bullet and stick with Win7? Simon
TechSupp Posted June 22, 2011 Posted June 22, 2011 At the moment I am in a similar situation with new PCs for Smartboards and going down the line of keep everything the same so its XP for me. Will look to change when we can change across the board, having something different seems to cause staff real problems no matter how small! Remember they use the OS very little (as in features it offers), its the programs they use and that would stay the same no matter what the OS. 1
sparkeh Posted June 22, 2011 Posted June 22, 2011 I am moving schools to Win 7 when I can do it site wide, done two schools now but my third still gets XP, when that school finishes the machine renewal and all have win7 licences we will make the shift. Just makes sense to have everything the same to me.
mthomas08 Posted June 22, 2011 Posted June 22, 2011 I would move to W7, get your self in the mix and use those staff as test staff. For us this has helped us fix a few things and realise what sort of work would be required if we had to go W7 fully etc (Plus it is keeping up with the times). As a result we had less software issues then expected but more printer and permissions issues, where some programs will ask for Admin access to perform certain tasks. And ofcourse there are some printers we have here who are struggling with some drivers.
3s-gtech Posted June 22, 2011 Posted June 22, 2011 Bite the bullet. I pushed for the downgrades with Vista, but when 7 came out I got stuck in, put it on my own PC. Started working through the various areas needed - GPOs, profiles, printer drivers, etc. It has definitely been worth it, been running 7 in production for a year now - both students and staff like the new OS, and I'm no longer fighting to stand still. It's quick when properly set up too. XP has been kept on the older hardware though.
FreeWill Posted June 22, 2011 Posted June 22, 2011 Stick with Windows 7. Makes better use of modern hardware, has better compatibility with modern applications and would be a good proofing ground in preparation for site-wide migration to Windows 7.
witch Posted June 22, 2011 Posted June 22, 2011 I am upgrading to Win 7 as and when I get new machines - partly because I am not sure the money for the upgrade licences will be there in the future. I am having far fewer problems than I thought I would with teachers using Win 7, I think because a large number of them have it (or Vista) at home. 1
featured_spectre Posted June 22, 2011 Posted June 22, 2011 Ran windows 7 in production since its official release (got special dispensation to install it sooner so it could be ready for the windows 7 launch day), been using 7 almost exclusively across the board. Only 5 machines still run XP and thats because of some legacy software that wont run in windows 7 or virtualised (no clue why, even the makers dont know why).
DrCheese Posted June 22, 2011 Posted June 22, 2011 I wouldn't install or use 7 on your computers until you have the backend stuff sorted, i.e group policies. Our XP policies did not work out of the box without a few changes + You'll need to add all the settings that apply to Vista and above. Install it on one machine and get those sorted first. As for rolling it out, We've done it in stages rather than a whole "big bang" way of doing it. We did a classroom or so each week and went from there. I found it easier to move a few staff who use computers lots a few at a time in case they had any problems. Having said that, very few people have had an issues. Remember any one who bought a computer over the past 3 or 4 years will have got either Vista or 7 preinstalled so the majority of people are already comfortable using it at home.
gshaw Posted June 22, 2011 Posted June 22, 2011 I want to make sure I've got 2008 on the DCs before putting 7 on the desktops but once that's done I'll start moving over. Should also work out quite well to start again with profiles as 7 wil make completely new ones well away from the old XP ones that cause so much trouble!
Disease Posted June 22, 2011 Posted June 22, 2011 I am still running XP and a 2003 domain here, I have not started any research yet but I am looking to upgrade Domain and Clients to Win 7 and 2008 summer 2012. I really need to set up a test network and get it running. The main fear I have is upgrading my DC's, will they upgrade from 2003, and sorting out the printers as they run through a script and I believe thats out with 2008/W7.
sparkeh Posted June 22, 2011 Posted June 22, 2011 The main fear I have is upgrading my DC's, will they upgrade from 2003, and sorting out the printers as they run through a script and I believe thats out with 2008/W7. Supported upgrade paths are available here. Group Policy Preferences are awesome for printer deployment, can't see the need for scripts any longer.
mthomas08 Posted June 22, 2011 Posted June 22, 2011 We recently upgraded here, in fact I have finished. We had a Server and an Email server, Both running 2003 server and one Exchange 2003. Installed a new R2x2 and one had Exchange 2010, managed to get all the DNS/DHCP stuff across and it was a lot of work at the email front but if you are simply upgrading then I believe you will have a much smoother ride?
OverWorked Posted June 22, 2011 Posted June 22, 2011 I want to make sure I've got 2008 on the DCs before putting 7 on the desktops but once that's done I'll start moving over. That's a good point. I was forced to deploy Win 7 when I bought some machines that couldn't be downgraded to XP. I'm surprised that some are still being supplied with downgrade media - I thought MS had stopped this. I recommend that you upgrade your DCs and file servers to 2008 R2 before allowing users on Win 7. I had all sorts of trouble with Office docs disappearing with a Win 7 and Server 2003 combination. I'm planning on deploying win 7 to the whole school in the summer.
Rydra Posted June 22, 2011 Posted June 22, 2011 I've stuck with Win 7 on any new equipment here, despite being in 2k3 on the servers. I wouldn't rollout Win 7 to all desktops till I have the Server OS to support it properly, but a few machines will not hurt, and I've had very few troubles with them and running things. To me, it just doesn't make sense using a 8 year old operating system on a brand new one. It's like buying a huge high end HD 3D TV then watching nothing but VHS tapes on it.
3s-gtech Posted June 22, 2011 Posted June 22, 2011 Bite the bullet. I pushed for the downgrades with Vista, but when 7 came out I got stuck in, put it on my own PC. Started working through the various areas needed - GPOs, profiles, printer drivers, etc. It has definitely been worth it, been running 7 in production for a year now - both students and staff like the new OS, and I'm no longer fighting to stand still. It's quick when properly set up too. XP has been kept on the older hardware though.
SimpleSi Posted June 22, 2011 Author Posted June 22, 2011 Ta for comments - going to bite the bullet and go win7 ! Si
Disease Posted June 22, 2011 Posted June 22, 2011 What are the pro's and cons of upgrading the server backend only and leaving the clients as XP, can you still run print scripts etc? How smooth is the upgrade from 2003 to 2008 on a DC?
DrCheese Posted June 22, 2011 Posted June 22, 2011 You don't need 2008 to do the print scripts, you can deploy printers using standard GPO (Not GPP) since 2003 R2, although the XP clients will need to run "Pushprinterconnections.exe" on boot/logon (Google this) As for upgrading, I've always preferred doing fresh installs on things like DCs, so install to new hardware, promote it and then demote the old controller. If you have two DCs anyway just install fresh on that, not forgetting to dcpromo it down first!
timbo343 Posted June 22, 2011 Posted June 22, 2011 What are the pro's and cons of upgrading the server backend only and leaving the clients as XP, can you still run print scripts etc? How smooth is the upgrade from 2003 to 2008 on a DC? yeah you can still run printer scripts as they are ran on the desktops rather than the servers... We have upgraded all our DCs to 2008 R2 and still running XP (win7 in the summer) and there are no problems with our printer script... in fact our printer script even works on windows 7... so if any individual members of staff need a specific printer we can map it for them. From 2003 to 2008... my upgrade went very smoothly... all i had to do was to make sure all the data was on the E drives of the servers (we are still using physical servers), demote the DCs, totally format the C drive and install 2008. When I came to share the E drive, i jsut had to put in the sharing permissions and everything worked like it did before... very smooth... took about half a day.
chrisjako Posted June 24, 2011 Posted June 24, 2011 Does anyone know of an easy way to roll out a windows 7 upgrade from xp machines? I'm currently going roundall our shcool machines one by one with the vista upgrade disk, then upgrading to windows 7 after vista is installed - there must be an easier way??
DrCheese Posted June 24, 2011 Posted June 24, 2011 You can't do a straight upgrade from XP to 7. You are best off installing fresh images, rather than doing upgrades. Naturally backup anything you may have locally on the machines first. Ideally if you can you want to get away from storing files of any importance locally.
chrisjako Posted June 24, 2011 Posted June 24, 2011 i dont see the need to backup any files from the local machine as windows 7 put everything in the windows.old folder anyway - I was after a way of rolling out a vista upgrade across the network, then doing the same for vista to 7.... if there is such a method that anyone knows about please share
bondbill2k2 Posted June 24, 2011 Posted June 24, 2011 I've stuck with Win 7 on any new equipment here, despite being in 2k3 on the servers. I wouldn't rollout Win 7 to all desktops till I have the Server OS to support it properly, but a few machines will not hurt, and I've had very few troubles with them and running things. To me, it just doesn't make sense using a 8 year old operating system on a brand new one. It's like buying a huge high end HD 3D TV then watching nothing but VHS tapes on it. I have a simular situation here, tutor stations will be getting replaced and some offices but not the IT rooms this summer, we have ordered a couple for our IT office and shall be testing these and getting an image ready fo the full delivery. We are still on Server 2003 but we shall be updating next year, time to bite the bullet
Bev Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 I just ordered 7 desktops (Win7 Pro) to replace all the teacher desktops at a school and just unwrapped the first one to start my journey into setting it up and getting all the old software (inc Blackcat SUper Tools!!!!!!!) that the school "needs" But...inside the box there is an XP Pro "downgrade" DVD! Do I say a quick thank you to the Gods and install it or bite the bullet and stick with Win7? Simon Please can you tell me what you ordered, and from whom, as I need some new desktops and we are definitely not ready to go to Win 7 just yet. I really want something with an XP downgrade included.
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