Question About Vista And Xp

Maybe is a strange question,I've got an evaluation version of vista running on my machine right now, as well as my full version of xp and i'm wondering...is there any way get my vista install to pick up the programs installed for the version of xp or is that only possible if i install vista as an upgrade to xp?

I believe that, so long as you have two separate installations of any Windows operating system, one system cannot recognize or pick up any piece of software that's available on the other system. That's how it's been so far with me in all previous versions of Windows, and I've heard nothing to indicate that Vista is any different in that regard.

 

 

But then again, I'll admit I haven't paid Vista its due attention; perhaps I missed something here or there .

How are you running Vista on your computer? Are you dual-booting, emulating, etc.?If you're dual-booting, and if your vista installation can access your XP drive, you should be able to execute the exe files correctly. However, Vista might have some security features that prevent you from doing that.I don't know anything about emulation, so I don't have any suggestions if you're emulating.

Depends on the program in question - if they require certain registry entries to be set, then they obviously have no way of accessing those entries in Vista as they've been installed under Win XP. I suggest you re-install the apps under Vista, in the same location as that installed under XP. naturally save any custom templates / option files so they aren't overwritten by the freshly installed ones.

not very likely beacse both install are seprate fro each other u only can do that if you upgarde the install not just do an clean install

tamer3kz & sparx are both right, i also have windows vista RC1 and xp sp 2, both are registered, and some programs i can run fine on vista when they were installed on xp, but others that need reg entrys need to be installed again. All in all at the moment xp is the best to run programs on as all the drivers and stuff work, while vista is still an "nt" OS most of the drivers DO NOT WORK!! which can be a pain is the ..(you get the pic)BTW - a bit off topic there but either way, windows vista speech reconsion is 'fun'/handy to use !!

well, technically they rewrote the whole entire operating system. As per the drivers, yes of course they don't work, they just implemented a new driver architecture. The drivers that don't conform with the architecture won't work.xboxrulz

Actually, one of the very nice things about Vista is that 99.9% of XP drivers will still work in Vista. However, they may need to be manually installed instead of automatically installed. Also, many companies, such as Intel and NVIDIA are working on and have published Betas or full drivers for the Vista OS. As far as registry keys go. Any program designed to let you copy registries from one hard drive to another should be able to help copy the registry keys needed. And most games registry keys can be found by doing a search either for the game name or the publisher name while in the registry.~Viz

well, technically they rewrote the whole entire operating system. As per the drivers, yes of course they don't work, they just implemented a new driver architecture. The drivers that don't conform with the architecture won't work.
xboxrulz

rewrote it? nah... it's XP with 10 gigs of graphics, and 5 new features I tried Vista RC1 for a while and eventually I got tired of it and just put Windows 2000 on. At least Win2K doesn't have annoying security features and actually works.

[N]F

Nightfox, that's why I said technically I knew they didn't really.

 

Microsoft is only good at marketing, not programming

 

xboxrulz

Depends on the program in question - if they require certain registry entries to be set, then they obviously have no way of accessing those entries in Vista as they've been installed under Win XP. I suggest you re-install the apps under Vista, in the same location as that installed under XP. naturally save any custom templates / option files so they aren't overwritten by the freshly installed ones.

I wouldn't do that if I were you. Some applications write configuration data in the same folder and if it's pointing to a location/registry entry where the other OS can't come, then it won't work anymore.
Just waste some space and spend some time configuring the app under both OS'es, that's the safest way (in case on OS fails).
Even beter would be if you'd choose to have only one OS. So just wait 6 months before you'd make the switch to Vista, then most big bugs will be out and more and more apps (also those that disable stupid Vista features ) will be available.