you will need new, Vista drivers - your XP drivers are just that, XP drivers. If you install XP drivers in Vista, you run the risk of repeated crashes and file corruption.
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Old Drivers With Vista
I got a new pc two years ago and it came with XP home. In addition, drivers, etc. were included.
However with Vista, I would like to know how the old drivers would be compatible with Vista should I decide to upgrade or install Vista completely without upgrading?
Will Vista accept older drivers and do some updating to get the latest drivers from the internet or will I have to chase round for updated drivers before installing Vista?
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Answers
John_R_Jones ,
There will be some devices that will work (Printers, Scanners etc.) with the built in Windows Vista Drivers, other devices such as the Video card might be found, in the event that Windows Vista doest not have a driver for the device, it will use a generic driver to at least get you up and running until you can download an updated driver from the manufacturer. The end result would be the same in both an upgrade or fresh install scenario.
If you plan on upgrading to Vista, I would recommend gathering the drivers before hand, since there is a possibility that your network card drivers might not be available after the installation and you wont be able to access the internet (especially if you are using a wireless network adapter).
To prepare, you might have to chase round for updated drivers before installing Vista.
I would expect that something would automatically upgrade these drivers behjind the scenes to allow for standard upgrades.
Think of the situation, if one part of the system could be upgraded (new operating system) but not the other part (drivers provided with old system) then depending on how easy upgrades for drivers can be obtained determines whether or not it is worth the effort.
I don't expect old drivers to be used but like with many updates it would benice if upgrades functioned in a similar way such as when doing a full installation the new system could link up via the internet with the old operating system, get the relevant updated drivers, place them somewhere on the hard drive and then when the new operating system is installed the new drivers then get installed.
I might be thinking too far ahead.
One other thing I just thought of to add is that the Vista upgrade does still keep the files already on the partition so you can just download Vista drivers to the partition and install them when the setup is done.
Also the computer I installed Vista on was about 6 years old so you may have better luck with the drivers.
Justin
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by: mpfisterPosted on 2007-02-13 at 02:35:03ID: 18521720
Best is to run the Vista Upgarde Advisor, a free download from Microsoft:
http://www.microsoft.com/w
It will identify hardware thats unsupported by Vista.
You may have a chance to get drivers directly from the manufacturer.
A fresh install is always preferrable.