Category: Windows 7

Windows 7, Fully Functional …

Well at this point I have pretty much managed to get everything working on Windows 7 Professional, 64-bit.  The last piece of the puzzle was getting a working VPN connection.  Although I was not able to get my NetGear client to work, or their SSL connection to work, there is a VPN client called Shrew Soft VPN Client that works quite well with the router that we are using.  I have tested it with a FVS336G and a FVX538.  Now to take some time and get it working with my home network.

The other item that was outstanding on the get working list was the VI Client for vSphere 4.  When trying to connect to the server I was getting the message “Error parsing the server <server name> “clients.xml” file.”  There was a good workaround here.

After getting there last two items corrected, I have to say that I couldn’t be happier with the performance and stability of Windows 7.

Windows 7 Installation …

I started the move to Windows 7 last night.  Just to make things interesting, I also moved to the 64 bit version.  The base installation was quick and painless.  I was installing on a Dell Latitude D630 with a nVidia video controller.

Windows 7 did a pretty good job of finding and configuring my hardware.  The only drivers that I needed were for the video controller and the finger reader.  Everything seems to be working good and the computer is running noticeable faster with a lower resource usage.

Here is a list of the software that I have had problems with:

  • Alcohol 52% – Alcohol 120% does work and they are working on a update for Alcohol 52%.  This is causing me more irritation than anything.  I have converted all my install CDs to ISO images and use Alcohol to mount them.
  • Acronis True Image Echo Workstation 9.1 – I just get a message that this program will not run on Windows 7.  Nothing that I could find on the Acronis web site, but there is a new version out.  The explorer shell extension seems to be working for browsing previously created images.  I may get stuck purchasing the new version.  I use this for backup and recovery.   Update: Purchased Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Workstation and it supports Windows 7.
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Developer Edition – This installs but would not run until Service Pack 1 was installed.

    Here is a list of the software that has installed without any problems: