NEED HELP upgrading from xp to vista

I just installed Vista onto a new clean hard drive(F).
It was fresh,clean install not an upgrade.
I still have xp on my original drive(C)with all my data.
I changed the boot disc priority in bios so that it now boots in vista.
How do I get all my data from drive C to be recognised by vista?
How do I get all my desktop info on to the vista desktop?
How do I uninstal xp,do I need to?

thanks

 

It sounds like you have both hard drives still connected to your motherboard. If the hard drives are configured correctly (ie: master/slave for IDE) your Windows XP installed hard drive should show up in "my computer" when you boot vista. They both use NTFS as a filesystem, so there should be no incompatibility issues.

You can transfer files multiple ways:
1) Go to the directory "documents and settings/[username]" and manually copy the files to wherever you want them to go. You may run into permission issues if you protected your user's files when you were using XP. There are ways to change permissions, but I do not want to go into that unless you need it.
2) There is a function in vista called transfer files and data or something like that. You should see it on that window that comes up when you boot Vista. You should be able to use that and have Vista automatically transfer everything from your XP user to your current user. I will be able to tell you more tomorrow when I am in front of my Vista computer.

One thing you may not know: You cannot transfer installed programs from your XP installation to your Vista installation.

When you boot Vista, you can right click on "My Computer" and click on "manage". When the management window comes up, you can click on "disk management". This will bring up all currently installed Hard Drives. You can use this to delete the partition that contains your Windows XP installation and reformat it (which will delete all data on that partition.) The thing you need to be concerned with is deleting the boot record that tells your computer how to boot Vista. The boot record should be on the hard drive you installed Vista, but Windows tends to do weird things.

 

xp install is not in a separate partition so formatting will delete everything on that disc
I can see c drive while in vista.
sounds like a WHOLE lot of work to "try" vista

 

I do not know if it is possible to uninstall an operating system that is sharing the partition with another partition. I never set them up that way; I either have two partitions on the same hard drive or I have two hard drives.

I believe the only way you are going to be able to get rid of either XP or Vista is to format the partition and start from scratch. I could be wrong tho.

Regardless, my 2 options for data transferring should still work. Your XP users should be in c:/documents and settings and your Vista user should be in c:/users (I think).

 

You just had to create a partition for Vista, and install it there which would have then given you an automatic dual-boot with XP, none of this finagling around with with BIOS etc.

No, but if you're just 'trying' Vista you should do it on a spare machine. There 'are' no trials for Vista, not that I know of, so where did you get it? You've created a mess for yourself by not knowing what you needed to do. I hope someone can untangle it for you, before this thread is closed. Sorry to be so blunt.

 

@augiedoggie
To my understanding I cannot "add a partition" to a previously in use hd that does not have unalotted space.If that is what you meant.

I did partition a space(50 GB) for vista on the new drive.So that in future I will hopefully not have all this hassle.
The vista is a legitimate disk.

@plodr
My drives are sata so I don't think I need to change any switches.I can see my xp hd through "my computer".

It also appears that there is ZERO support for my Creative x-fi extreme music sound card with vista 64.Tried to load the driver disk and it says "will not work with this version of windows".Loaded the latest driver(created Feb18/2008) from Creative website and no sound.

Is there any way to use the vista file transfer program when both drives are in the same box?Apparently it can be done with 2 boxes or external hard drives or across a network.

thanks again

 

OK, you could have easily pointed Vista to that empty partition, get it formatted etc. and get the dual boot. I just don't get it is all. BTW, sorry I implied that you had a erm, not 'kosher copy', it's the way you worded it, who buys an OS to 'try it"?:confused