Windows 7 in Place Upgrade of My Sony VAIO P

Since I purchase my VAIO P after June 26^th of this year, I was eligible for the free Windows 7 upgrade kit provided by Sony. The upgrade kit finally arrived Thursday. Here are the steps I followed to perform my in place upgrade:

The Sony Windows 7 upgrade kit came with 2 DVD, one containing Microsoft Windows 7 and one with Sony's drivers and applications.

1. I created an image of my system with Acronis True Image Home 2010 to a 120GB WD USB drive. Without OneCare, I think this is the best backup solution out there.
2. I downloaded, installed and ran the current version of the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor

 

1. I reviewed the reports and followed the advice given. I hate that Microsoft discontinued OneCare, it was probably one of the most helpful home/small office program they ever put together, but this year has been the year of slashing in Redmond with MS Money, and other consumer apps going by the wayside (Today I just got an email that Office Accounting is being discontinued, maybe MS really wants me to try an iMac…WTF). It is interesting that the VZ Access Manager is listed for reinstall on the VAIO-P upgrade advisor report. I did not have to uninstall it on my X60 Tablet. It probably has something to do with the VAIO P's GOBI chip.

1. Once I completed the un-installs, I reran the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. Since I did not have the base VZ Access Manager Sony edition software to reinstall, I have decided to leave it alone and see what happens.
2. As I mentioned in my X60 upgrade list, it is a good idea to check for the latest BIOS. Sony has not released any new BIOS since the original pre installed one so I should be fine and if I need a new one the extra Sony specific disk should include it.
3. I then started the install process using the Microsoft DVD which came in the upgrade kit. The installation process validates and installs any required prerequisite Sony drivers and applications for the VAIO P. This is a big advantage of using a manufacturer upgrade kit and makes it rather idiot proof, versus downloading Windows 7 directly from Microsoft which recommends checking the manufacturer's web site manually.
4. The Windows 7 upgrade took about 4 hours, I then inserted the Sony VAIO P specific DVD and that took another hour. When I rebooted the system with Windows 7, I did have to reenter all of my network keys and network types (home, office, public) but all the drivers where updated automatically. As with the X60 I did have to uninstall and reinstall the Cisco VPN client version 5.0.04.0300.
5. I then needed to install a new Anti-Virus application. For this machine I decided to use Microsoft Anti Virus engine from the Microsoft Security Essentials web page. It is free to consumers and should provide adequate protection along with Windows Defender and Firewall (both come with Windows 7).
6. Since Microsoft is no longer shipping Photo and Video applications with Windows 7, Sony added it's Picture Motion Browser, which is great if you have Sony cameras since it recognizes them easily. I use it for importing AVCHD videos. For Video editing Sony included Sony VAIO Story; I have not tried it yet.

The VAIO P running Windows 7.

My upgrade experience so far has been excellent; it is faster and uses much less memory. Finally Sling Player works well in full screen mode…One more machine to go; my Dell XPS 720 H2C, thinking of rebuilding with Windows 7 64 bit.

Comments

[Chris Beard]

So throughout the various upgrade processes to Windows 7 have you yet had any instances that made you wish you had done a clean install vs. an OS upgrade? I have a relatively new machine without a lot of installed programs and am trying to determine if a clean install might not be a better option than an upgrade.

[Stephen Skarlatos]

I have been using my X60 pretty heavily and have found no issue with the upgrade path.

[chris]

What's the Windows 7 Companion DVD for? It wont' let me install on my vaio fw 290.

[Stephen Skarlatos]

It is for the hardware drivers and Sony specific applications. It is specific to the type of machine you are using. If this is a VAIO P companion disk it will not work on a VAIO FW series machine.

[Adrian]

Just wondering...where you able to keep your Microsoft Streets and Trips 2009? (if it came pre-installed)

[Stephen Skarlatos]

Yes, Streets and Trips 2009 works well with Windows 7, I have had no issues.

[Zaidy]

I wish I could say the same as you, tried to install windows 7 yesterday, it took a very long time.
Followed sony's instructions, by using Disc 1 Vaio Supplement disc ! and then disc 2 which is windows 7.

The function key no longer works, I can't follow the instructions to re inserting supplement Disk to complete the installation. It keeps saying its not window vista drivers etc.....
But the PC seem to work, apart from the function buttons

[Stephen Skarlatos]

Are you talking about the functions keys accross the top of the keyboard. If so they are part of the base OS keyboard drivers, so I would go into device manager and update the keyboard drivers.

[Salman Khan]

Does the Companion DVD only contain drivers and only Sony specific applications?

So if I was to do a "Clean Install" of Windows 7, I would lose Microsoft Street and Trips 2009?

[Stephen Skarlatos]

Correct, the Sony companion DVD does not contain MS Streets and Trips, only drivers.

You could upgrade, then create the recovery disks which will create a fresh copy of the OS with all the Sony included apps.

[Salman Khan]

Thanks for confirming Stephen.

I've just got my Vaio P on Saturday and have been reading posts on different forums.

From I have gathered, the machine works best when a clean install of Windows 7 is installed. I've never had much luck with upgrades. Upgrades also tend to use up more of the HDD space.

[April Green]

Ok, so I installed windows 7 with the upgrade dvd...do I still have to download the companion dvd? I received both from Sony.

[Stephen Skarlatos]

Yes, you should run the companion DVD to update the Sony software. Also there is a new BIOS and Graphics driver available on the Sony support site. Last week I updated my machine and have seen a huge performance improvement.

[seki]

I did an in place upgrade from vista (ugh!) to win 7. While it took a long time (several hours) the result was amazing.
Once you've finished (and also a good idea before you start) run something like "tune up" utilities over your registry. Mine went from 100+MB under vista to about 55MB under Win7 thats with ALL the Sony add-ons included.
Its also important to note that a raw install of windows (any release) contains dozens of registry errors. Your system will run so much faster with these fixed, and the registry de-fragmented.
Once I'd upgraded I removed all the upgrade rubbish (c: properties/tools/disk cleanup/ select everything) you'll get back a couple of Gig of space!
Then defrag the hard drive.