I just installed Windows Vista RC2 and hit some bumps. But I’m here now. Just a couple of hints for Googlers who might be having problems.
I got a Dell XPS brand new, so I decided to install Windows Vista RC2. Low and behold, I immediately get a blue screen before I can even copy a single file from the DVD.
Problem: Blue Screen with STOP 0×000000E1 (WORKER_THREAD_RETURNED_AT_BAD_IRQL)
This happens almost after I select the “Custom Install” button.
Solution: Disable SATA RAID. In fact, disable all raid. Just set your drives to normal ATA or SATA.
Problem: Unable to restore files backed up with Windows XP backup (*.bkf)
Solution: Grab your XP CD and copy the following files (all in I386):
NTBACKUP.EX_
NTMSAPI.DL_
VSSAPI.DL_
Open a Vista command prompt and navigate to wherever your copied the files. At the command prompt, do:
expand NTBACKUP.EX_ NTBACKUP.EXE
expand NTMSAPI.DL_ NTMSAPI.DLL
expand VSSAPI.DL_ VSSAPI.DLL
Now, you can launch NTBACKUP.EXE from that location and it should be able to restore your XP built-in backup created files.
Overall, Vista is working great. I really like this new OS. So far, it seems to have security in mind with all the nice locked down settings that don’t make you feel like you are in jail. Try it and you’ll know what I mean. Go to http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista
Please drop a comment with your experience with Vista. This may be the first operating system I actually buy off the shelf (when it becomes available anyway).
