Hello,

I have Poser Pro Pack and my OS is WindowsME. To be honest, is stinks with Poser and other programs I have, (freezes up a great deal of times ) and am seriously thinking of upgrading the OS to Windows XP.

I am a bit nervous about this and am afraid I have to go through the hassle of reinstalling all my programs again.

I am not all that computer literate and was wondering if anyone has used the software to upgrade from ME to XP and if things went smoothly.

The man who build our PC will do the upgrade.

Any tips or info anyone has is much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Warm Regards,

Nancy Deer With Horns (SophiaDeer)

Ohh thats a big step and i feel for you since i am kind of in the same boat as you are. Some of the problums are incombatability of harware you might have . Like a sound card or your video card. It also means current updates for hardware and software. Your mother board might not support is well either. Thats why the newer ones are XP specific or made for win XP. I would tell you to first have some one to ghost your drive for you . Meaning make a image file of it so if it turns out bad you can put it back just like it was. Sorry i can help more than this .

Thanks! That is great help!

There is a hardware compatibility list at microsof's website. I would stay away from an upgrade. I would install a full version. Good news: it's seems to be a solid os. I used to have Win2K, and I don't miss it . Good luck.

Hi Nancy, I went your way just recently. Poser 4 and Poser 5 (don't have ProPack) work very well with Windows XP Professional. Also other 3D software works very well. There is a problem though. XP is not compatible with the 80-90% of the hardware I have. Including my flatbed scanner, slide scanner, Logitech mouse (yeah), and even the ADSL Modem. I had to make a second active partition and install ME in dual boot just to run the scanners. GO figure. I am using the modem on my other computer which is Win2000 and it's flawless. My advice: forget about WIndows XP. Go Windows 2000 instead. It is: - MUCH faster. This computer with WIn2000 on is almost as fast as my other computer with XP. Only, this is a Pentium 3 800, the other one is a Pentium 4 2.4Ghz... - MUCH more compatible with existing drivers. - Doesn't force you to phone call Microsoft at every reinstall. Cheers, Orio

Thanks again for the tips and info!

I had no problem upgrading to XP-- ME was just disintegrating, the way it does, throwing up freezes and errors and I was fed up and ready to take anything else to tell you the truth. If I were going to do it again-- and had some leeway-- I'd get XP Pro. I have XP Home and it works well, it didn't over write any of my programs. It was one of the easiest installs I ever did. I did two and then, when my motherboard went out, my tech did the second to keep as much as possible. Poser 4 survived fine-- it was on a partition. I have an Epson printer which is touchy, I had my tech instlal that-- took him awhile but it works. I moved and installed my Canon scanner without any problems-- both were older than the XP computers but the scanner is not older than XP. I don't know if it's the dreamer in me hoping the XP Pro would be easier to run Poser 5 or not. I honestly don't know if any system is optimum. But it likes XP and freezes rarely and usually on documented areas. I don't know Windows 2000 but I'm no techie and want to fool as little as possible with my machine. I've never had to recall Microsoft. I've never had to authorise the darn thing. Or if I did, it was so minimal a procedure, I've flaked it. XP seems very very good with memory. The difference between it and ME was huge and a vast relief. Emily

Forgot to mention, I ran Pro Pack on XP with no probs at all. Emily

I have a dual boot ME and Win2k system. Have XP Pro at work, but without Poser at work. All I can say is that P4 / PP and P5 work great on my home w2k system. Yeah, ME has a lot of services running that screw up the works. W2K sp 3 is rock solid for me. I'd recommend W3k. However, one thing to keep in mind, if you plan on using pboooost on your w2k system, it won't be fully functional on a fat32 format. To use pbooost with w2k, you need NTFS. Since both my OS's are on the same partition, I have to use fat32 and do without the benefits of the full pbooost, which is a bummer for poser. And I can't ditch ME or any other 9x kernal because older software like DanceStudio, etc, only run on the 9x kernal. Soooooo.......... Best advice is to partition your drive. Load ME new on one partition as fat32. Load w2k on the other partition as NTFS. Load Poser 4/PP twice, once under each OS. Sounds like a pain? well, if you have both OS's on the same partition its less drive space, but due to program incompatibility such as pbooost, its also a pain. There ain't no fixing it. Unless you don't use any software that demands the 9x kernal. I can't say if XP is the one stop shopping center. Maybe it is, dunno. Anyone care to comment? Oh, and I hate XP home, prefer XP pro.

Hmmm, come to think of it, if you have a second physical drive, or a third logical drive, and format to fat32, you can load poser there, and reload to the same directory in your other OS. That way you can load your DAZ and other stuff only once. Might be worth a try. Reason I say Fat32 is that win2k will recognize a fat drive but ME will not recognize a NTFS drive from what i recall.

Thanks again. I have two hardrives, and my Poser is on the D drive. Windows, of course, is on the C drive. Will that make a difference? Thanks, Nancy

ME. (shudder) Yeah, I'd upgrade to either 2K or XP. A ditto here for a full install instead of an upgrade. Less headache, but since you've got your PC builder doing it, he should be able to handle whatever you choose to do. Just make sure he has checked the compatibility lists at Microsoft. A lot of times you'll find links to where hardware drivers have been updated to run with XP and that will save you a lot of headache. XP Home isn't bad if you have a tech around to hack it into submission. Mine is so tweaked that the rated speed on my laptop processor actually matches the listed speed. I'm running XP with the NTFS, and have an external FAT32, and they work pretty blasted well together. The slowdown in data transfer is negligible. A partition for Poser alone is actually a pretty good plan. It fragments a drive SO fast it's almost unbelievable. A lot easier to separate it and have it not slowing anything else down. And remember ... it's ALWAYS a good idea to do TOTAL system backups every now and then.

Never regretted upgrading to XP Pro... it's very stable on my machine and Poser runs better than ever, Nancy.

Heya Nancy, I upgraded to WinXP not too long ago. It's a bit touchy at times, but it manages more RAM than previous Win OS could do. Best you could do before XP (or W2K) came out was 512MB of RAM. Despite what some may say, older OS's would not manage more than that. If you want to go the XP route, do what is called a "clean install", not an upgrade. I've heard nothing but problems from people who do the upgrade. So, yeah, you will have to reinstall your proggies. There are a few ways around that though... Best thing I do is back up your Poser runtime folder on a portable/removable hard drive. You can get a 40GB drive for under 150.00. You can back it up, and then just transfer it after installing Poser. WinXP is also a lot cheaper than W2K, so that's a consideration to make. Any other questions, feel free to IM me :)

I have XP Home....it runs without a hitch...My Epson 800, Umax 2200u scanner all work. I have yet to have a hardware conflict...lucky ??? :) My digital camera works without installing drivers..plugged in the usb cable..bang, it works :) XP is by far the best OS I've used... I have w2k on my laptop...quite frankly i hate it....but, as you can see from this short thread, each of us have our own favorite OS LOL... You will probably do well with XP home or Pro, or w2k.. but as everyone suggested...I did buy XP HOme upgrade, and did the upgrade over my original 98SE install...big problems...I had to reformat my hard drive and install fresh... NOTE: you can install the full XP from the upgrade version...you just need to insert a 95/98/me CD in for a check...so save some cash and get the upgrade, not the full bore...unless you plan to throw away the old CDs :) And the upgrade IS the full version..it isn't depending on anything else...just the old os check via cd....

OS upgrades over older os's simply suck. Have workstations at the office that were win95, then 98, then ME then XP Pro. One of these days, we'll be fdisking and loading xp pro from scratch. Over half our problems are upgrade issues. The other half are software incompatability issues.

I run poser Pro Pack on XP, however my system isn't a typical system from what i've seen people say. I run XP on a 1.3mHz system with 1gig ram, 180gig hd, 64meg vid. Poser runs smooth, and haven't had any problem with it. Some people say XP has alotta problems to it, however I have had yet to experience one of them, guess XP likes me ;). Anyhoo, it runs great for me but im betting it has alot to do with your system. Next step for me is a dual processor system, gotta start saving up.

I'm a huge fan of XP and feel crippled on a 9x box. If your tech is experienced, I wouldn't worry about the upgrade. My only suggestions: Have at least a half-gig of RAM. If you like to run Photoshop and Poser at the same time (such as when texturing), then a full gig of RAM is a good idea. Also, I would ask the tech not to convert the C drive's (where the operating system resides) FAT32 partition to NTFS. I can't explain the reasoning behind this without offering pathetic geek lingo, so I'll just say it is a matter of convenience.

Do your homework. Check compatability on hardware and software. If you get Windows XP, you'll most likely need to update or replace your Antivirus and/or Utility programs, and maybe even your CD burner software. Are you prepared to invest that money? Before you decide on Windows XP Home or Pro versions, research. Do you need the extra stuff in the Pro version? Most average users do not. If you don't need the stuff, save yourself $100. If you're ready to make the plunge, do some advanced prep work. Find the Windows XP version of all your hardware drivers. Find any available updates for your software. Backup all important data. Once you've done your prep work, you're ready. You might want to wipe your hard drives and reinstall everything from scratch. Once Windows XP is installed, you want to immediately go to the Windows Update site and take any updates available. Yes, Immediately!

XP for me has been as close to perfect of an OS as one can get without switching to Redhat. ;) Poser runs great as does Bryce 5. To use XP to your advantage it helps to be more of a power user than just a regular pc user. If you get in to XP and turn off all the bells and whistles, it is stable, fast, and reliable.

yeah...I love XP :) It blows my mind on installing hardware, especially usb stuff... even my officejet printer...it just works...plug it in, XP recognizes, and viola... I haven't had a crash...OS Blue screen type, since I installed XP...yes, there are some program crashes, but they close, and the system is ready to go.

Thank you everyone for your advise. I appreciate it very much. The guy who will be installing it built the PC and does this for a living so I have confidence that he knows what he is doing, or at least I hope he does, lol. I am willing to invest money if I need new software. The printer may not work with XP as it is a very old one but it is time for a new printer anyway. Thanks again, Nancy

I agree very strongly to useing a full "clean installe"version of XP.The upgrades can and do cause problems for many people. But think about this...for a little bit more than the cost of buying XP,you can purchase a new tower with XP already installed. Not talking about a high end "gamer"state of the art number...but a good solid made for XP machine. For about $225.00 more than what I would have paid for XP alone...I got XP inside of a 1.3mhz,40 gig hard drive,512mg ram,Cd burning machine(with 6 months free AOL).Photoshop,Illustrator,Painter,Poser4,Vue d'Esprit,ZBrush and Indesign all run fast,smooth and no crashes since I've had it(1 year). Don't get rid of your old machine,but network the two of them togeather...you can be rendering on one machine,and doing other things on the other(like posting your images I like to look at). Think you'll be better off in the long run. SWAMP

I did the exact thing you're trying to do about a year ago, however I have an HP Pavilion (won't buy another one) computer that is only 800 MHz, 512 RAM. I ran the compatibility check (from CD and web) that showed most of my hardware (printer and scanners-all HP) as well as some software (not Poser or 3D apps) would not run on it. The best thing to do prior to upgrading, if you go that route, is to do the compatibility scan, print the list out, and go to all the sites for your hardware/software and download XP patches for them. Once you've upgraded your system (you have the option of saving your earlier OS if things don't work out), you can patch everything. Some software may need to be uninstalled prior to the upgrade and then reinstalled after. One program in particular was Microsoft Office (2000). You would think of all programs this wouldn't be an issue. Once you've got XP installed, when you run some of the XP patches a box may appear saying it isn't compatible with this version of Windows or is unsigned or whatever. Generally you just click OK and continue with the update. I haven't had any problems with XP other than a few program hangs and that stupid box popping up asking me if I want to send the info. to Microsoft. Occasionally I do if I'm online at the time. Windows ME is a piece of crap, although on my slower machine it seemed to run faster. XP is more user friendly and seems to fix things by itself instead of user interaction.

I tried to do an upgrade from ME to XP for a friend, boy do I wish I'd never agreed to do it. It was an absolute nightmare from start to finish, in the end I had to wipe out all existence of WinMe & do an install of Win98 to get the machine to take XP. I would either go for a full install involving formatting the harddrive or buy a new machine & do what SWAMP said :)

Well I love my W2k, I have never crashed poser4 yet or any other program, except Poser5. That is why it's not on my work station. I use my old gateway 2nd98 just for the internet. Word and pro paint. Once I got poser off this machine it went from crashing 4-5 times a day to rare crash.

partition your drive. Give yourself a data partition and a "Windows" partiton. Make them both NTFS, easier to recover data from. If you make the windows partition FAT32 then upgrade to NTFS later the conversion takes ages and makes the block size too small, been there, done that :) XP (I'm using XP pro) is a fairly solid OS, never had it die on me, it's got a bit flaky once or twice, but I've not had to re-install yet or muck about with it that much. Just make sure sure you turn off all the eye candy and "hand holding" wizards, (unless you think you need them) as that will make it much faster and less cluttered. You can compress the filesystems, but it takes longer to access your data and apart from turning the text blue doesn't accomplish much. later jb

Thank you very much, everyone. It is much appreciated! Warm Regards, Nancy

There is a program on the Microsoft website you can download that will check your system for XP compatibality, it will tell you which drivers you will need, and any software issues that may exist. I upgraded to XP Home this past summer, and will never go back, my system has not crashed once since.

eh, that program doesn't report all things properly ;) but it does let ya know if there will be issues by saying that the device may not be compatable. It didn't reconize my network card or my sound card but they both function properly in XP, The CD even had the drivers for them :D

whbos,

"I haven't had any problems with XP other than a few program hangs and that stupid box popping up asking me if I want to send the info. to Microsoft. Occasionally I do if I'm online at the time."

Right-click My Computer. Left-click Properties. Select the Advanced tab up at the top. Now look for the button near the bottom of that Advanced page called "Error Reporting." It's just above the Cancel button. Inside that Error Reporting option, you can turn off that notify MS nonsense.

hey, lol, thanks thats one i didn't notice ;) every once in awhile i'll do something i 'think' will crash a program (sure enough it does lol) and i get them messages. Thx hated having to click 'don't send' every time.

Software isn't E.T. It shouldn't phone home. :-)