64-bit Vista and Windows Easy Transfer (File and Settings Transfer Wizard)
I had built a new computer last December (thanks http://www.newegg.com/). I received all the hardware and loaded up Vista x64 and have been loving the Vista experience since. However I have not enjoyed the x64 experience.
Things I discovered while on x64:
- MP3 players that can’t sync with Media Player don’t and have no intention of supporting x64 (I returned the iPod I bought my wife, in exchange for an Insignia – Best Buy’s brand)
- Anti-Virus were very slow to support x64 (also free AV programs charge for their x64 version)
- Driver support for Vista was slow, more so for x64
Also I had constant video driver issues. For those that aren’t aware, Vista has a new feature where the drivers can crash and be recovered. The OS basically restarts the driver, however the hardware the driver interfaces with is unavailable during the restart. In my case it was the video driver. I would be working and all of a sudden my monitor would go dark and come back in a couple seconds with a notification that the video driver had stopped. I had specifically spec’d the computer for Vista (video card – eVGA 7600GT) and have tried the newest drivers with no avail. Not to mention during game play (WOW), I had screen tearing and color problems constantly.
So I finally decided to "downgrade" to x32. I started out by using the Windows Easy Transfer to backup the files and settings for 4 users (was about 1 GB). Loaded up the x32 and started to restore from Window Easy Transfer.
Now a little background, in Windows XP there was the File and Setting Transfer Wizard, which I’ve never had a great experience with. I’ve used it going from XP to XP machines. I backed up the settings and reloaded the computer doing all the updates and went to restore the settings only to find out it didn’t work. This was due to the version, evidently there is a hot fix that essentially "upgrades" the Transfer Wizard in XP, and of course it comes through window update. The newer version states the image file can’t be used, no explanation why or what can be done. So to restore, I had to uninstall this Hotfix. You’d think the newer version should be able to read backups from the old version, but hey who doesn’t love spending a half hour getting to know Google.
The last time I used it was when I moved to Vista. I moved from x32 XP to x64 Vista. However when doing this the Settings couldn’t be transferred and the files couldn’t be put in the proper place, due to Vista being so different. All it could do was restore the files to a generic location and I had to put them in the appropriate user profiles. While not ideal, I understood and it didn’t take that long.
So back to Saturday, I loaded up x32 Vista and started the restore. And to my surprise I got a single message stating that x64 backups can’t be restored on x32. No option for just restoring the files to a generic location, No option to do anything. The only option I had was to close the application. Nowhere was this information disclosed prior to the restore attempt, which of course is the last place you want to see there’s a problem. I’m not sure what is so different about a desktop and screen saver settings between x32 and x64, but why couldn’t I at least get the files themselves?
So guess what I got to do? I got to load x64 back on the machine, restore through the wizard (which actually was pretty cool when it let me do it, the wizard was even able to create the user accounts). Then copy the individual files and reload the computer back to x32 bit and recopy the files.
As you can imagine my Saturday afternoon project, turned into a weekend project which I finished Sunday evening. Hopefully this solves my screen tearing issues, I’d hate to have to go back to XP on it, just to play games. 
1. Your right http://www.NewEgg.com rocks!
2. Thank you for saving me a tremendous amount of time because stupid Microsoft didn’t feel it was important to mention you can’t Transfer from x64 to x32 anywhere on their site. You saved me an entire weekend worth of swearing.