Preparing applications for Windows Vista migration

Danielle Ruest

With that in mind, it's no wonder people are reluctant to move to Vista. But with the release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 in the works, more organizations will be ready to migrate to the new OS.

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Nelson Ruest

If you're getting ready to migrate, you have to understand fully how Vista's underlying infrastructure will affect the way your applications work. For example, Microsoft has changed the version number of Windows with Vista to number 6.0. If your application verifies the version number at installation and the Vista version is not listed as acceptable, installation will fail.

More on Microsoft Windows Vista Visit IT Knowledge Exchange and discuss your Windows Vista migration strategy with your peers and colleagues. Finding solutions to application incompatibility in Windows Vista Avoiding software conflicts in Windows Vista migration

X64 versions of Windows will not support 16-bit applications. If you are moving to x64, then you will need to upgrade your 16-bit applications.

Microsoft also modified the way applications access the OS. The applications no longer have access to kernel-mode processes as they did in Windows NT and must run in user-mode only. If your applications require kernel-mode access, you will have to modify them programmatically.

The file system in Vista is also changed, which means you must update applications running at low levels of the OS — such as antivirus engines.

In addition, the Vista Web platform and the .NET Framework have been updated to new versions. Vista now runs Internet Information Services version 7, which is significantly different from previous versions because it is "componentized." In other words, you install only the components you need. All Web and ASP.NET applications that run on desktops will have to be verified.

Finally, the biggest release-related change you face is having to update Windows Installer. Because of the new User Account Control feature in Vista, applications must be trusted in order to update in user mode. Because of this, you should digitally sign your Windows Installer packages so you can then patch applications in standard user mode, which will not require elevated privileges for patching.

Use the following table to review how release-related components change how your applications will work:

There are other modifications that change the way Windows Installer works with packages. Because of this, you should run each of the packages you have through a compatibility checker and upgrade them to Windows Installer version 4.0.

As you can see, migrating to Vista can be a lot of work, especially in terms of application preparation. Make sure you allot enough time in your migration project timelines to adequately prepare each application.