• Illustration: Vista Assessment Reports

The free Windows Vista Hardware Assessment (VHA) tool is designed to help an organization understand the requirements for upgrading computers to Windows Vista. The tool, which inventories computers on an organization's network without installing an agent on the computers, is simple to install and run, but there can be problems connecting to some computers, and the results can be incomplete and inaccurate.

Detects Compatible Hardware, Devices

The VHA is a wizard that can detect and check computers on a network that are running a version of Windows that supports Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), such as Windows XP SP2, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows Server 2003 (including R2), or Windows 2000 Server.

The tool identifies which computers can already run Vista and which computers might be able to run Vista with upgraded hardware, summarizing the information in the following custom reports:

• A Word document for business decision-makers that summarizes the results in a report with charts and tables
• An Excel workbook for IT implementers that uses spreadsheets containing detailed inventory and assessment data.

(For a sample of the reports, see the illustration "Vista Assessment Reports".)

The tool, which complements tools already released as part of Microsoft's Business Desktop Deployment Solution Accelerator, can use an organization's Active Directory to locate the computers and can also use Windows networking protocols to find computers in workgroups. Firewalls and lack of an administrator ID with associated password for each computer can reduce the number of computers included in the assessment. For computers the VHA does detect, the most useful information it provides is a list of hardware devices for which there are device drivers available and whether those drivers are on the installation media, downloadable from Windows Update, or must be downloaded from the hardware manufacturer.

Most disappointing is the inability of the tool to provide a complete and accurate list of the applications running on the computers, particularly applications that might have compatibility problems. Systems Management Server (SMS), although not free, may be a better tool for planning upgrades, because it can inventory both hardware and software and provide detailed reports.

Resources

For a detailed description of the Business Desktop Deployment Solution Accelerator, see "Desktop Deployment Accelerator Updated" on page 22 of the Mar. 2007 Update.

Microsoft's Desktop Deployment Web site, which has the latest information and tools for upgrading desktops to Windows Vista and Office 2007, is located at www.microsoft.com/technet/desktopdeployment/default.mspx.

The Windows Vista Hardware Assessment Tool can be downloaded for free from www.microsoft.com/technet/solutionaccelerators/hardwareassessment/wv/default.mspx.