Microsoft Assessment and Planning Solution Accelerator (formerly Windows Vista Hardware Assessment)
Overview
SPECIAL NEWS: The Windows Vista Hardware Assessment has been replaced by the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Solution Accelerator. The Microsoft Assessment and Planning Solution Accelerator includes the assessment features provided with the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment but also includes hardware assessment for Windows Server 2008 and assessments for Microsoft Virtualization technologies. The Windows Vista Hardware Assessment Solution Accelerator is an inventory, assessment, and reporting tool that will find computers on a network and determine if they are ready to run the Windows Vista™ operating system or the 2007 Microsoft Office System. The Windows Vista Hardware Assessment Solution Accelerator 2.1 is localized to German, French, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, and Brazilian Portuguese. On This Page
Feature OverviewThe Windows Vista Hardware Assessment Solution Accelerator performs three key functions, including hardware inventory, compatibility analysis, and readiness reporting. Secure and Agentless InventoryThe Windows Vista Hardware Assessment Solution Accelerator provides secure, agentless inventory for up to 25,000 computers. It collects and organizes system resource and device information, network wide and remotely, from a single networked computer. Assessment tools often require users to first deploy software agents on all computers to be inventoried. The Windows Vista Hardware Assessment does not require the deployment of any software agents on the individual computers. The Windows Vista Hardware Assessment Wizard will inventory computers and devices on a network that supports Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) and the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). The wizard cannot use SNMP data alone to perform a Windows Vista assessment for computers. The SNMP data can be used to identify printers and other SNMP devices on the network. The wizard performs the Windows Vista readiness assessment on computers running the following operating systems:
 NoteAll data is securely encrypted between the computer being inventoried and the computer running this tool. Comprehensive Hardware and Device Compatibility AnalysisThe Windows Vista Hardware Assessment provides detailed analysis on hardware and device compatibility for Windows Vista. The tool also provides the option to check for updates to the compatibility data. The analysis identifies which computers are already ready for Windows Vista migration and identifies the computers that could be ready for migration to Windows Vista after hardware upgrades. The tool identifies and recommends hardware upgrades, but does not recommend costly hardware upgrades, such as CPU upgrades. The analysis also determines which hardware devices have device drivers available on the Windows Vista installation DVD, which hardware drivers can be downloaded from Windows Update, and devices which require contacting the manufacturer to obtain a device driver. In-Depth Readiness ReportingThe Windows Vista Hardware Assessment Wizard generates custom reports containing both high-level and detailed assessment results. The results are provided in the following documents:
The Windows Vista Hardware Assessment Solution Accelerator is localized to German, French, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, and Brazilian Portuguese. You can generate the assessment reports in English or any of these languages without reinstalling the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment Solution Accelerator. Simply, change the language used in menus and dialogs (Display Language) to the desired language, run the wizard again, select an existing inventory database, and select the option to generate inventory and assessment reports. The wizard will create another version of the assessment reports in the selected language.
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