I have a new computer that uses Windows Vista. I am using a CD-RW to copy files. When I place the CD in the old computer that runs Windows XP, the CD is BLANK. It works fine in the new computer.
It's driving me crazy. I can't figure out why this is happening.
Is there a reasonable explanation ?
Jeannette

Are you sure you actually performed the set "burn these files to CD". Otherwise they'll still be sitting in the Vista work area, always there for you.

Or because it's a RW, maybe you need to finalise it.

John,
I have been reading about CD's and it says there is no need to finalize a disc. I am using CD-RW.
The odd thing is that I can transfer photos with no problem at all. It's when I try to transfer Word Documents that it does not work on the old computer which uses Windows XP. The files ARE on the CD RW and I can open them in Windows Vista but not on the old computer.
Again,no problem in transferring photos.
Jeannette

Try going to the microsoft site and seeing if you need a translator to be downloaded so that you can interchange between an older and newer version of word.

Most new versions of software can reed ald version files, the reverse in NOT ALWAYS true

Have you tried the process the other way? Burn on the XP and Read on the Vista? sounds like a driver incompatibility.

Thanks everyone for trying to help me.

Here is the latest.
I tried to burn some word documents from the old computer (running XP) to the new one (Windows Vista). It worked fine. I was able to copy and view the files in the new computer.

On the new computer, I wrote a word document, burnt it on the same CD RW disc and when I tried to open it in the OLD computer, it tells me that "windows cannot open the file. It needs to know what program created it". I go to the list of programs and clicked on "word" and when it opens I get a bunch of gibberish and rows of tiny little squares.

What next ? It must have to do with the different versions of word programs. How do I make them compatible ?
Thanks

Personally I think it's a ploy of software companies to force people to upgrade

One way round it used to be

when you save a file using the new software, you should be able to select the file format. There should be a format there that you can use so that the file is readable by both versions of your software.

It should show something like

WordXP
Wordvista etc

(These are file types I made up as I dont have vista, but you get the idea)

Thanks, Steve.
I'll keep trying. Will let you know if it works.
Jeannette

Have a look here, I just found this

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=941B3470-3AE9-4AEE-8F43-C6BB74CD1466&displaylang=en

it worked !!
If on my new computer I save the word document to "word 97-2003", it will work in the old computer. The new computer uses Word 2007.

Now, I see the website you quoted. Unfortunately, I don't have the old computer hooked up to the Internet, so I can't really download any new upgrades.
But I think this will work.
Thanks again for all your help.
Jeannette

your welcome - glad to assist

I was just trying to view some data on a memory stick, on my older desktop XP. The data was saved on my laptop/Vista.
This has saved me researching the problem. thanks!!

Your welcome as well Pam. Its an old problem that rears its ugly head at software upgrade times.

For commercial users it's a time of hell as you can imagine. Not everyone upgrades at the same time

What's really annoying, Steve, is that all their literature says that Windows Vista programs are compatible with Windows XP. So, I did not expect to encounter so much difficulty.

that, unfortunatly is Microsoft

You can understand though, if new fonts are introduced that weren't around when the previous software was developed.

Oh I can understand that, but that is not the case here. The cause is with the change of operating system, they have improved the formatting of the document in whatever way, the only trouble is that the new style document cannot generally be read down (in versions) but will always be able to be read up as they would never put a new version out that could not read older versions documents.

In different words, front up and pay up to stay abrest of developments

But of course, why wouldn't you ;-)

LOL

Jeanette,

In your MS Word 2007 on your Vista machine, set your Save options to default to "word 97-2003" as you have found out.

Now all your new documents you create and save with MS Word 2007 will be compatible with the MS Word on your XP machine. Also save your previously created MS Word 2007 documents to another name so that they are defaulted to the "backward" compatible format.

I've just encountered your issue while trying to setup my brother's new laptop and a new install of MS Office 2003. So since MS Office 2003, Microsoft has been tweaking document formats so that there are compatibility issues with prior versions. If you have any Powerpoint documents I'm sure the same type of issues are occurring as there is the option to default save options to be compatible with prior options.

Patrick

Thank you, VirtualPatrick.
That's what I've been doing, saving my Word 07 documents into the 2003 format.

Now, I have another question for you "techie experts"...

On Windows Vista, when I want to burn a CD, I have 2 choices, use the Live File System or the old "mastered" option.
If I choose the Live File System, I can copy files to the disc immediately without having to burn them.
However, it asks me to Format the disc and this takes a long time. I don't want to have to format each disc to use the Live File System. Are there discs that come pre-formatted for this system ?

Jeannette

It can be convenient to use CDs like flash memory but ready some of the downside coments at http://www.online-tech-tips.com/cool-websites/vista-live-file-system/ ...

Thanks for the great link, Agraichen. I have bookmarked it.

I am surprised that it does not address the issue of formatting the DVD or the CD. It does take a long time for it to format...maybe 2 minutes or so. The "mastered" method is actually faster.
Also the compatibility of the Live File method is certainly something to consider. I still have my old computer that runs XP and I want my DVDsCDs to play in both computers.
I don't know about this Windows Vista. I was perfectly happy with XP :-)
Jeannette

I noticed this thread last week, and though I don't understand all the technical stuff, remembered it when I started having problems with Vista. I wanted to see pictures on CD created by my old PC [=XP} on laptop with Vista.
I tried and lost everything. The message was that the CD was not formatted, and obviously I must have allowed the new system to do this and as a result lost all.
Does this mean I will not be able to see any of my hundreds of Cds on the laptop?
BTW I am only semi- computer-literate, so simple explanations please!

You can view these photo CD's on your old computer (XP)though , is that right?
I can view my photo CDs made on XP, on my Vista laptop.