If you currently have Windows XP, and you want to upgrade to Windows 7, you may be disappointed to find that there really isn’t an “upgrade” option… and the option that is available is going to include some work! Users all across the nation are reporting problems related to the install of Microsoft’s new OS, but the majority of the complaints and problems are related to Windows XP to 7 upgrades.
Here is the catch – there is no true upgrade from XP. In order to move from Windows XP to Windows 7, you have to do a full install (also known as a “clean” install). During the “upgrade” process your Windows XP installation is renamed to windows.old, and then Windows 7 is installed in the windows directory. This moving of the folders does away with the existing registry which is not transitioned over to the new install, which will cause all user settings, application settings, and system wide settings to disappear.
What does all of this mean to you, the end user? It means that after “upgrading” from XP to Windows 7, you’ll have to re-install all of your applications! As well as move your data, documents, and pictures back over into your new user account. It is a daunting task for anyone wanting to undertake it… if you are a business, you can of course call us and we’ll be glad to do the install for you. For the others, see below for some best practice steps for the upgrade.
RECOMMENDED UPGRADE STEPS
for XP to Windows 7 installs
Before starting the upgrade, it is recommended to make sure that you have all the necessary cds or installation files and license codes in order to reinstall your software after the upgrade.
- Fully backup all of your documents, pictures, music, etc. to an external hard drive or another external source.
- Check and double check your backup – make sure that you got everything!
- An extra-safe step here, or maybe we could call it a “time saving step” would be to go ahead and download drivers for your machines and burn them to a cd. If your manufacturer’s website doesn’t have Windows 7 drivers, just download the Vista drivers instead. Windows 7 will likely find most of your hardware automatically, but if it doesn’t, you’ll be ready.
- Put the CD in, as the installation starts, choose “Custom Install” – not “Upgrade”. The upgrade will fail on XP, you must do the custom install option. A warning will pop-up saying that it will rename your current install from “Windows” to “Windows.old”, click ok and the install will start.
- You’ll go through several reboots and “copying files” boxes… but eventually it will complete the install.
- You’ll be prompted to setup your password, time zones, time and date, etc. and will complete the boot into Windows.
- If there are any driver related issues, you’ll most likely know about those at this point and be prompted for driver disks.
- Re-install all of your applications.
- Copy your data files from your backup and/or out of the windows.old directory into their proper place on the new system.
- After you are confident everything is up and running, and you have all of your old data moved over, you can delete the windows.old directory.
Additional steps that may save you time…
Follow the same steps as above, but after step #2, download and install the “Windows Easy Transfer” program from Microsoft. This is the same user settings backup program that is on Vista by default, it will allow you to backup all of your personal files and settings (such as desktop background, and other user settings) and move them to a new machine. You can download the Easy Transfer program by using the link below:
Run the program and backup all of your data to an external drive – this is a separate backup than the one mentioned in step 1, that backup is our fall back in case things go wrong!
Step #9 would then become a restoration of this backup. Plugin your external drive, and find the file created by the Windows Easy Transfer backup process. It will most likely be named “Windows Easy Transfer–Items from old computer”, double click this and it will prompt you to choose which accounts to move over (usernames – if all them members of your family have accounts to the computer, you’ll see those listed here and be able to restore each). The Easy Transfer program will take care of moving all of your files back to where they belong, and you have two backups in case it doesn’t work, the files in windows.old – and your external backup.
Keep in mind, using the Windows Easy Transfer only copies your documents, images, etc. and personal settings over, you still have to re-install all of the applications.
Conclusion
Well, that is the long and confusing upgrade steps in a nutshell. It is complicated, much more than it should be, it is beyond me why Microsoft would put out a product that won’t allow you to just insert the cd and choose “upgrade” — and upgrade from the most popular Windows operating system, Windows XP! The reality is that they did, and although it isn’t ideal, the above steps do work. Good luck in your endeavor, and feel free to post comments below if you are having issues or just want to chime in on the whole upgrade sham.
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...Tags: upgrade
Just wanted to tell you thank you! for all the great info found on your site, even helped me with my job recently
keep it up!
good article, i will add my feeds.
I have been checking out your blog for the last few hours, and everything has been very informative and well written. I just wanted to let you know that for some reason this post doesn’t seem to work with Firefox. On a side note, I was wondering if you wanted to swap blogroll links? My website is Router Table Plans if you’re interested. I hope to hear from you soon!
Thank you for the kind comments Brooks… on the issue with Firefox, I’ve tested this page (and others) using Firefox and works fine from my end. Email me your info (version numbers, etc.) and I’ll see if I can reproduce.
On that note, one of the things we do when designing a site is fully test it using Internet Explorer 7 and 8 (we stopped supporting IE 6 earlier this year, but can make it compliant there also if the client desires), Firefox 2 and 3, Safari 4, and Google Chrome. In today’s web world it makes no sense to design a site that a certain percentage, no matter how small, cannot view.
Many thanks for your explanation and taking the time to email me as well