Upgrade to Windows 7 from Windows XP

jjones | Guides, Windows 7 | 29/10/2009 17:19pm
3 Comments

Unfortunately, you can’t use the upgrade button in Windows XP to migrate to Windows 7. Instead, you have to perform a custom installation, which can mean formatting the hard drive Windows XP is installed on and starting again from scratch. You will probably discover that the Upgrade Advisor finds a number of problems with both your hardware devices and software programs, so expect to spend a bit of time checking for driver and program updates.

This means that it’s vital that you back up your key files and settings before you start the Windows 7 installation process. You can use the Windows Easy Transfer tool on your Windows 7 disc to do this, but if you have enough back-up space we also recommend taking a failsafe backup of your entire hard drive in case you forget to include something important in the backup – see http://snipurl.com/qnj2s for a complete guide using free software.

If the idea of being able to transfer all your programs, settings and files with the minimum of fuss makes you jealous of Windows Vista users, there is a third-party solution in the form of PCmover (£33.26, www.laplink.com/pcmover). One caveat: it can’t tell you which programs are and aren’t compatible, so you need to manually de-select those programs marked as incompatible by the Upgrade Advisor.

EASY TRANSFER WIZARD Find this in the support/migwiz folder on the Windows 7 DVD

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 29th, 2009 at 5:19 pm and is filed under Guides, Windows 7. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.