Upgrading xp to windows 7

I think this is a hassle, but in the case of XP to 7, it's necessary. I was asked to "upgrade" a relative's machine from Windows XP to Windows 7, so I figured this was a good time to write-up the experience in case it helps others.

Disclaimer: I do work for Microsoft, but I don't work with the Win7 team so this is just one dude's opinion. If this walkthrough paralyzes your hamster or causes you any emotional distress, we never spoke and I don't know you.

You found it on the intertubes for free, so what do you expect. Good luck. The machine is years old, so I didn't think a Windows 7 install would be unreasonable. Personally, I wish that there was a "migrate your settings from Windows XP" button or something on this page. It's a great feature and it's not advertised enough. The problem here, and with most OS installs regardless of vendor is that, at some point, reading and comprehension is required. Unless you're lucky enough to just click "next, next, next, finish," you need to read.

The instructions that show up at this point shown at right have a section on "Upgrading from Windows XP. They probably named it migsetup. I've never see an "Easy Transfer cable" in the real world, but apparently they do exist on Amazon.

Fortunately I had a small external hard drive, so I just used that since both the "old" and "new" computer were the same machine. Next it found the 3 accounts on this XP machine as well as Shared Items and started tallying them up. It spends some time 15 minutes or so in my case estimating just how much non-Program data is on the machine. In our case, it was about 15 gigs of Photos and general crap. It shows you what user has what stuff. It also has a nice, but subtle, customize link under each name you should click on.

You can be very specific as to the folders and settings you care about. Hit next and wait a while. I waited about an hour, but it was telling me what was up the whole time.

Next, I actually installed Windows 7. I decided to let Windows 7 format the hard drive so I could start from scratch. I could have just installed 7 over the top, but the hard drive was a bit untidy, so I just took the opportunity to start fresh.

At this point, remember that nothing has been transferred and I have a fresh Windows 7 machine. When you see the list of names in the migration file, click Customize. You'll have to wait a while again, I waited about an hour. After the process is done, you get the option for very detailed report. It shows not only what was transferred in detail but also a list of applications "you might want to install. This was very helpful as it reminded me of the different apps I needed to get on this machine to make it ready for my relative.

It's true that this isn't an "upgrade" as it's a "migration" but an hour or so later I was all set and my relative had a machine with all the things they were used to exactly where they expected them to be. Documents, Photos, Accounts, all brought over cleanly. It even remembered that their daughter wasn't an admin and brought over the Parental Controls settings. If you've got an XP machine and you're looking to go Windows 7, I recommend you at least give this built-in tool a look.

It saved me a few hours of setup at least and brought over settings that I'd have had to recreate. Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

Sponsored By. About Scott Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee.

About Newsletter. Hosting By. Share on Twitter or Facebook or use the Permalink. August 04, Any reason you didn't consider creating a new OS partition out of the free space, installing on that and then moving files over? Nice post and it's good to get another perspective beyond the two obvious paths to upgrade, namely the pave my machine or upgrade twice via Vista options. I had considered moving many more machines to Windows 7 until I read there is no way to upgrade from the release candidate to the final version.

I can understand having no upgrade path from XP to Windows 7, but I don't understand why I can't just type in a license key when the final version is released? The expiry date of Windows 7 RC is June 1, This time situation is slightly different as compared to Windows Vista Release. Windows 7 has gained lot of popularity due to Customer Preview program and many Windows Xp users are in favor of Windows 7.

So a big chunk of Windows XP users will be expecting to upgrade to Windows 7 unfortunately there is no direct upgrade option is available from Windows XP to Windows 7. You need to perform clean installation of Windows 7 by formatting your Windows XP or install on different hard drive partition keeping XP and Windows 7 in dual boot mode.

Does this seems lengthy process?? Continue reading step by step guide to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7. Before proceeding for guide make arrangement for either external hard disk or USB flash drive or you can use another computer of your network. Download Windows 7 RC bit or bit. Once Scanning is completed customize your profile and share items to add and remove folders and files you want to include.

When you perform a custom installation of Windows 7, files that were used in the earlier version of Windows are stored in a Windows. This folder can be removed once instillation is complete to recover space. Click Yes, open the file. Browse to the location where the Easy Transfer file was saved. Click the file name, and then click Open. Click Transfer to transfer all files and settings.

You can also determine which files should be migrated by selecting only the user profiles you want to transfer, or by clicking Customize. Above guide will only help you in keeping Windows XP Profiles and Settings however you will need to reinstall all your programs in Windows 7. Thank you so much. It works. Finally, once its installed, some of your drivers that's what connects the software to the hardware may be missing.

Your Realtek AC'97 Audio driver will be this can be downloaded from Realtek search in the start menu for devices. The ones that have a yellow symbol next to them are either missing or not compatible with windows 7. Click on them and click update driver. If you have a USB port you may be able to install through that instead. I would recommend updating to Windows 10 though, as Windows 8 was not one of the better operating systems made by Microsoft. Yes No. Not Helpful 0 Helpful 0.

Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. Back up anything on your drive unless you don't want it. Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0. Submit a Tip All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published. You Might Also Like How to. How to. Co-authors: 4. Updated: June 3, Categories: Windows 7.

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