It’s getting to be that time folks.
Windows 7 will soon be available for you to get in your grimy paws and while it won’t be much of a problem to upgrade from Vista the same path from XP isn’t going to be so easy. Now I could make this a post a whole bunch of quotes but instead I’ll give you one and pass you the link to a really good post on upgrading from XP.
Unfortunately, Microsoft has not made it easy for XP users to move to Win7. You won’t be able to slap in the upgrade disk and have Win7 install on top of XP, leaving your data and programs in place.
Instead, you have two options:
1. You can do a clean install, in which you wipe the hard drive clean and install virgin copy of Windows 7, then reinstall your software and copy your data back to the drive.
2. You can do a custom install, in which your older setup is squirreled away in a folder called WINDOWS.OLD. This will include your program files, though you won’t be able to run your software from there. It will also include data files, but you probably shouldn’t rely on this as your backup strategy prior to upgrading.
Because you can’t upgrade directly on top of XP, there are some steps you’ll want to take before you install Windows 7 to make the process easier. This game plan also works if you plan to do a clean or custom install on a Windows Vista system.
For the full, and good, post head over to TechBlog where Dwight Silverman will give you the complete lowdown.
It might not be pretty and it might be painful but it’ll get the job done.
Couldn't you just use the backup utility to get everything valuable (or do a Mozy thing to get all the programs, too), and then clean full (non-upgrade) install >> restore data?
Seems like that'd be a simpler path than the custom install.
Though, for the record, I did the custom install upgrade option from Vista to 7 during the beta, and it was relatively painless.
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There's another way: borrow a Vista setup DVD. You don't need a serial # to install Vista, only to activate it, so you can simply take advantage of the allowed upgrade paths, and upgrade XP to Vista, then upgrade Vista to W7. It'll take longer, but you won't need to do the backup/restore dance.
You can also curse Microsoft for not allowing the XP to W7 upgrade path, which is a purely marketing decision – the difference between Vista and W7 isn't that great, so it should be technically possible to go straight from XP to W7. Not that cursing will help, but it'll be a real relief
)
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