upgrading windows xp to windows 7

[Vicky]

how do you upgrade windows xp to windows 7

[eliphas0]

Well thats a bit complicated. Sort of

First thing you need to do is go to

Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor

Download the Upgrade Advisor and Run it. The advisor will tell you how well you PC that your wanting to upgrade will run 7.

From what I'm reading an In Place Upgrade from XP to 7 does not tend to work well. Matter of fact Microsoft is strongly recommending a clean install. As a Tech I can assure that is still the best idea (backup & clean install). Even the Upgrade Editions of 7 will be a full copy with a special "Upgrade Key". Meaning it will only activate if there was a previous Operating system in place (Vista or XP).



Secondly BACK UP YOUR DATA I cannot stress this enough BACK UP YOUR DATA & FILES. You can do this either by manually copying you Documents, Pictures, Music .ect To another Hard drive or Blank Media (CDs & DVDs). You will have to reinstall all your programs so you may want to make a list of what you use or how you have things like Outlook or Firefox (pluggins) configured. (Firefox & IE both have an export option for saving your Bookmarks). You can also use the Windows Easy Transfer wizard contain on the Win 7 disk (see link).

Once you have everything backed up. Check it again. Make sure you got everything otherwise it will be gone.

Once everything is ready pop in you Windows 7 disc, restart your PC and boot from the DVD-ROM drive and follow the prompts. Installation can take 20 minutes - 90 minutes. Just be patient the system will reboot a few times. You only have to tell it to boot from the disc the first time. After that just let it do the work.

This tutorial should help as well

How to Upgrade Windows XP To Windows 7

NOTE: I am currently attempting the upgrade from XP on a Virtual Machine at this moment,, I'll post any notes here.

[eliphas0]

I couldn't start the upgrade process. as I only have an X64 (64 Bit) verison of Windows 7 and unfortnately at this time. M$ Virtual PC only supports X86 (32 Bit).

[Vicky]

Thanks, I'll probably take it to a computer repair shop to have my win xp upgraded to windows 7

[eliphas0]

Good idea make sure to run the Upgrade Advisor before you do. Also you should ask them to set it up in a Dual boot Configuration. This will give you the ability to switch between XP & 7.