Thread: Installing Windows 7

Give this a go.

Download details: Windows Easy Transfer for transferring from Windows XP (32 bit) to Windows 7

I've read this and downloaded and run Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor.
I plan to install the extra 2 gig of RAM before running the Upgrade Advisor again, hopefully it will say that I can go 64 bit.

I'm mainly interested in corresponding with anyone who has actually done the upgrade. It's not essential for me to go to W7, but if the extra power and spped is noticeable why not.

Do a clean install - you're going from a 32 bit OS to a 64 bit one as well as XP to W7 and trying to transfer your old system over is just not worth the fiddle.

Use the easy transfer utility to back up your stuff to an external drive, but don't expect it to pick up all the settings in all the programs you might use. Make sure you have a list of your important passwords and accounts, as well as your login and connection settings for your ISP.

Before you start, take the time to download all the 64-bit drivers (motherboard, video card, wi-fi card, whatever) for your computer, as well as any 64-bit versions of programs if they are not on the install discs; 32-bit programs will generally run, but can be rough around the edges (ie Word 97 needs an extra package installed if you actually want to use its help feature) and will generally pop up a security warning every time you go to run it.

There's not a huge upgrade in speed, and I'm still getting occasional mouse freezes on my W7. If there's no hurry, wait till SP1. If you are mad keen for a speed upgrade, install a good solid state disk and migrate your main XP partition to that!

I'd also do a clean install, but I'd put a new hard drive in first and install it on that. Keep your old hard drive in case you run into problems. You can then add your old drive as a slave drive, and move your data across that way.

I've been using Windows 7 with 4 gig ram for a while now, and have had zero problems. Connects to my wireless network effortlessly, and runs really quickly for me.

I wouldn't bother with the 64 bit version. There's very little software specifically designed for it at this stage.

I have two desktops that came with XP SP3 and a free upgrade to Win7 (Dell machines). The upgrade process worked ok, but the machines were specifically configured by Dell when they arrived to be ready for the upgrade. For other machines, I'd start from scratch.

ajw.

Check you can get win 7 drivers for your printer and stuff.

Do a fresh install.

No point doing it unless you get the 64 bit version (only $10 -$20 more).

If you really want to feel a difference then install onto a solid state drive (32 or 64GB SSD will do) and use your existing drive as data storage.



Moving your XP system to a SSD will not give you as dramatic increase as win7 on SSD. XP does not know how to deal with the finer points of a SSD.

If you do install a SSD turn off defrag, it will only wear out your expensive Solid State Drive.

Thanks for the info guys. As I said I don't NEED to go to W7. It's no big deal installing the new operating system, just the thought of getting all my favourite settings back and whether or not all my programs will run makes me kinda nervous.

Many older hardware items may not have a 64bit drivers available. Seems that is the big downside of 64 bit - getting drivers for your existing hardware.

32 bit Windows can only see about 3 gig of RAM, installing more is a waste. This is the upside of 64 bit - it can address more than 3 gig of RAM.

But more than 3 gig of RAM is really only useful if you are doing really intensive memory hogging stuff like video editing or Photoshop using really big files.

For average Joe, 32 bit, 3 gig of RAM, good graphics card and a big hard disk drive should be all you need.

Solid state disk drives are much faster - you will see your boot times and program load times drop dramatically. But they are small, expensive and the length of their useful lives is yet to be established. For me, I will wait another generation or 2.

Cheers,

Dan

Why don't you run with both operating systems, I partitioned my hard drive and did a clean install of Win7. It takes a little while to get the hang of Win7 so its handy to have XP (I use to have Vista but gave that up as a bad job) as well, I did a duel boot set up because my Win7 was not compatible with my printer and there was no update for the drivers although the printer worked in a fashion with the basic drivers Win7 installed, there were some functions I could not use.

Thanks for all the info guys. After a slight "tune up" the system is running like clockwork again, so no need to bother with any changes. The dramas involved in installing a new O/S are just not worth it when the current config is working just fine.
Once again thanks for the info.

I'm a bit late to the game, but where I'd normally recommend a clean install of any M$ OS, I've been very pleasantly surprised by Win7.

As with many OS upgrades, a significant number of older SW just will not run under W7, even in compatibility mode, which means a fresh install isn't an option.

I've yet to do an install over XP that has failed in any way... except for when the XP installation itself had serious inherent problems.

Microsoft finally got something right!

My only complaint - which is really just a minor whinge - is that they've changed the way that dual-booting is handled. W7 will set itself up as the "default" OS - ie. the one the 'puta will automagically boot into after a reset - which is normally well and good, but if you want to change it to set XP as the default then you have to use W7's own boot-loader. And that bootldr, BCDEDIT is... wel... let's just say that it's daunting to the uninitiated.

I prefer XP's method where a simple change to a text ini file did the deed.

Still, I'm very, very impressed with W7. And any-one who knows me will know that that's no mean praise from me.