DreamThrall
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- Oct 14, 2003
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I installed Win7 on my wife's laptop over her old XP installation. While you can't do an upgrade from XP to Win7, what it does let you do is still do a clean installation without reformatting the disk. All your files from your XP installation (anything in the documents and settings and program files folder) get moved into a Windows.old folder in the new installation. Any non-standard directories on the install drive are left as-is. So, while it won't automatically migrate your settings (there's another tool for that - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...8C-691B-4B36-B7AD-6C604BE4C595&displaylang=en you'll need to install/run this on your XP install BEFORE you install win7), they'll be there for you to manually copy over as required. All your stuff in your my documents folder will be there to copy over as well.
As far as XP mode - you need to check to make sure your processor supports virtualization, as not all of them do - not even all core duos do! If your process doesn't support virtualization, XP mode will not work for you. I tried it on my wife's laptop (whose core solo processor surprisingly does support virtualization) and it worked wonderfully, though it was a bit slow because it was on a single core proc. If you've ever used a VM, it's the same type of experience - in fact, it's essentially just Virtual PC with a specific image you download.
I've got win7 ultimate running on two laptops now, one upgraded from XP and the other from vista business, so if you've got any questions about the install process or using it in general, I'd be happy to answer.
Also regarding ultimate - unless you want/use the BitLocker stuff, you're better off just getting the home premium or business version. All ultimate does is give you bitlocker, some other useless extras, and cost you more money.
As far as XP mode - you need to check to make sure your processor supports virtualization, as not all of them do - not even all core duos do! If your process doesn't support virtualization, XP mode will not work for you. I tried it on my wife's laptop (whose core solo processor surprisingly does support virtualization) and it worked wonderfully, though it was a bit slow because it was on a single core proc. If you've ever used a VM, it's the same type of experience - in fact, it's essentially just Virtual PC with a specific image you download.
I've got win7 ultimate running on two laptops now, one upgraded from XP and the other from vista business, so if you've got any questions about the install process or using it in general, I'd be happy to answer.
Also regarding ultimate - unless you want/use the BitLocker stuff, you're better off just getting the home premium or business version. All ultimate does is give you bitlocker, some other useless extras, and cost you more money.
