David Esp Video Technical Blog

What I have discovered:

• There is a W7 upgrade product but it only works from Vista, not XP.
• Furthermore, the upgrade to W7 64-bit only works nondestructively from Vista 64-bit.
• So I might as well do a clean install…
  • (Which is probably wise in any case)
• …and from a Full (not Upgrade) version of W7
• Will initially try it on an experimental system disk.
  •  Want to be sure of no significant issues before committing the main system.
• One of the things to confirm is whether any of the (few but vital) progs I have that only run on XP will be able to run in W7’s “Virtual PC” (which has XP SP3).

 Research:

• http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-10437960-285/updating-boot-camp-and-installing-windows-7-on-your-mac/
• http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/91dxIK02xpL.pdf
  • To check if there are any issues with your computer that might affect installing Windows 7, download the free (Microsoft) Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor.
  • Windows Easy Transfer is a free (Microsoft) download that helps you migrate your files and settings to another location before you install Windows 7, and then back to your PC after Windows installation is completed.
• But once upgrade is registered, will that kill XP on my existing (main) system drive?
  • http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_install/does-windows-7-upgrade-deactivate-xp/99b9f70a-1021-4684-b5ac-49ca16297c85
    • Technically, the license is invalidated, but there is nothing preventing you from reinstalling it.
  • http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/562-63-does-license-deactivated-windows-upgrade
    • You have to do a clean install. It can be to a clean drive/partition – You just have to verify your XP key is genuine.
  • Might well work, but not officially.  If doesn’t work then will cost me more in time and inability to transfer other products than it’s worth.  So don’t risk it then, just save the W7 Upgrade disk for another machine or sell it on.
• In W7 it’s possible to run a Virtual PC running XP:
  • http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/reviews/2010/01/windows-xp-mode.ars
    • http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 14th, 2012 at 14:20 and is filed under activation, Windows, Windows 7. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.