XP Pro 32 bit to Windows 7 pro 64 bit, in-place upgrade

[Bob Hatch]

Well, kind of. I used the Laplink, Windows 7 Upgrade Assistant.

http://www.laplink.com/pcmover/pcmoverupgradeassistant.html

About 8 months ago I had done a reformat on my C: drive, did a fresh
install of the XP-Pro OS and fresh install of all the programs, so I had
a reasonably clean machine. Prior to the upgrade I cloned the C: drive
onto another drive using Copy/Wipe so that I was sure I would have a
working disk just in case things got really screwed up.

I did the upgrade on the 29th of October, so the computer has been
running for just over a week without any problems other than a couple of
older programs that refuse to run, even in XP compatibility mode, not XP
virtual machine. I'm using a Dell so I downloaded several of the drivers
from Dell for 64 bit Vista. For my Inspiron they did not have Windows 7
drivers, but the Vista ones that I used seem to have worked fine.

My HP 25 1/2" Monitor installed fine in Windows 7 as did our 5 year old
Epson R300 photo printer. The one hardware item I had that I could not
get to work in Windows 7 was an older Linksys USB Wireless Adapter, I
messed with it for about 1/2 hour then drove down to Best Buy and bought
a new one.

There are a few things you should pay attention to if you want to try
this your self. Adobe programs like Photoshop will need to be
reinstalled after the upgrade and prior to the upgrade you should
de-activate the Adobe stuff then re-activate after the move. I did have
to re-install Office 2007 Pro because every time I opened Outlook, Word
or any of the other programs in the suite it did a "Configure setup" of
the program.

Other than those minor problems the installation was pretty straight
forward and saved me a ton of hours. I'm using Dos-Box to run an old
compiled dBase program that I have to reference once in a while and I've
been playing with the XP Mode virtual machine. So far I don't have a
reason to install and use any programs in the XP machine but I keep
looking for something thats important enough for me to install it and
see how it works.

After that in-place upgrade I did the same thing using the same software
on my wife's Toshiba laptop. I moved her computer from Vista Home
Premium 32 bit to Windows 7 Pro 64 bit. On that computer the in-place
upgrade was a one shot deal and no problems after Windows 7 installed
and I unpacked the "moving van". Everything including Office 2007 worked
without having to re-install or mess with them. Her computer is the one
connected to the Epson printer and once I set up the network I was able
to print from my computer to the Epson on her machine.

Was it worth $40.00? To me it was because of the number of programs I
have installed on our machines. If I see any problems I'll report them
here, but so far, so good.

Fire at will.

--
"To announce that there must be no criticism
of the President, or that we are to stand by
the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic
and servile, but is morally treasonable to the
American public."
Theodore Roosevelt
http://www.bobhatch.com
http://www.tdsrvresort.com

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Bob.

Very interesting.

But I think that calling this an "upgrade" from 32-bit to 64-bit is slightly
misleading.

I have NOT tried this, and I haven't even read the promotional blubs in
detail. But it appears to me that all it really does is automate the 3-step
Microsoft Windows Easy Transfer procedure. That is: (1) Backup; (2)
Install Win7 x64 - by REBOOTING from the Win7 DVD; (3) Restore. The major
difference is that you Backup to and Restore from the PCMover, rather than
to and from WET. This product will probably help many users to make the
transition, and might very well be worth the price to them.

But the critical part - installing 64-bit Windows to replace a 32-bit
Windows - requires a clean install and cannot truly be called an "upgrade",
either "in-place" or otherwise. A true "upgrade" would run Win7 Setup from
the WinXP desktop; this would allow Setup to read the contents of the WinXP
Registry and configure the Win7 Registry to match. It would not be
necessary to then re-install many of the WinXP applications; their settings
would already be in Win7. This is not possible in a clean install, since
the required reboot from the Win7 DVD makes it impossible for Win7 Setup to
see into the WinXP Registry. When booting from the Win7 DVD, Win7 Setup
can't even see which drive letters WinXP has assigned and will make its own
Boot Volume "Drive C:", even if WinXP had assigned it "Drive X:". (And an
"in-place upgrade" simply re-installs WinXP from within WinXP, for example.
See http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q315341 )

The critical question: In performing the "upgrade', did you have to REBOOT
from the Win7 DVD to run Setup?

Note that my quibbles are about going to the different "bitness" and about
use of the term "upgrade". I'm not asking about upgrading from any 32-bit
to any 32-bit, or from any 64-bit to any 64-bit Windows. Only in
"upgrading" from 32-bit to 64-bit. And I'm not saying that PCMover is not a
useful program or does not do what it claims. Only that the word "upgrade"
is used incorrectly here.

Please correct me if I've misread this.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8089.0726) in Win7 Ultimate x64

 

[John Keiser]

PCMover does a lot more than Windows Migration.
If you have dozens of programs installed, many/most will not need to be
reinstalled.
Its not perfect. The OP had to reinstall Photoshop, I did not.
I did reinstall my AV and firewall, possibly because I did not disable them
before using PCMover.
The move takes several hours but is unattended.

 

[Bob Hatch]

Hi, Bob.

Very interesting.

But I think that calling this an "upgrade" from 32-bit to 64-bit is
slightly misleading.

I have NOT tried this, and I haven't even read the promotional blubs in
detail. But it appears to me that all it really does is automate the
3-step Microsoft Windows Easy Transfer procedure. That is: (1) Backup;
(2) Install Win7 x64 - by REBOOTING from the Win7 DVD; (3) Restore. The
major difference is that you Backup to and Restore from the PCMover,
rather than to and from WET. This product will probably help many users
to make the transition, and might very well be worth the price to them.

But the critical part - installing 64-bit Windows to replace a 32-bit
Windows - requires a clean install and cannot truly be called an
"upgrade", either "in-place" or otherwise. A true "upgrade" would run
Win7 Setup from the WinXP desktop; this would allow Setup to read the
contents of the WinXP Registry and configure the Win7 Registry to
match. It would not be necessary to then re-install many of the WinXP
applications; their settings would already be in Win7. This is not
possible in a clean install, since the required reboot from the Win7 DVD
makes it impossible for Win7 Setup to see into the WinXP Registry. When
booting from the Win7 DVD, Win7 Setup can't even see which drive letters
WinXP has assigned and will make its own Boot Volume "Drive C:", even if
WinXP had assigned it "Drive X:". (And an "in-place upgrade" simply
re-installs WinXP from within WinXP, for example. See
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q315341 )

The critical question: In performing the "upgrade', did you have to
REBOOT from the Win7 DVD to run Setup?

Note that my quibbles are about going to the different "bitness" and
about use of the term "upgrade". I'm not asking about upgrading from
any 32-bit to any 32-bit, or from any 64-bit to any 64-bit Windows.
Only in "upgrading" from 32-bit to 64-bit. And I'm not saying that
PCMover is not a useful program or does not do what it claims. Only
that the word "upgrade" is used incorrectly here.

Please correct me if I've misread this.

RC

Well, you managed to pick a lot of nits without understanding what
Laplink does.

Prior to installing Windows 7 you run the Upgrade Assistant, and an
inventory is done on your drive. This inventory is placed in a special
file called a Moving Van, (cute, huh), and is saved on the C: drive.

Yes, you have to reboot to the Windows 7 disk and then install the
program, but it is not a clean install. Windows 7 is installed to a
Windows directory and the old Windows directory is renamed Windows.old.
Windows 7 installs "without" reformatting the drive and all other files
and programs are left intact or in-place on the C: drive.

Once you have Windows 7 installed you then install the Laplink software
into Windows 7, identify this as the "New Computer", point to the
directory where the "Moving Van" file is and start the transfer of
programs, files and settings then go watch TV for an hour or so. In the
case of my computer all of the programs (60 plus) from my old XP Pro OS
transfered to Windows 7 successful with the exceptions listed in my
original post.

Keeping the above in mind, the "upgrade" to Windows 7 was done
"in-place" because everything was left "in-place" on drive C:, and the
process and program are nothing like what is done with Windows Easy
Transfer procedure, which by the way is misnamed. It is not "Easy".

You are correct. Windows 7 cannot see the XP registry and transfer it,
but Laplink can and does.


--
"To announce that there must be no criticism
of the President, or that we are to stand by
the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic
and servile, but is morally treasonable to the
American public."
Theodore Roosevelt
http://www.bobhatch.com
http://www.tdsrvresort.com

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Bob.

Well, you managed to pick a lot of nits without understanding what Laplink
does.

Only one nit really: Calling this an "upgrade" without mentioning that
"behind the curtain" it really is performing a "clean install".

Yes, you have to reboot to the Windows 7 disk and then install the
program, but it is not a clean install. Windows 7 is installed to a
Windows directory and the old Windows directory is renamed Windows.old.

That IS the definition of a "clean install". Booting from the 64-bit disk
starts over with none of the 32-bit code in place and installs Win7 "from
scratch", not by amending the 32-bit OS in any way. It deletes (or renames
to Windows.old) the entire \Windows folder (which includes the Registry) and
creates a new one in its place, in addition to updating the startup files in
the System Volume.

Windows 7 installs "without" reformatting the drive and all other files
and programs are left intact or in-place on the C: drive.

A clean install usually includes a reformat, but not necessarily. It does
require writing a new Registry from scratch, wiping out the old Registry -
not just "updating" it with some new entries.

To repeat my original comment:

But it appears to me that all it really does is automate the 3-step
Microsoft Windows Easy Transfer procedure. That is: (1) Backup; (2)
Install Win7 x64 - by REBOOTING from the Win7 DVD; (3) Restore. The major
difference is that you Backup to and Restore from the PCMover, rather than
to and from WET. This product will probably help many users to make the
transition, and might very well be worth the price to them.

PCMover cloaks the fact that Step 2 is actually a clean install, not an
upgrade. At least, when the "upgrade" is from 32-bit to 64-bit.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8089.0726) in Win7 Ultimate x64

 

[Bob Hatch]

Hi, Bob.


Only one nit really: Calling this an "upgrade" without mentioning that
"behind the curtain" it really is performing a "clean install".


That IS the definition of a "clean install". Booting from the 64-bit
disk starts over with none of the 32-bit code in place and installs Win7
"from scratch", not by amending the 32-bit OS in any way. It deletes
(or renames to Windows.old) the entire \Windows folder (which includes
the Registry) and creates a new one in its place, in addition to
updating the startup files in the System Volume.


A clean install usually includes a reformat, but not necessarily. It
does require writing a new Registry from scratch, wiping out the old
Registry - not just "updating" it with some new entries.

To repeat my original comment:

PCMover cloaks the fact that Step 2 is actually a clean install, not an
upgrade. At least, when the "upgrade" is from 32-bit to 64-bit.

RC

Microsoft seems to think it is an upgrade. The box clearly says it is an
"upgrade".

--
"To announce that there must be no criticism
of the President, or that we are to stand by
the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic
and servile, but is morally treasonable to the
American public."
Theodore Roosevelt
http://www.bobhatch.com
http://www.tdsrvresort.com