Best way to go from XP 32bit to W7 64bit?

[Drufuss]

Hello everyone!

Recently i was thinking about upgrading the OS on my pc.
Right now it's running XP 32bit but i would like to have it running W7 64bit, or at least Vista 64bit. (Already did read some opinions that it's not worth upgrading from a fully tweaked Vista to W7).

The main question in this thread is "How to go from 32 bit to 64 bit" without loosing to much (programs and settings) or better without loosing anything at all.

Can i simply "upgrade" to Vista 64bit?
Do i have to (or even can i) upgrade to XP 64 bit first?

Do you have any experience in "upgrading" Windows OS's, not just back-up private data and thn clean install everything.

Greetings

Dru

[CrowdAds]

[PeterT]

Hi Dru
Good to see you around. Hope all is well.
Although Vista 64 SP2 is a solid OS; if you are coming from XP 32, I don't think it makes sense to upgrade to Vista. You may as well just go straight to Win 7 64.
Unfortunately, there is no "in-place upgrade" path from XP 32 to Win 7 64, that I am aware of. Your only option may be to back up your data and do a clean install.
I know this is not really what you wanted to hear and that it doesn't help you very much, but I just thought I'd say hello and share my thoughts.
Peter

[rjs735]

If you search the win 7 forum there is a set of instructions for migrating from xp to win 7 both manually and automated.

[Drufuss]

Hello PeterT!

Nice to see you too, all is well here, and i hope you can't complain either.

Every thought is welcome, i just forgot to mention that i already have a copy of Vista Home Premium 64bit lying around. So i was thinking i could upgrade to Vista and then go further to W7 (i already thought that going from XP directly to W7 isn't possible).
Then i thought i'd eventually skip W7 at all if a fully patched and tweaked Vista is nearly the same.
Then i found that link to the online store where they sell W7 Ultimate for about 30$.
So there are not only technical details influencing my decision what to do.

But overall i am just interrested in all the possible was of upgrading (back up and clean install; in-place upgrade; parallel installation and slow transfer of settings, data and apps; using the microsoft transfer thingie etc. etc.) and your experience with it.

Thanks rjs735 thanks for the tip, will have a look there.

Greetings

Dru

[Drufuss]

Originally Posted by rjs735

If you search the win 7 forum there is a set of instructions for migrating from xp to win 7 both manually and automated.

Looks like i can't find the instructions you talking about. Could you provide a link please?

Thanks

Dru

[clown boy]

i would back up what you want on an external drive , then fresh install win 7 64 bit. IMO,, thats what i did , and it takes out all the should I's and what if,s . and for my system its running fast and clean . my opinion thou. theres too many options for me the other way ..GL

[rjs735]

Originally Posted by Drufuss

Looks like i can't find the instructions you talking about. Could you provide a link please?

Thanks

Dru

Sorry I got the source of my info wrong. My source came from

Networking Articles & Tips for Windows Server 2003, 2008 & Vista /articles_tutorials/deploying-windows-7-part13.html as well as part14.html.

Hope this helps.

The fresh install hat clown boy did was fine as far as it went he didn't talk about what he did about reinstalling all his apps just that he backed up up his data. I would assume he had to install apps again.

[mcfoo]

You can download Windows Easy Transfer and install on your winxp machine, and run it. Win7 has Easy Transfer built in, so you can run it, find your saved files and transfer...

[Drufuss]

Thanks for all the links and tips.

As far as i see it, i can only save (or backup) my personal data and settings and tranfer them to a complete new installation of W7. Then i have to install all other applications once more (which means i'd have to make a list somewhere about what apps have been installed where and how).

I was kinda hoping to avoid all that. Maybe be upgrading to Vista first, only reinstalling or upgrading the applications that really need to and then upgrading further to W7.
I know, i'm a dreamer.

Greetings

dru

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by Drufuss

Thanks for all the links and tips.

As far as i see it, i can only save (or backup) my personal data and settings and tranfer them to a complete new installation of W7. Then i have to install all other applications once more (which means i'd have to make a list somewhere about what apps have been installed where and how).

I was kinda hoping to avoid all that. Maybe be upgrading to Vista first, only reinstalling or upgrading the applications that really need to and then upgrading further to W7.
I know, i'm a dreamer.

Greetings

dru

I thought that may be the case. I understand your desire to do an in-place upgraqde instead of a clean install. The re-installs and configuration required after a clean install is a lot of work. When I went from XP Pro 32 to Vista Ultimate 64, I did clean installs. I didn't want to do it again when I went from Vista to Win 7, so in order to do the "in-place" upgrade I had to get Win7 Ultimate. That's why I was so happy to find Win 7 Ultimate so cheap ( Win 7 Ultimate Retail - CHEAP!!! ). My in-place upgrades from Vista to Win 7 went very well. No issues.
I think your best bet is to just do a clean install of Win 7...
Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

[WolfSoul]

Have no clue bout going from Vista to 7 but as far as I know if you go from XP to Vista or 7 you have to reinstall

[Drufuss]

Hiho!

Just found this interresting "migration tool" maybe i'll give this a try.

Or i just do manually all the things this software does.

Greetings

Dru

[X-hellfire]

I should have payed more attention to this thread but instead installed Windows Pro x64 Edition (64-bit) and much later hen I almost had everything running 64-bit then I tried to install my printer, Canon S9000, but after much searching it is not possible to run it at all in WinXPx64....

...but it has support for Win7 -64, some addon patch or something so I guess I will come back to this thread when I ready to install Win7 -64

[Drufuss]

I thought about going the crazy route of Xp to Xp 64bit to Vista 64bit to W7 64bit but instead installed W7 64bit right over Xp 32 bit. Puts everything in windows.old directory.
I didn't loose any data, i am able to readjust all settings according to the new Os so programms would run without reinsallation, maybe on or two serial numbers will be needed to make things run again.

Only scary moment was when i accidently touched the "sleep"-button on my keyboard and coudln't wake up the rig again.

But besides that everything runs smooth and good i think.

Greetings

Dru