Upgrade XP to Windows 7 Using Laplink PCMover

[Mark H]

Upgrade procedure using Laplink PCMover Windows 8 Upgrade Advisor.(Will work for XP to Windows 7 upgrade)

Using the printout from the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor, uninstall all programs which are not compatable.

Again,using the Upgrade Advisor, download any updated drivers and save to CD/DVD/flash drive (Windows 7 has a surprising amount of drivers, but better to be safe).

If on a network, any shared folders need to be unshared.

Perform a disk cleanup and defrag.

Create an disk image, using whatever imaging program you like on an external drive or separate drive. (just in case)

Boot from the Windows 7 DVD, and select "Custom Install" to do the inplace upgrade.
After upgrade, let Windows find and install updates- there are quite a few.

Go to Device Manager and see what hardware needs updated drivers, and update using the drivers you got earlier, or let Windows search and install. Use the drivers you downloaded to update what Windows didn't

If upgrading from XP 32bit to Windows 7 64bit, use the "Advanced" transfer option in PCMover. If you have Office 2003 on the XP operating system, DO NOT transfer, do a clean install to Windows 7.

With the exception of Office 2003, all other programs migrated and installed correctly.

Contents of the "My Documents" folder may require you to take ownership of folders in order for networked computers to access.



Good luck

[evasive]

Good, solid info. Made into a sticky. Especially since Microsoft is endorsing the use of a free variant of PCMover it seems.