My Windows 7 Upgrade Experience
I spend the last two hours upgrading my Windows XP SP3 computer system to Windows 7 Professional. As you all know it is not possible to perform a direct upgrade. Only a clean install is possible but this would have been the chosen path for me anyway as clean installations are usually the way to go to avoid problems like the endless reboot which we talked about some days ago. A clean install on the other hand requires some preparations as there are usually some programs, files and data that needs to be transferred to the new operating system. In my case it was data from programs like Firefox, Thunderbird, WinSCP, FeedDemon and a handful of others.
The installation itself can be initiated in the old operating system. Windows XP users need to select custom installation in the process as described in the sheet that comes with the disks of the operating system.
Installation went fine and I was able to boot into Windows 7 in no time. I did encounter two problems with hardware that was not recognized by the operating system. One of the devices was unfortunately my Linksys network adapter which meant that I was not able to connect to the Internet until the problem was fixed. I thankfully had the driver ready and the device was recognized and installed in no time.
After that it took some time to download the latest device drivers and software programs to the computer system. Firefox and Thunderbird backups could be restored with Mozbackup and the rest of the process went smoothly as well. Here are a few tips for a Windows 7 Upgrade:
Make Backups of everything that you consider valuable. Think about programs that you would like to use in the new operating system and do some research to find backup solutions. Make sure those backups are accessible in the new operating system Have the most important drivers ready before starting the installation, those are usually for the network adapter, video, audio and everything else that is required to run the system initially. Make sure you have enough time at hand for completing the process. A smooth installation and initial configuration can take up to two hours and a lot more if you run into troubles. If possible have another computer system ready for downloading files or troubleshooting issues
Did you make the switch to Windows 7 already? If so, what was your upgrade or installation experience?
Tags: operating system, Windows, windows 7, windows 7 installation
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