Upgrade to W7 and Office activation

[Ron Rosenfeld]

I am planning to upgrade my Windows XP to Windows 7. I also have several
modules of Office 2007 installed in XP.

Since this will be a "clean install" of Windows 7, what do I need to do to
ensure I will be able to activate Office after doing the W7 installation?

--ron

 

[Bobby Johnson]

If you have any problem activating Office 2007 after installing it on
your Win 7 system you just call the telephone number given to activate
over the telephone and tell them you have just upgraded from Win XP to
Win 7.

Don't forget to run the Windows Easy Transfer program from the Win 7 DVD
to migrate your personal settings, email, Favorites, etc. from your XP
setup to your Win 7 setup. I did this on my wife's computer and was
pleasantly surprised that even her desktop wallpaper and quick launch
icons transferred.

 

[Rick Rothstein]

I'll be moving to Windows 7 soon also and, like Ron, I'll be doing a *full*
install (Ron called it a "clean install"), not an upgrade. So, can you
clarify when the "Windows Easy Transfer" program would be run? Would I do
that before I destroyed the information on the hard disk by overwriting it
with Windows 7? Where does the information go... on a CD? Or does that
program only work for upgrades from Windows XP or Vista? Any clarification
for this that you can give would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[Bobby Johnson]

Go to
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/help/upgrading-from-windows-xp-to-windows-7

East Transfer is under Tab 2.

You are directed to links to download Easy Transfer.

 

[Bobby Johnson]

For some reason I was thinking you could use Easy Transfer from the Win
7 DVD but apparently you need to download the program from Microsoft's
website. Links are in my response to Rick Rothstein.

I did my wife's about 2 months ago and don't remember some specific details.

 

[Rick Rothstein]

I just printed the upgrading tutorial out... thanks!

 

[Ron Rosenfeld]

If you have any problem activating Office 2007 after installing it on
your Win 7 system you just call the telephone number given to activate
over the telephone and tell them you have just upgraded from Win XP to
Win 7.

Don't forget to run the Windows Easy Transfer program from the Win 7 DVD
to migrate your personal settings, email, Favorites, etc. from your XP
setup to your Win 7 setup. I did this on my wife's computer and was
pleasantly surprised that even her desktop wallpaper and quick launch
icons transferred.

Thanks for that information, Bobby.

I know about the Easy Transfer program. I'm planning on using it for my Outlook
stuff; but probably not for other program settings, as they are easily
reproduced. And I don't have much customization, anyway.
--ron

 

[Charlie Russel - MVP]

You _can_ run it from the Win7 DVD (it's in Support\MigWiz). But ONLY if you
are running the same "bitness". IOW, if you currently have 64-bit Windows,
and you're converting to 64-bit Win7, then you use the same DVD. If you're
currently running 32-bit Windows, you'll need to either do the download, or
use the migwiz.exe from the 32-bit Win7.

You can _not_ run WET to go from 64-bit Windows to 32-bit Win7.

 

[Ron Rosenfeld]

You _can_ run it from the Win7 DVD (it's in Support\MigWiz). But ONLY if you
are running the same "bitness". IOW, if you currently have 64-bit Windows,
and you're converting to 64-bit Win7, then you use the same DVD. If you're
currently running 32-bit Windows, you'll need to either do the download, or
use the migwiz.exe from the 32-bit Win7.

You can _not_ run WET to go from 64-bit Windows to 32-bit Win7.

From what has been written, am I correct in assuming that you CAN use WET to go
from 32 bit Windows XP to 64-bit Windows 7?

Also, is there a list of exactly what WET does? I know where the stuff is I
want to copy over. But I don't want to copy extraneous settings, and
information from defunct add-ins.

Is the storage scheme in Documents and Settings the same in W7 as it was in XP
Pro? In particular, the ...\My Documents, ...\Application Data, and ...\Local
Settings folders?

--ron

 

[Charlie Russel - MVP]

Storage settings are not the same. But there are simlinks to them.
Everything is different. It WILL take you a while to adjust. But it is worth
it, IME.

When you do run WET, you can choose to "Customize" what you save, and then
click Advanced to fine tune beyond that. I've got mine down to about 1.2 GB
or so, but haven't any desire to go below that.

Yes, you can use WET to go from 32-bit Windows ot 64-bit Windows. Just not
the reverse.

 

[Ron Rosenfeld]

Storage settings are not the same. But there are simlinks to them.
Everything is different. It WILL take you a while to adjust. But it is worth
it, IME.

When you do run WET, you can choose to "Customize" what you save, and then
click Advanced to fine tune beyond that. I've got mine down to about 1.2 GB
or so, but haven't any desire to go below that.

Yes, you can use WET to go from 32-bit Windows ot 64-bit Windows. Just not
the reverse.

Thanks for that information, Charlie.
--ron

 

[Ron Rosenfeld]

Storage settings are not the same. But there are simlinks to them.
Everything is different. It WILL take you a while to adjust. But it is worth
it, IME.

When you do run WET, you can choose to "Customize" what you save, and then
click Advanced to fine tune beyond that. I've got mine down to about 1.2 GB
or so, but haven't any desire to go below that.

Yes, you can use WET to go from 32-bit Windows ot 64-bit Windows. Just not
the reverse.

One other question.

I see that W7 has an XP "emulator" or virtual PC. If I set up W7 64-bit, can I
emulate XP 32bit? (I have some programs that are not supposed to run in 64-bit
mode)
--ron

 

[Drew]

One other question.

I see that W7 has an XP "emulator" or virtual PC. If I set up W7 64-bit,
can I
emulate XP 32bit? (I have some programs that are not supposed to run in
64-bit
mode)
--ron

All Windows 64-bit OSs have a 32-bit compatability mode including VMs. So;
without having direct experience with Win7 yet, the answer would be yes.
WinXP 64-bit was not a "real" product in the first place, meaning OEM only.
So I think that was the main reason for this feature.

Drew

 

[Charlie Russel - MVP]

Yes, there is a separate download for Windows Virtual PC and XPMode. It
allows you to run a separate XP virtual machine. This is primarily for
applications that won't run on Vista/Win7, not so much for 32-bit
compatibility, though it does that too. Most 32-bit applications, however,
don't require anything special at all.

Note that Windows VPC is only available for Professional, Enterprise, and
Ultimate editions of Win7.

 

[Ron Rosenfeld]

Yes, there is a separate download for Windows Virtual PC and XPMode. It
allows you to run a separate XP virtual machine. This is primarily for
applications that won't run on Vista/Win7, not so much for 32-bit
compatibility, though it does that too. Most 32-bit applications, however,
don't require anything special at all.

Note that Windows VPC is only available for Professional, Enterprise, and
Ultimate editions of Win7.

Thanks Charlie. I was planning to obtain the Professional variation (not
needing BitLocker which seems to be the only advantage of Ultimate).

There are some programs I use regularly for which their support staff states
specifically that they don't work on 64-bit OS's yet (including Vista and XP).
Hence, my concern.
--ron

 

[Ron Rosenfeld]

All Windows 64-bit OSs have a 32-bit compatability mode including VMs. So;
without having direct experience with Win7 yet, the answer would be yes.
WinXP 64-bit was not a "real" product in the first place, meaning OEM only.
So I think that was the main reason for this feature.

Thank you for that information, Drew.
--ron

 

[Charlie Russel - MVP]

Yes, there are programs that don't work in 64-bit. Anything that has 16bit
code in it, including the installer, for one. Anything that is a DOS
program. And a very few others, usually because they're dependent on a
driver which isn't yet available in 64-bit.Whether these same programs will
run in a virtual machine is a question you'll have to ask the vendor.

Note please that Windows VPC and XPMode are only supported on machines that
have hardware virtualization. If you have a 64-bit system that doesn't
support hardware virtualization (Intel VT, or AMD-V), your options get a
good deal more limited.

 

[Ron Rosenfeld]

Yes, there are programs that don't work in 64-bit. Anything that has 16bit
code in it, including the installer, for one. Anything that is a DOS
program. And a very few others, usually because they're dependent on a
driver which isn't yet available in 64-bit.Whether these same programs will
run in a virtual machine is a question you'll have to ask the vendor.

Note please that Windows VPC and XPMode are only supported on machines that
have hardware virtualization. If you have a 64-bit system that doesn't
support hardware virtualization (Intel VT, or AMD-V), your options get a
good deal more limited.

Well, I did run the Windows 7 tool, and it told me my hardware was OK for
W7-64Bit. Intel Core 2 (I think E6700) and, when I ran the tool, 2GB RAM. I
know have 6GB RAM (after populating the two empty memory slots on my MB with
another 2GB per slot).

I would have gone to 8GB instead of 6GB, but then I would have had to throw out
the 2GB I already had. Hopefully there won't be much difference.
--ron

 

[Ron Rosenfeld]

Note please that Windows VPC and XPMode are only supported on machines that
have hardware virtualization. If you have a 64-bit system that doesn't
support hardware virtualization (Intel VT, or AMD-V), your options get a
good deal more limited.

I meant I ran the tool that told me I could run Windows VPC and XPMode. It
might have been a different tool.
--ron

 

[Harry's GMail World]

I am planning to upgrade my Windows XP to Windows 7.  I also have several
modules of Office 2007 installed in XP.

Since this will be a "clean install" of Windows 7, what do I need to do to
ensure I will be able to activate Office after doing the W7 installation?

--ron

I install Office 7 to a Win 7 Beta. It was a dual boot. I did not
notice anything different.