If you want to upgrade from XP, then Microsoft's free Windows Easy Transfer
manger is the key migration utility. Easy Transfer lives up to its
name. It really does move a user's settings from an XP machine to a
new installation of Window 7 smoothly and completely.
You will need to install the Windows Easy Transfer program on your old
computer. Make sure that you
download the correct version for your existing operating system.
Once installed type, 'Easy Transfer' in the Windows 7 Search dialog box.
Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor
Obviously, run
the
Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor before you start the migration. Yet this
is such a sensible utility that it may well have more suggestions just after
you complete the upgrade. Indeed this is a program that you
cannot run often enough, so call for it yet again after Windows 7 has been
running for a few weeks.
Although the Windows 7 Easy Transfer is a joy to use, you have to give it a
chance, please download the correct version for your old 32/64 bit XP (or Vista) machine
from Microsoft's site.
I am also assuming that you have installed Windows 7 on the new machine, and
have found its built-in Windows Easy Transfer program.
However, if you intend to install Windows 7 on the SAME machine, you will have to
modify my plan and store the old settings before you install Windows 7.
My first tip is to fixate on the NEW computer, that is the one with the
Windows 7 installation. Easy Transfer is essentially a pull process,
thus once installed, you launch Windows Easy Transfer on the old operating
system and forget about that machine. For my migration I had the
luxury of a brand new machine, which had a network connection to the old XP
computer. If you want to transfer setting on the same machine then
seek the option to store files on an external hard disk or USB flash drive.
On the subject of networking, I confess to a
problem; I tried to transfer 20GB of data using a wireless connection.
After about 20 minutes the transfer appeared to stall, so I cancelled, found an ethernet network cable
and retried. From that point onwards the transfer worked flawlessly.
To be fair, the operation may have stalled because I started to do stuff on
the Windows 7 machine despite the transfer Wizard telling me not to.
Thus utility makes it easy to check the health of a router or
firewall. Check the real-time performance, and availability statistics, for any device
on your network. Get started with an extensive collection of "out-of-the-box"
monitors for popular network devices.
Shared Items My top tip when using Easy Transfer is to look for the 'Shared Items' option. This saved me
time because it appeared to backup or 'package' all the ordinary folders,
those locations
where the user had stored stuff on their old machine. The benefit was when the transfer completed, there was all the old data in exactly the same
place as on the old machine, the user was delighted and a week later still has
not complained of any lost files - unusual for a migration.
Selecting Which Files to Transfer There is a trade-off
between wanting to sure that you can find settings on the new machine as
easily as the old, and using the migration as an opportunity to clean out
programs files, and settings that you no longer need. One of the
strengths of the Windows 7 Easy Transfer tool is that it gives you options,
you can select just what to keep in the new installation. See
screenshot opposite, incidentally 'Sha' is the Shared Items options.
Windows Easy Transfer Reports
Keep your eye on the Windows Transfer Report. Here is another
intelligent wizard, which lists all the programs that you need to
re-install on the new machine. The only surprise is that Microsoft's
recommendation is to install these programs AFTER the transfer and not before.
My friend 'Barking' Eddie says I have a problem with authority, because why
else would Guy defy Microsoft's instruction and install MS Office and other
programs before the transfer? Good news, it did not matter. In
my case, Word and Excel worked fine after the upgrade. Eddie thinks I
was just lucky, and that when you install a program its routine can detect
user settings and adjust the installation to make sure it links to these
paths.
Windows 7 Easy Transfer - Advanced Options
I was relieved to find an advanced options at the bottom of the 'Choose
what to transfer to this computer' menu. This is because I wanted to map
the settings to a different username. Previously the account was
Joe on the old XP machine, now they wanted plain Jo on the new Windows 7
machine.
You can also map drives. Fashions vary, there was a time when the
vogue was to partition the hard drive and install user files separately from
the Windows operating system. However, lately the fashion is to keep
it simple, install everything on the C: \drive. Whatever your plan,
the Easy Transfer Advanced Options will cater for your transfer needs.
If you have only one machine then all that you can do is replace the XP
operating system with
Windows 7. If this is your plan I strongly recommend that you reconsider
finances, bite the bullet and buy a new machine. However, if the
hardware is relatively new then I realize it would be silly to throw it away.
Also, not everyone has the funds for a new computer, thus there are
situation where an upgrade of the same machine is the only option.
Fortunately there is a well tested path for this upgrade from XP to
Windows 7. While other experts recommend an External Hard Disk, I
would seek out a laptop or even a desktop to temporarily store the user
state files.
Run the Windows Easy Transfer and create the source files containing
all your user settings.
Install Windows 7 on the computer. Select a Custom (clean)
upgrade.
Then run the Windows Easy Transfer again and let the utility copy
the settings to the Users folder of the new installation.
Re-install old programs such as Microsoft Office. (Get the Keys)
Keep using Windows Update to get the latest drivers and patches.
After a month of tweaking the new Windows 7 you could consider using
the Disk Cleanup and ask it to delete the Previous Windows Installation.
Guy Recommends a Free Tool: VM Console
Virtual Machines are great for reducing hardware costs, but they can
multiply fast and can get out of control. Solarwinds' VM Console is
the classic tool to answer the following questions:
Which VM's are struggling and thus need more resources.
Which VM's are idle, and so are literally a waste of (disk) space.
The benefit of a good utility such as Solarwinds Virtualization Manager
is that you see the big picture yet drill down into the detail of disk,
memory or CPU.
This latest version of the Easy Transfer manager typifies my vision of
how Windows 7
programmers deconstructed each feature of Vista, polished its rough edges,
added a sprinkling of intelligence, and then recreated it as a Windows 7 component.
Another minor miracle is that somehow the new Windows 7 version manages to do more 'stuff', yet
its menus are easier to navigate.
Here are the executable files used by both Windows Easy Transfer and its
big brother User State Migration Tool (USMT)
ScanState.exe The ScanState tool inspects the source computer, collects
the files and user settings, and then creates a store. ScanState does not modify
the source computer. By default, it compresses the files and stores them as
a migration store. ScanState copies files into a temporary location and then
into the migration store.
LoadState.exe The LoadState tool migrates the files and settings, one
at a time, from the store to a temporary location on the destination
computer. The files are decompressed, and decrypted if necessary, during
this process. Next, LoadState transfers the file to the correct location,
deletes the temporary copy, and begins migrating the next file.
Migration .xml files The .xml files used by USMT for migrations are
the MigApp.xml, MigUser.xml, or MigDocs.xml and any custom .xml files that
you create.
Config.xml If you want to exclude components from the migration, you
can create and modify the Config.xml file using the /genconfig option with
the ScanState tool. This optional file has a different format from the
migration .xml files because it does not contain migration rules. The
Config.xml file contains a list of the components that can be migrated. You
specify migrate = "no" for the components you want to exclude from the
migration. Additionally, this file can be used to control some migration
options new to USMT 4.0.
Guy
Recommends: A Free tool from SolarWinds: Config Generator
Config Generator (CG) is a free tool, which puts you in charge of
controlling changes to network routers and other SNMP devices.
Boost your network performance by activating network device features
that you've already paid for.
Guy says that for newbies the biggest benefit of this free tool is that
it will provide the impetus for you to learn more about configuring the SNMP
service with its 'Traps' and 'Communities'.
Here is a case of a utility that lives up to its name. With very
little effort on your behalf the Windows 7 Easy Transfer wizard will pack-up
your old XP settings, store them if necessary, then unpack them inside your
new Windows 7 installation. If you are migrating to a new machine take
advantage of the Shared Items option, and thus save the effort of a separate
backup and restore for ordinary files on the old computer.
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