From XP Pro 32-bit to Win 7 64-bit

[mhowie]

Sometime over the next couple of weeks I plan to upgrade my machine from XP Pro 32-bit to Windows 7 64-bit. I also plan to utilize the PC Mover "Upgrade Assistant" program from Laplink so all of my current settings, etc., will carry over after Win7 is installed. My primary reason for using PC Mover is so I won't have to reinstall most of my programs.

I have been using XPize 4.7 for several months and have the following questions:

1) Is there any reason to uninstall XPize 4.7 prior to the upgrade event?

2) If I were to uninstall XPize 4.7 in the next few days (well prior to the upgrade event), what risks, if any, might I encounter with my XP Pro 32-bit environment? I assume it would simply revert back to its graphical state prior to when I installed XPize 4.7, but are there any "gotchas" I should be aware of?

3) For one running Win7 64-bit... are there any advantages in installing an appropriate build of XPize (or does Win7 take care of all the deficiencies XPize was addressing in XP and perhaps Vista)?

Thanks for the direction,

Edited November 16, 2009 by mhowie

[bishooman]

Upgrading from 32bit XP to 64bit 7 is not supported, windows seven instlation will complain about that and it will rename windows folder windows.1 and install a fresh copy.

better to back up your data to external hardisk so you can format then install

[mhowie]

Upgrading from 32bit XP to 64bit 7 is not supported, windows seven instlation will complain about that and it will rename windows folder windows.1 and install a fresh copy.

better to back up your data to external hardisk so you can format then install

As I mentioned, I plan to use PCmover Upgrade Assistant because, as you allude to, Microsoft did not provide a clean path for its XP base. Details at: http://www.laplink.com/pcmover/pcmoverupgradeassistant.html

Still looking for answers to my questions.

Thanks,

[Sl@y3D for my n@me]

Uninstalling XPize will not cause any side-effects that I know of. However, there is no reason to install xpize on Windows 7 because, as the name suggests, xpize makes Windows XP more like Windows XP. You might be interested in the Vize project though, I'm not sure if it supports 7 yet, but it probably will do in the future. Although 7 does a good job of getting rid of those ugly pre-2000 era graphics and such.

On the other hand, to be honest, there isn't much reason to uninstall XPize in the first place. The files that XPize replaces are Windows XP specific, and are replaced by Windows 7 files. Better safe than sorry though, it might be worth uninstalling, I just don't think its fully necessary.

Good luck with your upgrade!

[W3bbo]

XPize 4.7's uninstaller is a bit on the broken side. This is why I don't recommend installing it and instead use xpize 5, where the uninstaller won't mess your system up (although to be honest, I don't know why people feel the need to uninstall it...). Note that xpize 5 will refuse to install on 2000, Vista, or Win7 (though you can run the installer, but only to do a CD Image patch/slipstream) I think XPize 4.7 is the same, though I haven't checked lately.

As other people have mentioned, you cannot do an in-place upgrade of 32-bit Windows XP to 64-bit Windows 7, due to major differences in each OS's architecture and the way it handles program files. Whilst the LapLink PCMover website says it supports 32-bit to 64-bit upgrades, I'm skeptical of the whole thing. Invariably you're better off just formatting your HDD and starting from scratch with a clean install. I don't believe the risk of having to deal with the stress of nonfunctioning programs after installation isn't worth having: it only takes an hour or so to install all of my applications on a clean install anyway.

Edited November 16, 2009 by W3bbo

[mhowie]

Thanks for the replies. There are many positive external reviews of the 32-bit to 64-bit XP to Win7 upgrade with PCmover so I am going to give it a shot. I certainly wouldn't make the leap of faith based on the marketing propaganda posted on the LapLink website!

When I installed XPize 4.7 I didn't have the option of using XPize 5 since I was running XP SP2 (and not 3). There were just too many horror stories at the time about SP2 to SP3 "upgrades" which went awry and I was not willing to accept that risk.

Since I originally posted my questions above, I have learned a bit more about the PCmover process and I think I will be ok with the XPize 4.7 situation. PCmover collects data about one's applications and settings, saves them, and then installs them after Windows 7 has been installed (the new Win7 environment is essentially a clean install at this point). As part of the "move out" process, one has the option of excluding any programs not desired to be transferred to the Win7 machine. As such, I believe if I simply uncheck the XPize 4.7 box during this step of the program, I should be fine as nothing related to the program should then transfer when the "move in" process occurs.

Of course, if things get ugly I will wipe clean and perform a conventional clean install... my applications, settings, etc. require significantly more than an hour to reload and get up and running!

Additional thoughts welcomed and appreciated.

[bledd]

Save the heartache and just backup your docs, then format