Well, I’ve been meaning to write this for awhile… one does have to take a holiday break every now and then… I got a twitter from the PCMover folks wanting me to explain more on my tribulations of using their product in trying to migrate a Windows XP pc to Windows 7.

The fact of the matter is… PCMover works just fine. The only real nudge or comment I would make to the PCMover folks is that their product needs a bit more explanation as to what is going on when you choose to make use of their “Migrate” to Windows 7 “feature”?

I mean, yes indeed you can go through some very simple steps using PCMover’s instructions for Upgrading a WinXP pc to Win7, however, what is not very clear is exactly what is going on and what you need to pay attention to. My suggestion, and this is primarily for those PC users who unlike me don’t have decades of experience as a Computer Scientist, is for the makers of PCMover to simplify their process of using their software to move a pc from WinXP to Win7.  A “Wizard” maybe? That prints the instructions on what options to use with the Windows 7 upgrade?

The bottom line is that unless you pay close attention to what is going on and what you need to do, it would be real easy to mess up.

- So here’s a leg up on what you need to know… if you plan to move your WinXP pc to Win7…

The migration of your PC to Win7 can take too forms:

  A New Install – This will wipe clean your existing PC; translated “You will Lose whatever is on your PC”.
   -Now there are many reasons why you may want to do this. Refurbish that old Windows, door stop, I mean old still useful PC into something you might actually use. One thing about really older PC’s (especially Laptops). Really older PC’s (a.k.a. a PC that came with Windows 95/98 or DOS), you may have issues. And of course the issues will be with getting Windows 7 to work with older hardware. Simply, or annoyingly put, some old equipment is just too old. Regardless of the fact that Microsoft says that Windows 7 will work on older PC’s, there is a breaking point in which that old 386 Pentium PC simply is not a good choice for anything (well, except maybe DOS or Linux). The problem comes with not just performance but memory issues. Modern day Operating Systems, like Windows 7, expect lots of memory and lots of fast memory…the generations of Intel mother boards in the era of Windows 95/98, just don’t have the horsepower to get anything done well (I can already hear the hate mail about that statement)… Well, yack at me all you want… it is nevertheless true.
So, New Install – a clean system and perfect (given your PC is not too old)? Yes and sometimes No. Yes, in the sense you get rid of a lot of crap that hangs around your PC. No, in the sense that you may have some parts of your hardware that will not come up and running after the install. What the Hell?! As a wise book once said, “Don’t Panic”! The parts of your PC that don’t work can be mostly fixed (they’re exceptions). One thing you should do, if you are thinking about moving an old PC to Win7, you need to inventory and know what the parts of your PC are. Things like, the type and model of Lan, Video, and Sound cards you have or if those things are mostly built into PC- then you need to know what they are. Say What?! The older your PC the better chance that it has components that are not standardized…meaning that everyone… Yes, everyone that has built PC’s for any length of time, do not always use the best or standard parts. Given this, the trouble you will run into is with something called Hardware Drivers. But again, “Don’t Panic”! there are lots of resources in Cyberspace to help… the key is to know what you have before you start the quest to find a Hardware Driver. (Hint: Don’t wait until after you have wiped a working PC to go looking for a Hardware Driver- know what you have first and do some research… if there is not a compatible hardware driver for your PC that works with Win7, maybe you need to think again about moving to Win7).

Ok, enough said… The next form of migration is what some like to term as a in-place upgrade, OS only upgrade, migration of existing programs/user to a new operating system… bah bah. Truthfully, what is being done here is the Operating system is being change while preserving your installed software, user settings and documents. Now lots of people like to talk about what degree of “preserving” means… and yes you do need to understand that a bit. Some will talk about a full “preservation”- which simply means that the only thing that is changed is the actual operating system. Applications, hardware drivers, user settings and documents are all kept. Now, here is where folks get confused and statements like “you can’t upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7” come from. This type of upgrade can be done if you are moving from a “like” Vista OS to Windows 7- That means that if you are starting with Vista the 32bit version and you are upgrading to Windows 7 the 32bit version… then Yes you can do a full “preservation” upgrade (some like to call this a “in-place” upgrade- not really a good description). Ok, we’re not doing that (the title of this article is  Windows XP to Windows 7). So what degree of “preservation” can we do… which is really the question you should ask and forget all of that other verbiage concerning “upgrade”… at least for the moment.

So, finally we are down to it… we want to move from Windows XP to Windows 7. What do you want to keep or “preserve” from Windows XP… applications? User Settings? Certainly, your user documents? Well, these are questions you should ask yourself and think about. Yes, indeed you can “preserve” just about everything, however, remember all of that about hardware drivers? There can be problems moving from Windows XP to Windows 7 when it comes to hardware. Now with Vista this is much less of an issue, because Windows 7 drivers are forward and backward (in most cases) compatible with Vista. Yes, in case I’ve lost you somewhere along the way, this is the single biggest hurdle when moving from Windows XP to Windows 7 (btw, it is the same issue you will run into moving from Windows XP to Vista). “Hardware” drivers. Your desire to “preserve” EVERYTHING…there’s a very good chance… not going to happen.

But, again, “Don’t Panic”- it’s not the end of the universe or this little planet… in comes some tools, like PCMover, to help you out. The steps to not losing any of your applications and user stuff while moving from Windows XP to Window7, is really not that complicated. Basically, migrating tools like PCMover, create either a complete copy of your existing PC’s settings/Applications/User stuff, or they make an “index” listing of what and where your stuff is.

The steps and what is going on:

Step One: Regardless… BACK UP YOUR PC! Does not matter what you use… BACK UP YOUR PC! If something even slightly goes wrong… losing everything? Yeah, BACK UP YOUR PC!

Step Two: With some tool like PCMover, do one of two things (or both)… run through the Tool’s function of preparing your old PC to Migrate- now in PCMover this can be done using their steps of Migrating from Windows XP to Windows7 or a simple just make a complete copy of your pc (PCMover calls these “Moving Vans”). Either way, you have to make something that can be used in Step Four- Putting your PC back in order.

  -This step is important… mess this part up and you will need that “BACK UP YOUR PC” thing from Step One if you continue and complete Step Three. Nothing bad can happen until Step Three. So with PCMover, what do I need to do… well, in the latest version of PCMover you can either use the tradition method of loading a series of files with what you are preserving (Applications/Settings, etc), or you can use a little trick that is now built into PCMover. The trick is (and I’m sorry PCMover folks) not really hard to understand… PCMover will create a “index” that it can use to move your applications and settings back into place for the new operating system. How can it do that? Well, and you’ll see this in Step Three, the Windows 7 upgrade has a feature in that it will keep a copy of your existing stuff in a folder called Windows.Old (or something like that). Say what? Yes, and you will need lots of free disc space or at least access to lots of disc space, the Windows 7 upgrade has a feature to keep your existing pc in a place on your hard drive. Now the downside, as always there is one, using this method you will not be able to reformat your hard drive. That may or may not be an issue… it’s highly dependant on your old Windows XP PC. If you just hate that idea, you can always have PCMover use the tradition method of coping all of your stuff off of that system hard drive. Doing that method gives you the ability to re-format your system hard drive. The benefit of using the “index” to Windows.Old method is that it is much faster.
So, again you must decide what to do… I’ve done both methods and they both work. Anyway, you will either, after this step, have a lot of what PCMover calls Van file(s) or you will have a single “Van”/”Index” file. Either way, you will need to know where this is for Step Four.

Step Three: DANAGER DANAGER… this is the step where you start to actually mess with your existing PC. So, if you skipped steps One and/or Two… maybe you should go back and at least read them. You have Been Warned!

By what every means you need to get Windows 7 and a valid product key (I’m thinking, actually buying a copy is the best idea). You need to start the upgrade process… Now, slow down! In order not to not really screw up, You did read Step One? Ok, I’ll stop harping on it. To “preserve” anything from your Windows XP pc, you must do something in Step Two… if you don’t want to use PCMover, there are other choices. Just make sure you follow what you are told to do. You must have something that will allow you to re-create your system, because while we will call this migration an Upgrade, the fact remains it is still a complete install of a very different operating system. And yes, that means that your Windows will be replaced, taken apart, and something new will be running when you are don’t (it’s ok to panic a little, but never fear). The Windows 7 upgrade will allow you to, really, three things:

  - New Install: use this if for whatever reason you really don’t want to keep anything… just remember that your hardware may still not come completely back (especially, if you have not read all of this article).

  - Two types of upgrades: The in-place upgrade, that will Only work when moving from a version of Vista and then an upgrade that looks like a New Install, but allows you some options.

  What you want is to get to installing with some options, mainly do not format your system drive and select to keep a copy of your existing system. Now if you used the traditional method of creating a full copy (Van files in PCMover terms), then yes you can format your hard drive. But, if you want to use the “index” approach and have the upgrade save everything in a Windows.Old folder, make sure you do not format.

Now, after lots of Microsoft stuff going on and messing with your PC, you will reach the point where Windows 7 should be running. (Don’t install any updates from Microsoft just yet).

Step Four: Putting your PC back in order (hopefully). Now you need to re-install PCMover (or whatever you used in step two). And for clarity, in PCMover this time the PC is the “NEW” PC. You will either need to locate those “Van” files or that “index” file (I think the “index” file is also a VAN file, but it’s small and there’s only one of them). If you used the traditional method (i.e. lots of Van file(s)) then you don’t have to worry about there being a Windows.Old directory. In any case, you need to start the re-building of the PC applications. After this completes, you may need to restart your computer. After restarting, you should test run your old applications. Some may not work… again “Don’t Panic”. Windows 7 has a very excellent compatibly mode that can be set for each application. Once you’re to a stable point, make sure you do Windows Update… there’s a very good chance that there are better hardware drivers out on Microsoft Update than what was installed.

Now in an ideal world in a parallel universe, you should be ok… the only real issue I ran into was with using PCMover to rebuild some of the Microsoft suite of development tools like Visual Studio and there were other minor issues with some applications that were resolved by running them in compatibly mode under Windows 7. Over all, even my older laptop seems to be working just fine…and I didn’t lose anything.

~cse    

Ok.. who says you can’t have your classic Start Button/Menu (i.e. the start button from the old Windows 95 days)… Look at the little gem I ran across…

http://www.csmenu.com/

Ok.. still not happy that the new Start button is beside the classic one… not a problem check out:

http://www.tordex.com/startkiller/

~cse Given enough time, you too can make Windows 7 look and act like a DOS? system… oh my!

It’s October… there’s a chill in the air… and what’s this? Ah, yes… a new Windows Operating System. Windows 7 is here! Of course I’ve heard and read all kinds of comments from… “Oh, it’s just a crappy Mac OS release” to “Wow, Apple may find itself on the run”…

Oh, please! First off… Let’s be clear, Windows 7 is not a crappy edition of a Mac OS. Hardly… if for no other reason the Kernel (the heart and soul of an OS), and the file system (the legs and arms of an OS)… are completely different between Mac OS and Windows 7. Yes, like all OS’s, both do share some common ways of getting things done, and they do look similar. But, in all truth each OS comes from fundamentally different approaches (and yes I do know a thing or two about this topic). One must consider the reality of where these OS’s came from…the lineage of these OS’s does have some overlap. Yes, indeed. But over the decades, even the smallest of overlaps has really faded and evolved into completely different directions. What does that mean?

Take the file system for example (the file system being that stuff that handles directories, opening, closing, deleting, updating…bah bah…basically everything you create and mess with on your hard drive. Yes, there is much more that the file system does, but let’s keep it simple and stick to files and directories). Now in both OS’s, one can do the same type of operations on these clumps of information called files and directories. This is a fundamental part of what an OS (Operating System) does. All OS’s in fact have what is known as a File System. Go back to even the beginning before the modern analytical computer, and yes there was a File System. Now in the timeline of File Systems, one example of such was known punch cards (and no, not the ones that were used for decades with big computers). I’m talking about punch cards that were used in the 19th century (yeah, that would be the 1800’s). Wiki Charles Babbage… ok did some reading?  Yeah, the man was born in 1791! That punch card stuff…yeap, it’s a File System (gee something that neither Apple nor Microsoft invented!) Anyway, the point is…File Systems have evolved over the centuries, and while the File Systems in these OS’s may on the surface look the same, they are not. Yes, they do come from the same linage (Babbage)…and they do have very much the same functioning because it is fundamental to a modern OS…but these are not the same.

Now, about Windows 7 taking over from Mac… here you get another… Oh, Please! Nope, not going to happen. If for no other reason than for those folks who make statements like “Oh, it’s just a crappy Max OS release”- three words… Apple Fan Boys (AFB). The fact is… people use what works for them… Apple is not going away, but neither is Apple going to take over from Microsoft. After all of the bashing and the making of noise by those who get emotional on this topic… PEOPLE WILL USE WHAT WORKS FOR THEM… Just as AFB’s are really hyper about Apple… the richest man on the planet became the richest man on the planet because the Microsoft OS’s are used… well, everywhere!?

Will it always be this way? There’s only one thing to say about that…things always change (look how far File Systems have come… you really should read about Babbage).

So, WINDOWS 7 is here! I’ve been using it awhile now… and I have to say… it is impressive. This release reminds me of the days when Windows 95 came to life. For those, like myself, who started with Windows 3.1, Windows 95 was a major event. For the first time, we were able to move a half step away from character based terminal like DOS (and trust me, that was a major step in computer OS evolution). Window 95 gave us the next direction for Personal and Business computing. Yes, it did. If it wasn’t for Windows 95… I would not even being writing about this topic… We would all be on a Mac OS. And Yes, I fully acknowledge that Windows 95 got much, if not all, of it’s GUI (Graphical User Interface)…GUI-ness from the Mac’s of the time… of course it did.

Windows 7, I think is a next major step in the path… in almost fifteen years since Windows 95… I can only imagine what I will be saying about Windows 7 fifteen years from now. Even the Apple Fan Boys should spend a few moments on their friend’s Windows 7 PC… they may be pleasantly surprised.

~cse

As I’m walking down the hallway, I passed a couple of fellow peers and I over-heard them a bit talking about Windows 7 and Snow-leopard… The curious part is the comments about how one was much easier than the other (depending on which side of this non-argument you believe, one can imagine which one is supposedly “Harder”).

So, that was not the interesting part…the interest part is the hear all of the comments that are…well, that just plain wrong. Like, gee if you are moving from Windows XP to Windows 7, you have to lose everything. Your settings, your programs…everything. Now that’s interesting. Clearly these folks have #1 never migrated from Windows XP to Windows 7, #2 never moved from one piece of Apple Hardware or OS to another (or if they have then backward capability is really a non-issue), #3 like so many other people they listen to the false or inaccurate information whose source is most likely from either MS haters or Apple Fan-Boys, or #4 they simply don’t really care what OS they are on but they like to repeat what they think know about something new that is buzzing in technology. Personally, I could give a crap.

Now, if someone where to ask me, “Hey, can I move from Windows XP to WIndows 7 and not lose any of my settings or Programs?” – My response would be…Yes, this you can. However, there are some things you need to know along the way to getting your old XP computer up and running on Windows 7. Of course at the “However” part one expects to hear the “OMFG, it’s the end of the Fracking world as I know it…I’m switching! to Apple”. Yeah…ok. In response I would just say that the stuff you need to know along the way is by no means the end of everything (like the end of the Aztec calendar 2012).

So what do you need to know. First I would recommend that you search for and run MS Capability Utility for Windows 7 (I believe this in on the install disc for Windows 7) on your hardware- you will get a report that shows you what hardware issues you may have. It will also show you what software will misbehave once it’s running under Windows 7.

Next, there are programs on the market that will store off your settings and programs (Like PC Mover- it works fine with XP and Windows 7). You will need this if you want all of your old junk back on your computer. Now if you just want you document files and your personal windows settings, then built into Windows XP/7 is a transfer my settings application (lots of info on the Web about both of these).

And lastly, find a program that will make an complete image of your current Windows XP PC to removable media like a DVD or CDR. You may decide to go back to Windows XP…this image will make that possible.

So in a nutshell to migrate from Windows XP to Windows 7:

If you want all of your programs and setting to migrate from Windows XP to Windows 7, you will need something like PC Mover. If you just want your documents and general settings you can use the built-in transfer my settings application.

Make a complete image of your Windows XP pc before you start the migration. This is insurance in case you decide to go back to your old Windows XP.

Follow the directions written by Microsoft, or least written by a non Apple-Fanboy. There is a Capability Utility that will fine most major issues with your hardware and Windows 7.

Sidebar: hardware issues generally occur because there’s not a hardware driver that works with Windows 7. I personally ran into this issue. The best way to approach the problem is once Windows 7 is installed use Windows Update to try to fine and install an updated driver. Next course of action would be to get as much information about the piece of hardware and try to search the internet yourself for a Windows 7 driver (you bet that if more than two of your hardware was sold to anyone in the world…then you are not alone with the issue you maybe seeing).

Ok, back to using my Windows 7 (in a previous life Windows XP laptop… I really do need to clean off some old apps).

~cse

Making a bootable USB Stick Drive for Windows 7. Ok, I’ve seen a lot on this topic…and for the most part there is some confusion around exactly what this means and/or what this does. First of all, yes you can create a Windows 7/Vista install USB Stick drive that you can boot from (for the remainder of the this post I will use the term USB drive to refer to USB Stick Drive…technically they are not the same as a USB drive does not have to be a Stick form. I USB drive that I’m talking about is sometimes call a ‘Flash Drive’ or ‘Jump Drive’, but can also be a larger devices as those that WD has on the market which are in fact real hard drives wrapped in a small USB interface. USB Stick Drives are those small devices that are solid state and fit on your key chain).

Ok, back to what we are talking about…The bootable USB drive that most of the guides and Google searches pull up is really a Windows install image…not a running Windows 7/Vista device that all you have to do is pop it in and boot off of and then have full Windows 7/Vista running. No No NO…that is not what these are.

So what good is it? Well, the small pocket device is good for installing or Upgrading existing computers to Windows 7 or Vista without having to lug around a DVD/CD or transferring a 3Gb iso over the network.

Now that all of the air is out of your balloon… can one actually create and small bootable device that will load and run a Windows OS (Operating System)…well, yes, but there are caveats!

If in fact you want a Booting Windows Running OS on a small device that you just pop in your favorite hunk of tech…then you need to research something called Windows PE (PE stands for Preinstalled Environment). Ok, go google it… or start with:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd799308(WS.10).aspx

Yes, there are limitations (Gee wouldn’t you expect there to be). The key to understanding Windows PE is the understand that the full blown running Windows OS simply can not be ran from such a small slow device as a USB drive. Now maybe at some point we will get such a device like a ‘Jump Drive’ size disk for the eSata interface…that would work. To date I haven’t seen any…and then there’s the fact that not all computers even have an eSata port (which is an external? enhanced? Sata…basically eSata is a really fast hard drive interface…unlike USB).

So, do some reading on Windows PE and see if it’s worth the trouble…

~cse

I was very impressed with the new level of integration of Windows 7 and Virtual PC… looks like Microsoft is finally headed down the path they should have with adding improvements to Virtual PC (VM).

See a Demo @ Windows 7 and Windows XP DEMO

You will need Windows 7 and the Beta of XP mode. Download from: XP Mode for Windows 7

This is in the Cool category…

Cheers,

~cse