Upgrade XP to Win7 -- A Working Method

All of the forums and postings say you can't upgrade from XP to Win7. I bet you can in the following scenario...

"Borrow" a Vista Upgrade Disk (any flavor above Basic). Upgrade XP to Vista w/o entering a key. Within the 30 day "keyless" grace period, upgrade Vista to Win7 using any flavor of Upgrade Disk entering the WIN7 upgrade key. You may get some issues in the compatibility check but they can probably be worked around.

Since there are no Win7 Retail Disks to try this out on, this can't be verified.

This also assumes that there is something to be gained by upgrading from XP. My advice..... Do a clean install.

Tell me why this wouldn't work if you know that for sure.

Understand the "Borrow" which is actually illegal. When you should be able to insert the Win7 Disk, while booted to XP, (generally sp2 or sp3 installed), should allow you to have UPGRADE option. Rumors were that was not to be allowed. and RUMORS are almost always CRAP. the offer online at store to "UPGRADE" from XP to Win7.
There fore you will still have your available Win7 back to XP allowed also.

MS online store said:

• Pre-order the newest version of Windows today
• Windows 7 was built around your feedback, so you'll see a lot of things you've asked for. You asked us to make everyday tasks faster and easier, to make your PC work the way you want it to, and to make it possible to do new things. And that's exactly what we've done. See how it's come to life.
  
  You qualify for Windows 7 upgrade versions if you are running genuine Windows Vista, Windows XP, or Windows 2000 on your PC.

Check the facts your self.. google ms online store and follow the links.

That would work.

It would also be a messy messy install should any issue arise.

copernicus said:

That would work.

It would also be a messy messy install should any issue arise.

Why would that make a messy install should any issue arise.
If you are one that allows the "RESTORE" option to work, it is almost FOOL PROOF.
I for one as a BETA Tester, try to CRASH or screw things up, pure to test the RESTORE option.. in Win7 it can be optained via the DISK, or boot to DOS and use the Restore cmd via Cmd. One can also use many different 3rd party BACKUP programs with which they can RESTORE back to (when).
I am also one of the "Official" never clean install when beta testing. always upgrade, so far it is working perfect. I do also perform all the require general maintenance - regclean, trash clean, defrag, junk removal, temp file removal, all the normally required maintenance which 95% of the ppl never do.

Snuffy said:

Check the facts your self.. google ms online store and follow the links.

That language does not necessarily mean 7 can be installed from within XP. It is possible that the user would be prompted for a valid XP license key while performing a clean install while using a 7 upgrade disk.

I truly have no idea on the specifics - I am just an analyst.

When you say upgrade, do you mean having all the installed apps migrated & re-installed by the upgrade process? Then no. If you mean use the upgrade package for a clean install based on you having a valid XP license, then yes.

You will most likely need to relinquish the XP key & license rights, so borrowing will not work, well it will once if it wasn't used before borrowing, and the borrowee loses the use.

But this is all speculation, until we can actually try any of this .

Edit: Whoa! Mind convergence !

Snuffy said:

Why would that make a messy install should any issue arise.
If you are one that allows the "RESTORE" option to work, it is almost FOOL PROOF.
I for one as a BETA Tester, try to CRASH or screw things up, pure to test the RESTORE option.. in Win7 it can be optained via the DISK, or boot to DOS and use the Restore cmd via Cmd. One can also use many different 3rd party BACKUP programs with which they can RESTORE back to (when).
I am also one of the "Official" never clean install when beta testing. always upgrade, so far it is working perfect. I do also perform all the require general maintenance - regclean, trash clean, defrag, junk removal, temp file removal, all the normally required maintenance which 95% of the ppl never do.

I mean down the line. After you settle in, and you start using apps you rarely use. Hell, that happens between build up grades and it's a pain to clean up.

DJG said:

Edit: Whoa! Mind convergence !

Yo. When I read your profile, I knew we were kindred spirits. And that is mind meld.

Hmm, let's have T'pol do the meld .

This thread has taken a right turn..... I don't know about the karma thing but I'll skip that for now.

Back to the original thread..... I am going through the XP to Win7 upgrade (via Vista) as I type this. I'll post the results but Vista is installing right now without a key as an upgrade to XP. When that is done, I will upgrade Vista to Win7 X86 7260. If that works, then I have no doubts that the XP -> Vista -> Win7 Retail upgrade will work with all XP Settings preserved.