upgrade to win7 pro from vista, program issues

shaunbags · 18 May 2012

hi there

ive just installed win 7 pro oem after having vista.

before i installed i did a full backup to external hard drive.

i installed win 7 oem and tried to restore from backup and its not working, internal hard drive is still showing 400gb of info on it but everything is hiding somewhere....

looked into the windows.old file and tried to copy program files over hoping that would do a bit but i dont really know what im doing

and thought id better get some advice before i really stuff somthing

gregrocker · 19 May 2012

You can't copy Program Files over - programs must be reinstalled to the new OS.

What program did you use to backup your files? Use the same program to restore them. I would not reimport settings as they are a corruption path.

If the backup program cannot be made to work correctly, access your User data in the windows.old folder to copy it into new install. Once you're sure you have everything you can delete the windows.old folder.

Are you aware that the correct way to install an OS is to boot the installer? In your case it might be good that you didn't, however, since you were given a windows.old folder which may be the only way to recovery your data if the backup program is not working.

I would copy a set of your User folders to external to keep a real backup.

shaunbags · 19 May 2012

Thanks for the reply gregrocker,
I just used the windows vista backup.
I've pretty much been pouring through the windows.old file getting everything I can, have recovered a few programs, no luck with some others like I tunes, all music there but can't install even a new download......I'll figure it out, couple of liscencing issues with other programs too but working it out slowly.....Should have done more research before leaping into it lol

Night Hawk · 19 May 2012

If you originally used the Files and Settings Transfer tool in Vista to create the back up the backup itself is only restored once all programs are reinstalled on the clean install of 7. Then the restoration should run smooth. The MS page for this is seen at Restore files from a backup

As far as the Windows.old folder once you have everything you want copied out of it and restored, except program files which need to be reinstalled fresh again while things like photo, jpegs, pc game saves, and anything downloaded as an addon may be retrieved, You can rename the Windows.old to Windows.personal and use that for storing files separately once all the sub folders are cleared out of it.

Generally since you end up needing to take ownership over the sub folders first before you can simply toss the Windows.old main folder you wouldn't have to worry about accidental deletion of it making it a safer place to keep things on the local drive at least until backed up elsewhere.

In 7 you now see the Windows Easy Transfer and options for creating scheduled backup as well as one for creating a full system image backup if ever needed. Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup