Pros and Cons of windows xp to windows 7 from upgrade

There is no direct path from XP to Windows 7 (MSFT call it an "In Place Upgrade" - start from within the old OS, and it preserves your applications and settings.) So from XP, you are looking at a full reinstall.

You can install Windows 7 over XP - It will place your existing data into a folder called WINDOWS_OLD, and you'll be able to retrieve it from there. But you will have to (re)install all of your applications.

Yes, using your XP licence key to validate a Win 7 upgrade is supposed to invalidate the old key.

If you need to reinstall, you will be able to do a complete Win 7 install from the Win 7 disc. Depending on how many activations, you might have to call Microsoft (the number will pop up) and get a new key. Takes about 5 minutes, and at least in the USA the number is toll free.

"...features you won't be able to access because you upgraded from XP"

Pardon the annoyance, but what moron told you this? If you upgrade to Win 7 Home Premium, then you have Win 7 Home Premium and full access to all of that version's capabilities.


Personally, I would recommend watching for another round of pre-release deals on Win 7, and buying an OEM (Full) version. Even if only for the sake of not having to keep the old XP discs around. But I'm lazy like that.

I have WinXP x32, WinXP x64, and Win7 x64 all installed on my computer. Right now, I always boot to Win 7 and only in a blue moon mess with either of the XPs.

I initally used XP 32 for a long time, and only went up to XP 64 when I put in 6GB of ram. Unfortunately the drivers for XP 64 were scarce, and not everything ran in a 64 bit environment. XP 64 runs 32 bit applications, but some applications refuse to install in XP 64.

When I first started using Win7, I flipped frequently to the previous versions of XP 32 and XP 64 as I was migrating my programs over, figuring things out. But right now everything I actually do (games, applications, DVD ripping, web surfing, database, ect) runs in Win7 and runs just fine.

The only exception I have is iTunes, which only run in XP 32, and won't run in XP 64 either and never will. The program just refuses to install in in Win7, because apple has a bunch of copyright protection rolled into it, especially with ipod/iphone syncing. This is just a matter of Apple releasing a proper version of it for Windows 7, which I guarantee will happen before the official release.

...

So ya, buy the upgrade and do a full switch. I don't see why you'd need a copy of XP Pro and a full copy of Win 7. XP and Win7 use completely different architectures, so upgrading the OS merely moves over your documents and popular settings to match the new changes.

Anything you run in XP will work in Win7, and there's no features you'd be missing between an "upgrade" version and "full" version. Both versions are the same, all that's different is the price, since the upgrade discounts you by checking for an XP install. Buy the upgrade, do a full switch, and save a Benjamin.