Hello everyone,

Today I upgraded a clients PC (Toshiba Satellite Laptop: A75-S229) from Windows XP to Windows 7. In this post I would like to tell you my exact steps from beginning to end. It’s my fervent wish that this information will help you when you upgrade to Windows 7.

Before I Ever Inserted The Windows 7 DVD Install Disc:

1) Ran Windows Upgrade Advisor ( checks for any known compatibility issues with your hardware, devices, and installed programs). There were no problems.

2) Copied The Following Files To My Flash Drive (from the current XP installation):

A) Outlook Express Address Book
B) Internet Explorer Favorites
C) Actual Outlook Express Mail (Local Settings\Identities\GUID\Microsoft\Outlook Express)
D) Desktop (so I know what’s on the PC, also some people keep full files on the desktop)
E) Start Menu
F) My Documents Folder

Note: I created a new folder (All Users) on the flash drive and put the Desktop and Start Menu in it. The Desktop, Start Menu and My Documents folders will eventually end up in a Windows.old folder after the Windows 7 installation. I put them on a flash drive just to be safe. After Windows 7 is installed the contents of the XP My Documents folder will be separated neatly into the following Windows 7 folders: My Documents, My Pictures, My Video and My Music, Desktop, Local.
If you have multiple users on the same computer you must follow the same procedure for each user. If a previous backup has been made to an external hard drive, you don’t have to put anything on a flash drive.

Now – Insert Windows 7 DVD Into The Laptop (Desktop) DVD RW Drive (answer questions):

3) Get Installation Updates Online – Yes!
4) What Type Of Installation Do You Want? Custom (can’t select upgrade option with XP).
5) Where Do You Want To Install? C:Drive ( previous C:\ files will be put in windows.old).

6) Begin Install (the install will go through the following five steps):

A) Copying Windows Files
B) Expanding Windows Files
C) Installing Features
D) Installing Updates
E) Completing Installation

7) Enter The 25 Characters Long Windows 7 Product Key (done – successful install!).

Professor Randy says: So far so good but we’re not done yet! In my next post I’ll chronicle what I did after the Windows 7 install in order to fully complete the upgrade procedure.