is it a job for the experienced

[yorkshireman]

Hi guys , I downloaded w10 from w7 and am happy with it. My six year old has xp witch needs needs changing before he can have w10. I have the 7 disk so is this a job an old inexperienced user can do or should i go to a shop and get it done. I dont understand a lot of the things the computer tells me to do and i dont want to end up with no program on my boys computer. thank for any guidence pete...

[insider]

Hi guys , I downloaded w10 from w7 and am happy with it. My six year old has xp witch needs needs changing before he can have w10. I have the 7 disk so is this a job an old inexperienced user can do or should i go to a shop and get it done. I dont understand a lot of the things the computer tells me to do and i dont want to end up with no program on my boys computer. thank for any guidence pete...

It does sound like you may need some help, as when upgrading from XP to windows 7 is not straight forward.

 

Firstly you will have to backup everything you want to keep onto another hard disk as an xp to win 7 upgrade does not save anything, it is a clean install.

I think the following link may be helpful;

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows7/help/upgrading-from-windows-xp-to-windows-7#T1=tab01

[CyberPro]

 ...is this a job an old inexperienced user can do or should i go to a shop and get it done...

 

If you are careful, patient and can follow the instructions, go for it. Copy any data you want to save off the computer first. Worst thing that can happen is you'll make a wrong choice and decide to start over. That's easily done by booting the computer with the Win 7 CD in the drive and choosing "boot from CD Drive". If you want to be completely safe, install Win 7 onto a different hard drive and keep the current one as a backup or fall back solution. Having a spare drive with Operating System/Applications to plug in and go when in need is a good idea in any case.  

 

I just performed a custom installation of Win 7 Pro and am in the middle of installing many, many patches waiting to see the Win 10 icon in the task bar that will allow me to accept the free Win 10 upgrade. Good luck.

 

From Microsoft: "To upgrade your PC from Windows XP to Windows 7, you'll need to select the Custom option during Windows 7 installation. A custom installation doesn't preserve your programs, files, or settings. It's sometimes called a "clean" installation for that reason."

 

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/help/upgrading-from-windows-xp-to-windows-7#T1=tab01

 

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=can%20windows%20xp%20upgrade%20to%207

[Woofiee]

Two differing opinions, but one thing is certain: back everything up first. Backup your files, but also make a complete system backup so you can restore to the exact same state as you were before the upgrade. That way, you can go back and try again if it doesn't work the first time 

I'm not on Windows, but here's a list of the best backup apps of last year. There's a free one in there, and I've heard really good things about the Pipemetrics app. 

[ph6694]

One of the issues I have read about regarding Windows 10 is the ability to run on older hardware so I would advise making sure that the computer can do the upgrade. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/compatibility-report-windows-10 Not sure about the upgrade to Windows 7 as I did a clean install on that and not an upgrade. But I would follow the previous advice and backup everything that you do not want to lose.