Windows 7 forum: Transfer XP files to new Windows 7 computer

Michael,

Thanks fo rthe reply! Yes, both machines can connect to the internet. I guess I am stumped at the network settings.

I did some research on zinstall and it looks fairly straightforward. Downside seems to be that you end up with an XP desktop on the new computer. It is not clear that the new environment will run much faster than the old and with the hard drive partitioned, I may run out of room. I have 85 gigs to move with a 256 gb max on the new machine. Aslo, when I install new apps that are Windows 7 optimized, I am wondering how they will access the XP partition.

Have you had any experience with Laplink PCMover? They do have a version that supplies a USB cable.

I have a old PC with winxp.I have a very large Family Tree Maker file on it (geneology files).I now have a windows 7.I tried to trasfer with a backup cd but it want work.Please tell me how to transfer my files.Family Tree Maker 2005 is software.Can I just use a transfer cable? I have heard of those? Thanks beejay72

Thank you SoulSilver,

I have already installed WET on the XP machine. I am having problems connecting the machines through my router. Seems like they have separate networks and I can't figure out how to connect them.

As you suggested, maybe I need to move my files using a transfer cable rather than futz around with the network settings.

I may look deeper into Laplink PCMover. Seems to move more stuff than WET.

We all like to think that these "transfer" programs will save us loads of time, but honestly the best way I've found is to just plug a generous-capacity usb stick (2gb or more) into the XP computer and manually harvest the files. It took me all of 15 minutes to harvest files for 2 users from my old computer to my new computer this way. I can't say if this will help for all programs you might have, but for standard Windows programs like Office or Internet Explorer, here are some specifics:

--Internet Explorer: use the "export" function from the toolbar to send your favorites and settings to a folder (including directly onto the usb stick). Plug the stick into the new machine, open up IE on the new machine, and use the "import" function to harvest them.

--Outlook email: this is trickier, use the "find" function to find your large system folder with the ".pst" extension. past this file into the same place as it lives on your new computer's Outlook files and delete or rename the unused ".pst" folder on the new computer. If you've done it right you will click open "Outlook" on the new computer and all your mail and settings will be as they were on the XP computer.

--Documents, pictures, etc.--just copy the folders to the stick and after putting the stick in the new computer, paste them into your new equivalent folders.

Sometimes simple, stupid, brute-force methods are the best way to get the job done...

I have an iomega minimax external HD...can I use that?

Cahir, thank you for that. I run my business on this computer. It is backed up off site every day. And when I move, I really can't be debugging Quickbooks for hours.

Are the moved applications still registered so that manufacturer updates continue? Or did you have to re-register your apps?

The post you are replying to is nearly 2 years old, so I am unsure that the poster will see your question, hence my intervention.

What you are asking is difficult for many reasons.

1] I've never used PC Mover and I cannot attest to its usefulness. But in general Windows broke this, "copy program files to another computer and they will work", many many years ago. I believe the last Windows version it was possible with any guarantee of success was from Windows 95 to Windows 95. So although I see where PC Mover is said to be great, I am not convinced.

The problem is varied. If some program or other installs its files in just one location/folder then there is a chance that moving the folder to a new computer might work. But since Windows 98, program installations have installed files in many different locations on a computer system, as well as created registry entries and system files, and so on and such. Trying to track those down to copy them across is a huge task, and is rarely successful.

That's why the only real solution is to "reinstall" programs onto another OS.

2] XP mode is said to be very good for installing and running those programs that cannot be installed into Windows 7. But there is really only one answer here. Try it and see. No-one can tell you it will always work.

3] Windows 7 no longer has DOS, but you might be able to use something like DOSBox to emulate DOS on Win 7.

4] Your own created Office files, eg Word and Excel will not be able to be used on Windows 7 without Microsoft Office installed, (or you can use the free, open source office apps like OpenOffice or LibreOffice).

You can copy those word.doc files and Excel spreadsheet files across to Windows 7, but you will still need an application to read and edit them.

I have the same problem on my Win 7. It doesn't have Office. So although I have my Word files and Excel files copied to this system, I cannot open them to edit them I can, however, view them with Microsoft's Word Viewer and Excel viewer, both free.

5] Printers are a problem. If HP does not have a suitable Windows 7 driver for your Laserjet then there is little you can do. Attempting to set up a printer thru' Windows 7 into XP mode is, I understand, very difficult.

Sorry this reply is so full of uncertainties.

Mark

and it shows the measure of curiosity.

You may have options. Well, you do! If you purchase any newer version of Office, (the latest is Office 2010), that will be able to open and edit Word and Excel files from older versions. I can't say for sure about WordPerfect but it would surprise me if that didn't either.

But with Office 2007 and 2010 Microsoft changed formats for files. Office will still open older files but if you edit and re-save then the format might change, eg for Word the new format becomes mydoc.docx instead of mydoc.doc

However, using "Save As" and I believe you can still choose to "Save as - type" as .doc, and the same for spreadsheets, .xls.

The other option is this. Older versions of Office will install on Windows 7. Certainly Office XP (2002) will, and maybe even Office 97. And you don't need to bother with Virtual PC and XP Mode for that. If you have the Office CD for the older version, you can install that and use the license code you already have. You would have to uninstall it from the XP system first, but make a note of the license in the "Help > About" menu before doing so.

Good luck with your new Windows 7. It is quite different from XP in some ways, but you get used to it.

I hope that helps.

Mark

Great question. I don't have the Win7 computer..had to turn it in. But I tried to assign the same name even though the two computers refer to networks with different terminology. I could not get them to talk.

The old computer is XP Professional. The new computer was Win7 Ultimate.