Microsoft makes XP-to-Windows 7 migration easy

One of the many grudges people will have with Windows 7 is the lack of an easy migration or upgrade process from Windows XP. It’s generally not a good idea to mix old code with new code by doing an upgrading installation, and nobody knows that better than IT professionals.

Peter Bruzesse from InfoWorld talks about the solutions Microsoft shared at this week’s Windows Connections Conference in Orlando. Microsoft seems prepared to offer a variety of tools to ensure that enterprises are willing to migrate to Windows 7. Here is one example in particular that shows how easy migration would be.

Adam Carter demonstrated the migration of an XP system with 12GB of personal data to Windows 7 using Windows Deployment Tools, taking the XP system’s personal settings with it.

Windows Deployment Tools copies everything to a folder on the drive, which isn’t swiped afterward if you don’t want it to be, and then installs a fresh Windows 7, restoring the settings and documents. The whole process took about 30 minutes after answering a few simple dialog box questions about the OS installation — name of the computer, domain or workgroup, and so forth.

As for the applications, those can be reinstalled manually (the hard way), by using Deployment Kit during Windows 7 install (easier), or through Group Policy assigning or publishing of software (automagically).

Bruzesse also talks a bit about AppLocker and Problem Steps Recorder. You can read his article here.

Related posts:

1. Microsoft: Don’t upgrade to Vista, go straight to Windows 7
2. Windows 7 DirectAccess and BitLocker features explained in Layman’s Terms
3. Microsoft releases details on Windows 7 Enterprise features