Cheri from Ohio writes:
I have Win XP pro and I want to upgrade to Win 7 pro do I need to have the product key for Win 7 pro to upgrade my PC?
Sheri, according to Microsoft’s support forums, there is no direct upgrade path from Windows XP to Windows 7. It’s really a clean install which means, you must back up your personal files and settings using the Windows 7 Easy Transfer Utility. Microsoft offers a pretty detailed walk-through of the process at this link.
The “upgrade version” of Window 7 was priced at a discount for those who already had a qualifying Windows system installed and activated. You will need the product key for the Windows 7 Pro in order to install it your PC.
You may also want to read this article about the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor.
Good luck with the switch!
~ Cynthia
I seriously recommend NOT upgrading from XP to 7, although Windows says you can do it, but they don’t support it, and I found out why… it may work for a few times but eventually when you get the smallest error, glitch, anything you computer will crash. I’m talkin’ B.S.O.D. Blue Screen of Death. I feel there are incompatible issues between the two operating systems, and when you try to ‘blanket’ Windows 7 upgrade over the existing Windows XP I feel you will have problems. My advice, either get the Windows 7 upgrade DVD and use the Windows 7 Release Candidate as the foundation(I can U/L it if need be) or just get the full version of Windows 7. and basically start over. it wall save a lot of time and frustration…