Windows 7 Upgrade - Sticks During Compatability Check

**SoonerJim** · 2011-09-04 19:10

Hi there. I pre-ordered a Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade from Vista, not knowing my employer would not let me use it and connect to its system until now. i downloaded the compatibility checker, no problems. But now, when the upgrade starts with the DVD, it sticks during the compatibility check - two to three hours, then I give up and cancel. I really don't know what to do. I have a full system backup using TeraByte Image for Windows, but I don't know what to restore after installing Windows 7 if I do a clean install. Any help greatly appreciated. Happy Labor Day, USA.

Jim

***ruirib*** · 2011-09-04 19:46

Hi Jim,

See if the advice here helps: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...a-1f49ed37978c

**Medico** · 2011-09-04 20:11

I have read of far more problems with the upgrade than with the custom install. if you do a custom install directly into the Vista partition (after you have restored the Vista partition with your Image of course) the installation will create a folder on the C Drive called windows.old. In this folder is the entire Vista OS with all folders. This allows you to drag all data (pics, My Documents, contacts, favs, etc.) to the proper areas of Win 7. The Win 7 installation using the custom install was the easiest Windows installation I have ever done, and I installed Win 7 on 5 different PCs (I started with Windows using 3.1 and every version since). Give it a try and see how easy it should be for you.

**SoonerJim** · 2011-09-04 20:25

Thank you both for the help! I'll check it out and let you know.

Jim

**SoonerJim** · 2011-09-05 05:21

Good morning all. Ted, it turned out your method got Windows 7 installed successfully. Now, how do I figure out what files to restore out of the thousands in my backup? Three essential programs for me come to mind right away:
1. Roboform and its data
2. Firefox bookmarks
3. MS Office

Because of my low vision I also have to find the screen where you tweak the menu text size, icon size, etc. I haven't begun looking for that yet. Thanks.

**Medico** · 2011-09-05 06:22

Jim, Glad I could help.

To answer your last question. Right Click the desktop and choose Personalize. In the open Window lower left hand corner, Ease of Access. On a given web page, Ctrl + will increase font and Ctrl - will decrease it, or Ctrl move scroll wheel on mouse will accomplish same.

Once you install FF, you should be able to import your Bookmarks. (I do not use FF so I'm guessing here) When you import, point to the appropriate folder in the windows.old folder to import from (Don't know where it was located since I do not use FF)

You can open the windows.old folder and see ALL the folders from the old OS. Find all the data there (all your Roboform stuff My Documents, Pics, Music, anything you need) and drag it into the new folders in Win 7. Be sure you realize that the Libraries don't actually contain the data, the data will be in C:, Users, "user name". The Libraries only contain pointers to the data in one easy to find location.

Once you have transfered ALL your data (You could even set up a temp folder in Win 7 called ALL My Stuff or some other silly name to temp put everything into until you decide where it should go) I would recommend deleting the windows.old folder since it is quite large (mine was well over 3 Gb) This folder can be deleted by simple right clicking and choose Delete. You will also have to delete it from the Recycle Bin. One trick is if you hold the Shift key when you delete something it will bypass the recycle bin. Just be aware that bypassing the recycle bin makes the folder essentially unaccessible afterward.

**rmonroe36** · 2011-09-05 07:51

Originally Posted by SoonerJim

Good morning all. Ted, it turned out your method got Windows 7 installed successfully. Now, how do I figure out what files to restore out of the thousands in my backup? Three essential programs for me come to mind right away:
1. Roboform and its data
2. Firefox bookmarks
3. MS Office

Because of my low vision I also have to find the screen where you tweak the menu text size, icon size, etc. I haven't begun looking for that yet. Thanks.

http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/...ws-vista-and-7

Link above will help you locate your bookmarks if you use the "windows.old" folder that Ted mentions.

**SoonerJim** · 2011-09-05 12:54

Thanks for all the help, folks. There's something I don't yet understand. I have a lot of programs backed up which don't have anything to do with my personal data folder. Do they have a realistic chance of being restored? I'm using a whole new operating system, new registry, and so on. It seems like it would be hard to restore Microsoft Office from the backup under these conditions. Is the backup more to protect against a crash of the old OS instead of transferring programs to the new OS? (Am I making any sense?)

**Zig** · 2011-09-05 13:10

Jim,

I believe you'll have to reinstall the programs if you did a custom install as suggested above. BTW, now that you've rescued your personal files, pics, data, etc., this would be an excellent time to move them to a separate partition from your OS & programs.

Zig

**Medico** · 2011-09-05 13:12

Are you talking about Images or backups? Once you install an app in Win 7 you should be able to go into your backups and get your data. Office for example. First you should be able to go into your backup and copy all the office documents to your new data locations. Secondly if you wish to open a certain document, say a word document, you choose open, then point to the backup and choose the file to open. If you do this, ensure that when you save the file, save to the location you want Win 7 to save these files to.

I believe an Imaging app can also open an image file to locate specific data for you.

This all assumes your Images or backups are attached to the PC when you are attempting the above. This also should not present problems for you.

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