Upgrade windows xp home to windows 7 home premium

It really perked up the old laptop and made it run much better. Note for future reference. Pros: Install was quick and clean, with fewer questions than XP. It was up and running in less time than it took to build my pc. I'm new to bit, which was needed in order to make use of all 4GB of memory I had. Cons: "Administrator" access is not true Administrator.

If you don't know Vista, learn all about the UAC or google "win7 rights". Mark all your game EXEs to run as Administrator to avoid problems. I kept thinking it was due to the bit version, but it was as simple as this. It's Windows which has become as common as water.

Overall Review: This is the upgrade version. That said, I was able to install into a new hdd, mb, cpu, vid card build with no issues. It didn't require previous version to be installed as some people suggest. Read on MS website to learn what they mean by "upgrade". It's different than upgrade-in-place, which is when you install on top of an existing install.

Sold by: Newegg Shipped by Newegg. Learn More. This item is currently out of stock and it may or may not be restocked. Out of Stock. Add To Wish List. Are you an E-Blast Insider? Improved desktop navigation Start programs faster and more easily Easily create a home network. Personalize Your Desktop Easily change backgrounds, window colors, and sounds to reflect your personal style. You can even turn your desktop into a slide show of your favorite photos.

Pin Any Program to the Taskbar Any program is always just a click away — and you can re-arrange the icons on the taskbar just by clicking and dragging.

Some features may require advanced or additional hardware. Customize Windows to look and feel the way you like by changing themes and taskbar programs.

Setting up a home network and connecting to printers and devices is easier than ever. Windows 7 Home Premium supports the latest hardware and software.

In this article however, we will walk you through the steps needed to install Windows XP Mode, regardless of Windows 7 version. Select Windows 7 Professional as your operating system, 32bit or 64bit respectively, and select your language.

If you select Windows Home Premium edition, the site will not allow you to download the required files. The site may ask you to install a Windows Activation Update to verify that you have a non-pirated copy of Windows installed, which should be fine for most users to do. If you receive the error "This update is not applicable to your computer. If you receive the error "Unable to stat Windows Virtual PC because hardware-assissted virtualization is disabled", you can ignore that error for now since the Windows XP Mode update will resolve that issue.

Step three : Once the three files have been installed, you will need to restart your computer. We currently lack the permissions needed to remove the read-only attribute that is preventing us from modifying this file, but we can fix that. Click the Security tab and then click the Advanced button. Accept any security pop-up. Step seven : In the Advanced Security Settings window, select your current Windows user name from the list.

In this example we will select steve as the user name, but that will likely vary from user to user. Once the name has been selected, click OK.

If a Windows security message pops up, click OK on that too. Select Everyone from the Permissions entries box and then click the Change Permissions button. As buggy and irritating as Vista was, Windows 7 isn't. Instead, it's the successor to Windows XP that Microsoft wishes Vista had been, and finally places it on competitive footing with other major operating systems like OS X and Linux.

The three versions that Redmond will be promoting most heavily are Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate, although Starter will also be available to consumers. Windows 7 will support both bit and bit systems. A touch-screen monitor is required to take advantage of the native touch features. Do note that some users have claimed to have limited success running the Windows 7 beta with less than 1GB of RAM, but that's not recommended.

Installation Microsoft is offering several paths to install Windows 7. People can buy a new computer with the operating system already installed, upgrade from Windows XP or Vista, or do a clean install on a computer the user already owns. The clean installation took us about 30 minutes, but that will vary depending on your computer. Vista users merely need to back up their data before choosing the Upgrade option from the install disc.

Custom will have the same effect as a clean install, although it'll save your old data in a folder called Windows. Once you choose Custom, you'll need to select the partition of your hard drive that contains Windows XP, and then follow the instructions to enter your product key and allow the computer to reboot as needed.

If you're not sure if your current computer can run Windows 7, you can download and run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor from Microsoft. Features: Taskbar and Aero Peek Although the look of Windows 7 may seem to be nothing more than some polish applied liberally to the Vista Aero theme, make no mistake: This is a full replacement operating system, and more than just 'Vista done right.

The first thing that should stand out is the new taskbar. This is one of the best improvements Microsoft has made--third-party program dock makers are going to have to do some serious innovation when Windows 7 goes public. Besides incorporating the translucent style of Aero, the new taskbar is arguably even better than the Mac OS X dock.

It features pinned programs using large, easy-to-see icons. Mouse over one and all windows associated with that program appear in preview. Mouse over one of those preview panes to reveal an X to close the window. Hover over the preview to show a full-size preview of the program, or click on the window to bring it to the front. Because of the button size, people with touch screens should find it especially easy to use.

Jump lists are another new taskbar improvement that make recently opened documents easier to get to. Right-click or left-click and drag on any program icon pinned to the taskbar to see a list of files that you've recently used in that program. In Internet Explorer, this will show recently visited Web sites, although it doesn't yet seem to work in Firefox.

If you've noticed the missing Show Desktop icon, that's because it's been baked into the taskbar itself. Mouse over to the right corner. Hovering over the Show Desktop box reveals the desktop, and then hides it when you mouse away. Click on the box to minimize all your programs. Resizing programs has been simplified and improved by the capability to drag a window's title bar.

Drag a program window to the top of your monitor to expand it to full screen. If you want to work in two windows simultaneously, drag one to the left edge and one to the right edge of your screen, and they'll automatically resize to half the width of your monitor. Dragging a program away from the top or sides will return it to its original size.

Theme packages also make it much faster to change the look of Windows 7. From the Control Panel, you can change the theme under Appearance and Personalization. Microsoft has created several theme packages to give people a taste for what the feature can do. Click on one to download it, and it instantly changes the color scheme and background--no need to reboot. Users can create their own themes, as well.

Windows Media Player and Device Stage One of the biggest new features makes Windows Media Player useful again: you can now stream media files from one Windows 7 computer to another, across the Internet and out of network.

Even better, the setup procedure is dead simple. When you open Windows Media Player, there's a new Stream option on the toolbar. Click it, and you're presented with two choices. Both require you to associate your computer with your free Windows Live ID. When you've associated a second Windows 7's WMP with that same ID, you can remotely access the media on the host computer. Windows Media Player's mini mode looks much slicker, emphasizing the album art--sometimes at the expense of clearly seeing the controls, but it's a definite improvement.

The new Device Stage makes managing peripherals significantly easier, combining printers, phones, and portable media players into one window. A large photo of the peripheral summarizes important device stats and makes it easy to identify which devices you're using. Device Stage can also be used to preset common tasks, such as synchronization. Device Stage support for older devices makes one of Windows 7's best features applicable to peripherals and externals that don't need to be upgraded.