How to exactly upgrade from Win7 Premium Home to Win 8 & keep apps/data

[Chesterfield]

Hello,

 

I have a Dell Inspiron I purchased in 2011. It came loaded with Win 7 Premium Home.  I keep getting different stories of how I can do an inplace upgrade to Win 8 and keep all my apps, data and personal setting.  The compatibility checker program from Microsoft tells me I can only keep my data and nothing else to upgrade to any version of Win 8.  Win 7 users must be able to upgrade to Win 7 and keep: personal settings, apps and data.

 

Thank you,

Delmont

[Mockingbird]

I am assuming you are talking about Windows 8.1?

 

Windows 7 can directly be upgrade to Windows 8, but not Windows 8.1 so you are going to have to do the upgrade twice: from Windows 7 to Windows 8 and from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1.

[Dot Matrix]

Hello,

 

I have a Dell Inspiron I purchased in 2011. It came loaded with Win 7 Premium Home.  I keep getting different stories of how I can do an inplace upgrade to Win 8 and keep all my apps, data and personal setting.  The compatibility checker program from Microsoft tells me I can only keep my data and nothing else to upgrade to any version of Win 8.  Win 7 users must be able to upgrade to Win 7 and keep: personal settings, apps and data.

 

Thank you,

Delmont

The thing with Windows 7 and Windows 8 is, that you're upgrading to two different OS's that have a pretty clear divide. It's better to start with a clean slate, than it would be to upgrade from an unlike OS.

[Chesterfield]

I am assuming you are talking about Windows 8.1?

 

Windows 7 can directly be upgrade to Windows 8, but not Windows 8.1 so you are going to have to do the upgrade twice: from Windows 7 to Windows 8 and from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1.

Hmmmm....OK...never heard that one before.. Because the kernel changes in 8 to 8.1?    Yes, my goal it to be at 8.1

Soooooo hmmm....I have Win 7 on a separate 100gig partition...so maybe as well time to get 120 gig Samsung ssd and clean load 8.1 on that  ?????

 

Appreciate the reply.

[Chesterfield]

The thing with Windows 7 and Windows 8 is, that you're upgrading to two different OS's that have a pretty clear divide. It's better to start with a clean slate, than it would be to upgrade from an unlike OS.

As I said earlier: 

Hmmmm....OK...never heard that one before.. Because the kernel changes in 8 to 8.1?    Yes, my goal it to be at 8.1

Soooooo hmmm....I have Win 7 on a separate 100gig partition...so maybe as well time to get 120 gig Samsung ssd and clean load 8.1 on that  ????? 

 

Or just hold out till Win 10? :-)  My current PC is a an CPU: Processor: Intel Core I3 550 (3.2GHz, 4M Cache, 2C/4T), 8gig ram and 1TB HD.

[Dot Matrix]

As I said earlier: 

Hmmmm....OK...never heard that one before.. Because the kernel changes in 8 to 8.1?    Yes, my goal it to be at 8.1

Soooooo hmmm....I have Win 7 on a separate 100gig partition...so maybe as well time to get 120 gig Samsung ssd and clean load 8.1 on that  ????? 

 

Or just hold out till Win 10? :-)  My current PC is a an CPU: Processor: Intel Core I3 550 (3.2GHz, 4M Cache, 2C/4T), 8gig ram and 1TB HD.

I'm pretty sure if you hold out for Win10, it'll be the same story. Personal settings, and apps are going to be wiped clean to avoid issues down the line.

[zhangm Supervisor]

Hmmmm....OK...never heard that one before.. Because the kernel changes in 8 to 8.1?    Yes, my goal it to be at 8.1

Soooooo hmmm....I have Win 7 on a separate 100gig partition...so maybe as well time to get 120 gig Samsung ssd and clean load 8.1 on that  ?????

 

Appreciate the reply.

He's right. You can go 7 to 8.0 while keeping what you've described, but this cannot work for 7 to 8.1.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj203353.aspx#paths

If you have space on the SSD, and you have 8.1 installation media, then it is probably less or equivalent hassle to clean-install 8.1, copy files over, and reinstall your programs, rather than deal with the serial updates to move from 8.0 to fully updated 8.1.

[Chesterfield]

I'm pretty sure if you hold out for Win10, it'll be the same story. Personal settings, and apps are going to be wiped clean to avoid issues down the line.

I'm going to hold out for Win 10. Thx.

He's right. You can go 7 to 8.0 while keeping what you've described, but this cannot work for 7 to 8.1.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj203353.aspx#paths

If you have space on the SSD, and you have 8.1 installation media, then it is probably less or equivalent hassle to clean-install 8.1, copy files over, and reinstall your programs, rather than deal with the serial updates to move from 8.0 to fully updated 8.1.

Yes, If, I'm going to make the jump. Then a SSD and clean install of Win8.1  But then that's about $200 :-(  Whereas I think I'll wait till Win10. 

[DConnell Member]

The thing with Windows 7 and Windows 8 is, that you're upgrading to two different OS's that have a pretty clear divide. It's better to start with a clean slate, than it would be to upgrade from an unlike OS.

 

I upgraded my laptop from 7 to 8 rather than a clean install, and never had a bit of trouble.

[Chesterfield]

I upgraded my laptop from 7 to 8 rather than a clean install, and never had a bit of trouble.

Thx! I've never been an upgrade person..but just thinking out loud...but now that it's upgrade to 8 then 8.1  I think i'll wait...cause now I'm looking at real money... and ahhh...my Win 7 runs great.

[FunkyMike]

Thx! I've never been an upgrade person..but just thinking out loud...but now that it's upgrade to 8 then 8.1  I think i'll wait...cause now I'm looking at real money... and ahhh...my Win 7 runs great.

 

You should be thinking about the amount of time an upgrade from 7 to 8 to 8.1 inclusive of updates will take. Money would seem like the smaller factor compared to a whole lost day.

 

Easier to make some backups and install a slipstreamed 8.1. 15 min job on a regular HDD, then a couple of hours for updates and software installs.

 

But the wait for Win 10 would be worth it at this point.

[Chesterfield]

You should be thinking about the amount of time an upgrade from 7 to 8 to 8.1 inclusive of updates will take. Money would seem like the smaller factor compared to a whole lost day.

 

Easier to make some backups and install a slipstreamed 8.1. 15 min job on a regular HDD, then a couple of hours for updates and software installs.

 

But the wait for Win 10 would be worth it at this point.

Thanks, I don't have the ability to slipstream or budget to buy 2 operating systems and a SSD

[FunkyMike]

Thanks, I don't have the ability to slipstream or budget to buy 2 operating systems and a SSD

 

No idea how you read that out of my text but regardless .. best of luck.

[Andre S. Veteran]

Hello,

 

I have a Dell Inspiron I purchased in 2011. It came loaded with Win 7 Premium Home.  I keep getting different stories of how I can do an inplace upgrade to Win 8 and keep all my apps, data and personal setting.  The compatibility checker program from Microsoft tells me I can only keep my data and nothing else to upgrade to any version of Win 8.  Win 7 users must be able to upgrade to Win 7 and keep: personal settings, apps and data.

 

Thank you,

Delmont

Biggest potential issue in my eyes is drivers. When I upgraded my 2009 Dell Inspiron to Windows 8 the integrated graphics drivers sucked so I couldn't run the games I could run on Windows 7. If you do the Windows 8-8.1 upgrade Windows will not let you do it if there's any driver missing so you might be stuck on Windows 8 (*shudders*). I saw this on a brand new laptop last year.

 

An SSD will be a great upgrade regardless of operating system though.