Upgrading to Windows 7

Microsoft is planning to release Windows 7 to the public on October 22 and is now entering the final testing stages before the release. Although that release date is almost three months away the company has announced details of how users will be able to upgrade to the new release, and in some cases direct upgrades from previous releases won’t be possible.

One of the most obvious things about the upgrade options is that European users will not be able to upgrade directly from Windows Vista to Windows 7. Instead Microsoft says it will ship special versions of Windows 7 for the European market. This is because Microsoft has had to react to a European Commission anti-trust ruling which requires the company to split the browser out of its operating system. The special editions will include Windows 7E, which has no browser, and Windows 7N, which has no browser and media player. Over the past years Microsoft has had numerous run-ins with the European Commission regarding its Internet Explorer browser.

European users will have to perform a clean install of Windows 7 and will not be able to upgrade directly from Windows Vista. Outside of Europe, however, users will be able upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7.

Fortunately, although African markets usually fall under the European distribution channel, South African users are unlikley to have he same restrictions as the ruling does not include South Africa. Instead local users are likely to be able to do a straight upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 when the final product is released, just as with most other global users.

Limited upgrades
There are, however, limitations  on upgrades for earlier editions of Windows. Windows XP users will not be able to upgrade directly to Windows 7, nor will users of Windows 7 test releases, including Windows 7 Release Candidate and beta editions. Windows 7 testers will have to install a licensed copy of Windows Vista before being able to upgrade to Windows 7. This is despite a very successful beta testing programme run by Microsoft during the development process of Windows 7. Microsoft says that this is not an unusual requirement and is similar to the limitations on Windows Vista test builds.

According to an official document outlining Windows 7 upgrade options Microsoft also won’t be allowing direct upgrades from Windows NT Server 4.0, Windows 2000 Server, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2.

Migrations
Although users of Windows versions earlier than Vista won’t have a direct upgrade option Microsoft has said that it will make available a migration tool called Windows Easy Transfer which will make it easier for users to migrate system settings and preferences from earlier Windows versions.

Windows 7 was “released to manufacturing” on July 22, the final stage before being released first to PC makers and then to users. Consumers are expected to be able to begin buying Windows 7 on October 22.

Windows 7 upgrade discussion