Just upgraded to Parallels 5 on my Mac Powerbook. I would like to upgrade my VM from XP Pro to Windows 7 but I cannot find any instructions for this. Can I just follow the instructions from Microsoft on how to upgrade a stand alone PC or is there something special I need to do in Parallels? Many thanks for any suggestions and help. Leonard
Use the windows upgrade advisor Leonard: I dont believe you can upgrade from XP to windows 7 if you have vista upgrade to Vista then Windows 7 otherwise you will have to do a complete install not an upgrade
Additional related question - not answer I am wondering the best order to do things - Upgrade parallels 4 to 5 or windows XP to 7 first?
You can upgrade You can upgrade from XP, but it will delete all files on your machine. Back up to an external hd, or like I did, create a new machine with a minimal install of XP. Install Parallels tools, then shut down the machine. Configure the boot order under the Hardware tab so that CD/DVD is the first boot choice. Put the Win7 install disk in the dvd drive, and boot up the newly created machine. When prompted, click on the any key so that the installer will start. Follow the screen instructions until you get a choice of Recommended or Custom. Choose Custom! You'll then continue to follow the on-screen prompts and Windows7 will be installed. When the installation is complete, re-install the Parallels tools. From then on, you should be good to go. Just remember, if you upgrade your EXISTING XP installation, you'll lose everything! I installed the 64bit version, so I don't mind reinstalling software, but to lose files would not be fun. Hope this helps some, Cathy
Able to Upgrade to Windows 7 I can say from experience that you can install Windows 7 on a current system such as Windows XP. Unlike Vista, you will have to perform a clean install. The main reason as to why you have to do this is because the system kernel is too outdated for Windows 7 to perform a install over OS like Windows Vista. Then again, if you decide to use Vista as an upgrade option so that you can save your files and perform a install over OS function, you can. The Windows XP to Windows 7 method is very tedious to many people. One of the main reasons why people don't want to upgrade to Windows 7 is the fact that you have to basically "format" and re-install all your applications. Windows XP to Windows 7 requires at least a hard drive to back up your personal data. Luckily Microsoft offers a tool for transferring programs/files from Windows XP to Windows 7. *One last remark: Once you install Windows 7 and you activate it. Go onto the C: Drive and you'll see a folder labeled Old.temp or a name similar to that. That folder contains all your documents and files that were on your Windows XP. It is still important to back up your data to prevent data loss just in case. As for the Parallels 5.0 upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7, I'm not quite sure about that. I'll give it a go later this week.
