Upgrading Guest WinXP to Win7 (retail upgrade)

R

ronmarcusps

Junior Member
I'm sorry if there is already a thread on this issue, but I couldn't find one. I have been happily running Win7 RC under Snow Leopard and Parallels 4 (latest build). I also have a Guest OS running WinXP. I have preordered the Win 7 Upgrade which will be released next week (finally)! I am planning on installing it on my XP guest VM as Microsoft requires a licensed version of Windows in order to use the upgrade (as opposed to the full edition which is much more expensive). So my question is, will I be able to upgrade my XP to Win7 VM since Parallels still has only "experimental support" for Win7, and will there be any problem with the XP machine configuration becoming a Win 7 configuration (I have enough virtual disc space 40 GB and enough RAM already on my XP machine). I realize I will have to do a "clean install" so I have already purchased the LapLink PCMover Upgrade Assistant to transfer my files and programs. I'm sure this will be a big issue next week when the retail Windows 7 OS is released officially. Perhaps you parallels guys could post a "sticky" with instructions on how to do this upgrade?
 
Same question, but for me it is upgrading from Vista to Windows 7. Is there a documented process for us XP => 7 or Vista => 7?

Paul
 
Hello ronmarcusps,

You will be able to purchase upgrade media and an upgrade license to move from Windows XP to Windows 7 - however, you will need to do a clean installation of Windows 7, This requires the user to back up their data, install Windows 7, re-install the programs and restore their data.

Windows Vista users, however, will have the option to install over top their existing OS.

You will not have any problems installing Windows 7 as an upgrade version.

Thank you.
 
Thanks for sharing this post.

i think you will be able to upgrade your winXp tp Win7 and the parralells will be able to do the final stuff soon hopefully, and you will be better off with Win7 if you have a fast computer, Thanks for sharing this post. This is a very helpful and informative material. Good post and keep it up. Websites are always helpful in one way or the other, that’s cool stuff, anyways, mortgages a good way to get started to renovate your dreams into the world of reality.
Thanks
Micheal,
 
Bopanna I G said:
Hello ronmarcusps,

You will be able to purchase upgrade media and an upgrade license to move from Windows XP to Windows 7 - however, you will need to do a clean installation of Windows 7, This requires the user to back up their data, install Windows 7, re-install the programs and restore their data.

Windows Vista users, however, will have the option to install over top their existing OS.

You will not have any problems installing Windows 7 as an upgrade version.

Thank you.
Click to expand...

What if I want to change to a different language? I am running a Dutch version of XP just because I still had one. But I would much more prefer to run the English version of Windows 7. I can order a cheap upgrade because I am a student, but the order page says that the language I order needs to be the same as the one I already had ... But when I read that in case of an upgrade from XP a clean install will be done I wonder whether I would really need to order a Dutch version ...
 
upgrade didn't work

I upgraded from Vista Ultimate to Windows 7 Ultimate, and Bootcamp works fine. Parallels continues to give me the BSOD with the stop error 0x0000007b. I followed a suggestions on the FAQs to delete the registry folder for parallels in bootcamp, but that didn't work either. Anyone have any ideas.

Stretch
 
Hello Raymond,

Windows 7 is not officially supported by Apple Boot Camp, please check Apple KB:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1899

Thus, Parallels Desktop can not support OSes which are not supported by Apple Boot Camp yet. On our website and in documentation we state that Parallels Desktop 4 has experimental support of Windows 7 in virtual environment.

Thank you.
 
Win 7 works on bootcamp

Apple may not officially support Win 7 in bootcamp, but it works just fine. I have a second hard drive in my mac pro that has windows installed on it. I upgraded from Vista ultimate on it to Win 7 ultimate. The bootcamp boot within Apple works fine. However, Parallels will not boot. You get a stop error when trying to boot with parallels or VM Fusion.
 
XP to Win7 (64bit) student version upgrade - invalid product key

Hello,

I am having some issues with the upgrade from Win XP to Win7 Prof. student version (64bit). I have been running Parallels Desktop 4.0 (latest built) an Win XP without any issues for some time now until I decided to upgrade to Win7 with a student version I recently purchased.

As upgrading from XP to Win7 is not an option, I had to do a full install on a new virtual machine. However, doing so, the product key is rejected in the process of the installation... "invalid product key..."

So I tried installing my Win7 Version with the same provided product key under Boot Camp ... and voila, worked just fine!

Is anybody else having this issue? I have done a lot of internet research. One reason for this issue might be that a Win7 upgrade needs a validated Windows version to install over. As Win XP is running in a VM this cannot be verified by the installer and hence the "invalid product key..." rejection... just an idea.

HELP PLZ!!

echeers
Hannes
 
What about when the data is shared? I am concerned that the Windows 7 installer may overwrite the data stored in the "Documents" folder on my Mac, since I have access to it under Windows XP. Is the Windows 7 installer just going to overwrite the (Parallels) Windows XP virtual machine?

Ricka
 
Screwed

Well, in a clean install, the Upgrade disk will not accept the registration key. How are people running XP in a VM supposed to upgrade?
And even worse, I had so many problems, I dumped my XP parallels partition in favor of Windows7 RC. I had assumed that you could put in the XP disk and/or its number, but no.
HELP!
 
Yes, there is a problem. Microsoft will not accept the upgrade license key on a clean install!
Can Parallels talk to MS about this issue?
 
Bopanna I G said:
Hello Kleeberg,

We will update our database as to how to update from Windows vista to Windows 7 within Parallels as soon as the official release is done.

Thank you.
Click to expand...

This information is sorely needed. I have spent hours trying to find instructions or even a discussion on how to update from Windows vista to Windows 7 within Parallels -- but have found nothing. I also tried to post two related questions in the Parallels forums, but they do not show up. Can you let me know if the database has been updated with these instructions? If so, can you provide a link to the article? Thanks,

Donovan.
 
Solved

So, after being shuffled from Microsoft employee to Microsoft employee for over 2 hours and getting nowhere, I finally found a good support person who solved this without telling me to call Macintosh.
1) If you are upgrading vista, you can try putting the Windows 7 DVD in, and running setup. Select Upgrade.
2) Or, if this does not work, and I think it might not going from 32-bit XP to 64-bit Windows 7,
a) Make a new Parallels Partition, and install the Windows 7 upgrade to this.
b) The key will not work because Microsoft says this was a clean install, and the disk was an upgrade.
c) Insert the Windows 7 DVD as above and run setup.exe. Select Upgrade. This reinstalled Windows 7 painfully slowly, and with 5 reboots. It took 2 hours! At the end, it will ask you for the upgrade key.
d) After a reboot, you will then be able to activate it. Right-click on Computer in the start menu and pick Properties. The key will now work.
 
Bopanna I G said:
Hello ronmarcusps,

You will be able to purchase upgrade media and an upgrade license to move from Windows XP to Windows 7 - however, you will need to do a clean installation of Windows 7, This requires the user to back up their data, install Windows 7, re-install the programs and restore their data.

Windows Vista users, however, will have the option to install over top their existing OS.

You will not have any problems installing Windows 7 as an upgrade version.

Thank you.
Click to expand...

Well, as I thought, I cannot upgrade my Windows XP VM to Windows 7. I purchased the upgrade as I didn't want to pay for the "full version" This requires a licensed version of Windows on the VM, but when I try to run the upgrade disc I get an error from Windows saying something like "this version of Windows is incompatible with the version you are running, please boot your machine from the installation disc." If I do this (boot from the disc), it will boot up, but when I attempt to actually install Windows 7, it gives me another error stating there is no driver, please insert the installation media. So either way, I can't upgrade. Please help!!
 
I'm having the same issue, but I didn't try to do a "clean install" on a new VM, as I knew that wouldn't work. However, one cannot upgrade from Windows XP as XP can't read the Win7 upgrade disc. If you boot up from the upgrade disc, it will work, but when you go to install the OS, I get the error that there is no driver available, please insert appropriate media. What driver and what media?? Help!
 
Hey James,

Thanks for your proposed workaround, but how am I supposed to run setup.exe in step c) of your list? I have installed Win7 in a new virtual machine and gonr to the point where my key is rejected. I have no means of running setup.exe again from anywhere, do I?
Booting into this fresh Win7 installation will not let me boot from the disk either to run setup.exe. I appreciate your help!!

eCheers
Hannes
 
Works

Hey,

never mind my latest post!

The solution proposed a couple of posts above works fine! Just keep in mind when you install Win7 in a fresh VM, leave the product key field empty --> It will work as you can use Win7 on a trail basis. Then Reinstal Win7 out of this VM and select "upgrade" this time.

It takes forever - as described - but works just fine! You can then use the provided serial!!

Thanks James!!

eCheers
Hannes
 
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