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Help me come up with a Windows XP-->Windows 7 transition strategy.

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superboyac:
Hi everyone, I'm looking for a detailed way to transition my XP system to Win7 over a span of a couple of months.  I'll present my idea and concerns, and maybe you can address my issues.

My main PC is an XP system.  It's quite a beast.  I have TONS of software installed and when I transition over, I want most of it setup on the Win7 setup.  Now here's the problem:
When I go to Win7, i want the system drive to be C:.  Why is this an issue?  because my plan is to first install Windows 7 on my existing C drive as a dual boot thing.  But if I do that, because XP is already on there, so the Windows 7 will be installed on another letter like E.  That's fine for now, but when I finally transition over, I want the Windows 7 to be the C drive now.  Is that possible?  It seems to be more difficult than one would think.  I don't want everything in win7 to be referring to E and then I change over to C, and everything starts breaking.

Ideally, I'd like both of them to be C depending on which OS I've booted into.  So if I boot into XP, I want the system partition to be C and the other boot partition to be E.  But I want the same for when I boot into Win7.  I want the Win7 system partition to be C.  I just don't know if that is possible.

Eóin:
You are right that you certainly can't start with the Win7 drive as E: and later transistion it to C: without breaking things.

What should be possible though, if you're using separate drive, is to disconnect the XP when installing Win7. Then Win7 should refer to the one it's on as C. When you later connect back the XP drive it should get a label like E: from Win7 and not mess up anything.

I'm not sure if you're working with different partitions on the one drive?

superboyac:
You are right that you certainly can't start with the Win7 drive as E: and later transistion it to C: without breaking things.

What should be possible though, if you're using separate drive, is to disconnect the XP when installing Win7. Then Win7 should refer to the one it's on as C. When you later connect back the XP drive it should get a label like E: from Win7 and not mess up anything.

I'm not sure if you're working with different partitions on the one drive?
-Eóin (October 27, 2010, 12:50 PM)
--- End quote ---
yes, I am talking about two partitions on one drive.

If I do what you said, can I have both be seen as C if I boot into each one independently?

superboyac:
Do you think I can use Bootit NG to handle all of this partition and drive letter management?  Meaning, can I use the program to have both boot options load the system drive as C?

Eóin:
I don't know, you could just try going for it, install Win7 and see if it labels it's own partition as C. Doing so should have no ill affects on the XP OS. All you'll lose is time ;)

Idealy you want to somehow hide the XP partition while installing Win7 so it doesn't try and be "intelligent" by selecting another letter.

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