# Win 7 to 8 questions



## darcinator (Jul 9, 2011)

Hey so in looking to download the release preview and use that till the full version comes out. I am currently running windows 7 and I am wondering if I have to uninstall win 7 and/or any programs inorder to get windows 8 fully installed. I was reading somewhere that the release preview is built off of win 7. Does this mean when windows 8 is officially released I will still be backpacking of windows 7? Should I just uninstall windows 7 completely? Sorry for all the questions!


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## Moraar (Aug 16, 2012)

Hey. All I did was dual boot and then decide on what ones I am keeping if it turns out I don't like Win 8 I'll simply delete the partition and merge it back so no data or program's or OS lost 

Hope it helps 

Aaron Morgan


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## darcinator (Jul 9, 2011)

Is there a way to transfer y programs over to the partition so I don't have to reinstall everything


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## Junior777 (Jul 25, 2012)

There is no way to backup your current program installs and have them carry over. Aside from the files in the Program Files folder there is files in the AppData Folder, the Users>Local/LocalLow/Roaming folder(s) as well as Registry Entries.

So you choices are simple. Either you upgrade your Windows 7 install and hope that you don't have any program or driver conflicts or you clean install Windows 8 and reinstall all of your software. There is no way to just transfer your data to the new OS easily.

You can try the File Transfer Wizard, but there is no guarantee that it will take all programs to the new OS nor is it guaranteed that they will work after the transfer is done.


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## darcinator (Jul 9, 2011)

So what would happen if i just installed win 8 over win 7? Should i create a patrician in my hdd and install win 8 to that?


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## Moraar (Aug 16, 2012)

darcinator said:


> So what would happen if i just installed win 8 over win 7? Should i create a patrician in my hdd and install win 8 to that?


Make a new partition through "management" in admin tools in control panel then create a new partition and install windows 8 when its installed then google easyBCD to sort out your boot order if it hasn't already done it by default


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## LMiller7 (Jun 21, 2010)

Windows 8 is built on Windows 7 but that is just the technology and has nothing to do with installation. Installing Windows 8 in the same partition as Windows 7 will completely remove Windows 7 with no possipility of restoring it. If you ever wish to go back to Windows 7 you need to install Win8 in a separate partition. This would be dual booting. But this is not really something a novice should be doing as there are numerous considerations and things that could go wrong.

The safest way to try Win8 is in a virtual machine. There are numerous posts concerning this in this forum.


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## darcinator (Jul 9, 2011)

Why is dual booting unsafe?


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## jmoutoux (Aug 7, 2012)

I'm with Miller here. Dual booting is not something for an inexperienced user especially when it is so easy to virtualize it. I have tested the win 8 in a virtual box and it works very well. Though I do not like it, does not mean it does not virtualize well.


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## darcinator (Jul 9, 2011)

I have been trying to instal windows 8 over 7 and I choose to keep all my settings and files but for some reason it fails? Any ideas? I'm tying only keeping my files and seeing if that works


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## Junior777 (Jul 25, 2012)

It wont keep everything cause you have a program installed that is not compatible with Windows 8. Plus it is highly recommended not to install Windows 8 Release Preview over your Windows 7 install as it will expire and not work after 1/15/2013 @ 7:59pm. It is a Preview build, it is not the final and there is no way to upgrade from the Preview builds to the final.

So you would lose your files at that point. Unless you backed them up. I would highly suggest you look into using a Virtual Machine at this point. If you are not satisfied with Windows 8, there is no rollback option. You will be stuck with it and worse it will be a build that you cant use past January.


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## darcinator (Jul 9, 2011)

I backed up my windows 7 so I'll just restore that when I want to go to windows 8 full version


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