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Keep Your User Settings When Upgrading to Windows XP

by Computips    

If you upgrade a single user computer from Windows 95, 98, or Me, to Windows XP, XP's Setup program will automatically save any files and settings. But if you upgrade from any other version of Windows, such as Windows 2000 Professional, you must migrate the settings of the user performing the upgrade—usually the Administrator—and all of the other user profiles on the machine. This is where the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard comes in.

You can take it with you

The Files and Settings Transfer Wizard is a utility program that saves the files and settings associated with each user on the machine. The wizard can also help transfer user information to a different computer or to a different operating system on the same computer.

The wizard runs from within your previous operating system, extracts all of the necessary information, and puts it in a format that Windows XP can understand. Before you run the wizard, you must set up a location where you can store this information.

Using the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard

To use the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard, insert your Windows XP installation CD. If AutoPlay is enabled, you'll see the CD’s splash screen appear. If the splash screen doesn't appear, go into My Computer and run the CD’s setup.exe file to display the splash screen.

On the splash screen, click Perform Additional Tasks, followed by Transfer Files and Settings. Doing so will launch the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard. If you’re running the wizard on a machine that’s already running Windows XP, the wizard will ask you whether the machine is old or new. Select the option for an old machine, since this is the machine (or operating system) that you’re extracting files and settings from.

At this point, you’ll see a screen that asks you what type of transfer method you want to use. The best way is to create a file and send it to a network drive or to a CD. To do so, select the Other option and specify the location that you want to write the file to.

After clicking Next, you’ll see a screen that asks what you want to transfer. You may transfer files only, settings only, or both files and settings. The default option is to transfer both files and settings.

Click Next and the wizard will start the copy process. When the copy process is complete, click the Finish button to close the wizard.

After installing Windows XP, you can import the settings that you extracted by running the wizard again. This time, when the wizard asks you if you are using the old computer or the new computer, select the New Computer option. Simply follow the prompts. When you get to the screen that asks you for the location of the extracted information, fill in the path to the file where you saved the information. Windows XP will read in all of the necessary information, and your new computer is ready to use.


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Harry is a freelance writer, computer consultant, and Internet marketer. His writing projects include ghostwriting, copywriting, web site content, DTP, editing, and technical writing. His computer consulting work includes installation, setup, and troubleshooting computer systems. His credits include articles for Internet Day, Internet World, Advertising Today, Advertising Age, L-Advertising, Computer Edge, and a host of others. Harry recently published a book on computer repair and copywriting. You can check out his samples and what he offers at his site by going to http://www.writeformedia.com/portfolio.htm.