Tales of from the front line.

Hey all, I just upgraded from Vista 32 bit to Win 7 64 bit. The upgrade part was straightforward and fairly simple. Now that I got it up and running Ive run into a problem.

I used windows easy transfer program to load up everything on an external HD before I did the upgrade, and now have use the same program to transfer everything back into the right place on win 7...or so I though. All my programs wont load up. Impluse as an example does start but says I have updates which wont install correctly. None of my games start. 90% of my icons are missing. And from what Im getting Im gonna have to redownload everything.

To be honest I wouldnt of minded that so much if I had know thats the case to begin with...but everything I read online said with this transfer program it be a easy transfer and everything should work. Did I do this right? Or was I mislead?


Comments
on Jan 10, 2010

did you move stuff into the Program Files (x86) folder or just Program Files.

It needs to be in the (x86) version

on Jan 10, 2010

Its all in the x86 file. It transfered it correctly I assume. But nothing runs. Not even Windows Live Messanger.

 

Here is what runs currently:

 

Impulse-(Though none of the games run. I got Fences to work by redownloading it)

Foxfire

IE8

on Jan 10, 2010

Just to make sure:

You did do a "Clean Install" not a true "Upgrade". Read: You lost all your prior files, documents and programs.

It shouldn't be possible to do a true "Upgrade" from a 32-bit OS to a 64-bit. However, I do know you use an "Upgrade" CD even while doing a "Clean Install" since Microsoft considers an Upgrade to be anything that had an OS previously installed.

 

That said, though all your documents work, it is quite likely that many of your programs won't >> I've never used the MS Ready Transfer program or w/e.

on Jan 10, 2010

Yeah it was a clean install. And all my documents work just fine and are in the right spot and everything. Using MS easy transfer I also told it to transfer all the Program Files. I assumed it would save me from download everything over again. But its looking like that is not the case. It wasnt clear if transfering the programs would work. Its what I get for trying to find an easy way I guess.

on Jan 11, 2010

To be honest I wouldnt of minded that so much if I had know thats the case to begin with...but everything I read online said with this transfer program it be a easy transfer and everything should work. Did I do this right? Or was I mislead?

In assuming you are going from 32 bit to 32 bit, yes, the transfer proggie would work as advertised.  However, the same is not true when upgrading from 32 bit to 64 bit.  The OS architecture is different and therefore program/system files are handled and assigned differently.  While your documents will open/run in either architecture, programs will not... they have to be reinstalled separately to correspond with the 64 bit registry/architecture.

 

on Jan 11, 2010

Ah ok, see nothing online about going from 32 bit to 64 bit told me that. Though I knew some programs would have to be redownloaded/installed. I assumed some would. Oh well...live and learn.

Ty for yall help and guidence so far.

on Jan 11, 2010

Just a quickie here. awuffleablehedgie is incorrect in you loosing all your files. Unless you formatted the drive, which is not a requirement for a clean install of Win 7, you have your files under the Windows.old folder. So while you have to reinstall all your programs, your information is not lost and the easy transfer should have transferred most of your user files like saved games, pictures, docs and explorer bookmarks, etc..

on Jan 11, 2010

Yeah I have the all the files and folders. The .exe for the programs transfered over though do not work. It required a reinstall or redownload for the program .exe to work. Well at least thats whay Ive found. Not something critical. But at the time I was doing this last night. I was under the notion that the .exe would work. Like plug and play so to speak...lol..and in my ingronace I learn that is untrue.

 

No biggie Ive gotten most of my required programs installed and working right now.

on Jan 11, 2010

Your REGISTRY which holds oodles of information on how each program is supposed to work was not transferred, as it was a clean install. So, yes, you would have to reinstall all programs (or in many cases 64 bit new versions of said programs) to get things working "as before." Also keep in mind you may have programs that used to work just fine that will NEVER work if they were 16 bit. The 32-bit windows would run 16-bit programs, but the default for 64 bit Windows 7 is not to run any 16 bit applications (though it will run all 32 bit ones.) This is most prevalent in certain business software and older windows 95/98/win ME games.

on Jan 11, 2010

xinh2
Your REGISTRY which holds oodles of information on how each program is supposed to work was not transferred, as it was a clean install. So, yes, you would have to reinstall all programs (or in many cases 64 bit new versions of said programs) to get things working "as before." Also keep in mind you may have programs that used to work just fine that will NEVER work if they were 16 bit. The 32-bit windows would run 16-bit programs, but the default for 64 bit Windows 7 is not to run any 16 bit applications (though it will run all 32 bit ones.) This is most prevalent in certain business software and older windows 95/98/win ME games.

If you have Pro or Ultimate, you can download XP Mode and Virtual PC to get your 16bit apps to work. I've used it. It's a resource hog so not ideal for things like games, but it's okay for other programs.

on Jan 11, 2010

Not every program requires a re-install....and certainly not every Game.

Most of the games on my Win7 64bit Computer were simply copied over from the HD of the older XP 32bit machine.....the only ones that weren't I simply did not have at the time on the old machine.

Proggies such as Winamp and ACDsee I simply copy over [though ACDsee will ask you to remind it where the plugins are - as that was in the registry]...