Upgrading OS without reinstalling programs

**RO Citizen** · June 25, 2011, 06:38 AM

I'm pretty bored after these exams, so I decided to upgrade the OS, from XP 32-bit to 7 32-bit. However, I don't really want to reinstall all the programs&games, so is it possible or I'll need to reinstall every single program (considering I'll keep XP, too)

Note: I installed XP 9999999 times, but never 7. I also have a 1TB HDD, with 2 partitions, I guess making a new one without overwriting anything (I have enough free space) would be easy.

Thx in advance, RoC

**Mar77** · June 25, 2011, 01:10 PM

It might be possible to do that with some programs. I know a few years back I used to keep Rome Total War installed on a USB hard drive and was able to use that to play on different computers (XP for sure, and maybe on some Vista computers). I haven't tried doing this with Windows 7, but if you have the disk space it could be worth trying.

Just keep in mind this method might not work for all programs; some programs could have some DRM which prevent it from working on a new installation.

**irishron** · June 25, 2011, 01:37 PM

I have always done a format, fresh install routine since Win95. Microsoft seem to leave little pieces left over that can cause conflicts.

Any of my mods I wanted to keep were backed up on cds and dvds. Now, I'd use an external harddrive.

**RO Citizen** · June 25, 2011, 02:32 PM

Ok, I see, thanks for the info. Now more of a rethorical question, but is there any advantage of keeping 2 OSs? And, most importantly, will games behave better in 7 than XP? (I know they need more resources...) I do have DX11 compatible card, but it's at the very limit of it (Ati 5670)

**irishron** · June 25, 2011, 03:21 PM

I'm still running old dx8 and dx9 programs on my Win 7. It can be done. The oldest I have running right now is Atomtime I 've had since Win95. As far as games, the oldest I have installed right now is simCity 4.