With the release of Windows 7 many people are going to find it is time to move on from their old operating system. It's time to upgrade to Windows 7. Not everyone will have the same options to upgrade, however. Vista users have the distinct advantage of having a direct in-place upgrade. Upgrade to Windows 7 from a Vista install: There is no upgrade options for Windows Vista Starter (SP1, SP2), not even to Windows 7 Starter. Windows Vista Home Basic (SP1, SP2) 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) can be upgraded to Windows 7 Home Basic, Home Premium and Ultimate 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64). Windows Vista Home Premium (SP1, SP2) 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) can be upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium and Ultimate 32-bit (x86) and 64- bit (x64). Windows Vista Business (SP1, SP2) 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) can be upgraded to Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64). Windows Vista Enterprise (SP1, SP2) 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) can be upgraded to Windows 7 Enterprise 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64). Windows Vista Ultimate (SP1, SP2) 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) can be upgraded to Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64). There are no upgrade options for Windows Vista Home Basic N (SP1, SP2), not even to Windows 7 N or E. There are no upgrade options for Windows Vista Business N (SP1, SP2), not even to Windows 7 N or E. Upgrade to Windows 7 from an XP install: Windows XP users that did not upgrade to Vista still have options but they are not as straightforward as those that made the move to Vista. Windows XP users won't be able to upgrade to Windows 7. However, users running XP have the possibility to buy upgraded media of Windows 7 and perform clean installs. Microsoft has a video which shows how to migrate from Windows XP to Windows 7 using the User State Migration Tool. This application moves all your desktop settings, application settings, and files to a new Windows installation. You can find this video here. A way to get around this is to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows Vista and then upgrade from Vista to Windows 7. The Vista installation will not need to be activated before upgrading to Windows 7. I personally have not tried this method. Computer users who are still using an operating system that predates Windows XP will not have the option to upgrade to windows 7 and must do a clean install. You do have to make sure that your computer is capable of running Windows 7 first. Here is what you'll need in your system: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit) 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit) DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver These are the minimum requirements recommended by Microsoft so it is advisable to double-check your system by using the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor Tool. This program will test your PC and tell you of any hardware or software problems that may arise from installing Windows 7. The Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor tool is available from Microsoft for free and can be found here. No matter what operating system you are using now, as long as your computer can handle it you will be able to upgrade to Windows 7. Upgrade To Windows 7 by PC Apprentice 2009 - 2017 Yeah, microchips, but what... is it good for?  - an IBM senior engineer, 1968