Upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7?

Last updated on October 3rd, 2023 at 04:28 pm


The change from Windows XP to Windows 7 had some significant directory changes.

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So you’ve decided to make the jump from Windows XP to Windows 7… Congratulations! You’re on your way to working with a much more up-to-date operating system. There are a few directories that you want to make sure you back up and move to your new computer. This is a special note when you’re migrating from XP because Microsoft changed the location of these files with Windows Vista and continued this new directory structure into Windows 7.

So here we go…User profile data in XP is stored in C:\Documents and Settings whereas in Windows 7, it’s stored in C:\Users so when it comes to your favorite links and My Documents, you need to take special care to make sure you get them all – and then put them back into the right places after the upgrade. Here are a few of the more important folders you’ll want to copy…

Windows XP DirectoryWindows 7 Directory
C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\My Documents\My PicturesC:\Users\[username]\Pictures
C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\My Documents\My MusicC:\Users\[username]\Music
C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\DesktopC:\Users\[username]\Desktop
C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\FavoritesC:\Users\[username]\Favorites
C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\My DocumentsC:\users\[username]\Documents

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