If I upgrade to 8 will I loose my programs?

[bbhaag]

I just put 7 on my computer a few months ago and I finally have all my programs/apps just the way I like them. If I upgrade to 8 am I going to have to start over again?
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[Beavermatic]

Depends if you do an incremental upgrade or completely wipe everything when you upgrade. Generally, if you buy and upgrade copy and run the installer, coming from 7, all of your programs should remain intact.

If your coming from XP, it might be a different story.

It also depends if your upgrading from 32bit to a 64bit edition of Win8 (there is 32-bit copy included with the Win 8 pro upgraded as well, but if you can, go 64-bit if your not already). It will attempt to migrate as many programs as possible, and there shouldn't be issue, but be aware that some programs *may* require updating afterwards.

 

[bbhaag]

I just bought the $40 upgrade through windows.com. I have Win7 ultimate 64bit now. I believe the copy I purchased is Win8 pro 64bit. I don't want to do a clean install if I don't have to. I'm really hoping my program files(x86) and program files folders remain mostly intact through the upgrade.

 

[hondaf17]

I just went from 7 64-bit to 8 64-bit via the upgrade and all of my programs made the transition just fine.

 

[ViRGE]

I just went from 7 64-bit to 8 64-bit via the upgrade and all of my programs made the transition just fine.

:thumbsup:

If you do an upgrade install your programs will be fine.

 

[Mem]

I just bought the $40 upgrade through windows.com. I have Win7 ultimate 64bit now. I believe the copy I purchased is Win8 pro 64bit. I don't want to do a clean install if I don't have to. I'm really hoping my program files(x86) and program files folders remain mostly intact through the upgrade.

You will be fine,the upgrade assistant tells you what you need to remove before upgrade for example told me to remove MSE,since Win8 has its own version,you get the option to keep programs on upgrade etc or clean install,read this http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/software/operating-systems/windows-8-1093002/review/page:2#articleContent .

 

[pmv]

Surely it depends on how loose your programs are now? How loose do you want them to be?

 

[bbhaag]

Thanks for the info guys. I think I might hold off for a few days until my touch screen gets here. Once I get the monitor setup I'll pop in the Win 8 dvd and hope for the best.

 

[Bonesdad]

Thanks for the info guys. I think I might hold off for a few days until my touch screen gets here. Once I get the monitor setup I'll pop in the Win 8 dvd and hope for the best.

Don't really have to hope, upgrade works fine. Would have heard a great hue and cry if it didn't. I did upgrade and all my progs work great.

 

[augiem]

I just had a very bad upgrade experience upgrading a friend's computer. Long story short, Metro apps were broken and would not load. None of Microsoft support's suggestions helped. I had to reformat and start from scratch. There are dozens of threads about this problem on Microsoft's community answers site. The last paragraph in this post says a little more about what happened and has some links. http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=34170559&postcount=195

Definitely do a full backup first if you have the space. Anyway, I hope it works for you!

 

[jhansman]

Definitely do a full backup first if you have the space.

This. NEVER do an OS upgrade without backing up your critical data first, or better yet, creating an image of your C: drive.

 

[bbhaag]

Alright I'll back up my program files folders before the upgrade. My OS drive is a small Plextor ssd(60gb) so all my pictures, videos, music, document files ect. are all on secondary HDDs which shouldn't be affected right?

 

[piasabird]

There may be lots of programs that just will not work on Windows 8. They have some kind of program that tells you what will not work. I would not be so quick to switch over to Windows 8. Let someone else be Microsoft's Guinie Pig. I would give Microsoft a chance to work the bugs out a little bit.

You might ask yourself, What reason do I have to switch to Windows 8?

You may want to consider to upgrade to windows 8 Pro. I think for a short period of time, the Media center can be added at no charge. It requires a separate license key, which you normally would have to buy. Windows 8 does not have DVD player software. However, you may have some program of your own to play videos.

Tom's Hardware just put up an article about installing and using Windows 8.

 

[augiem]

Alright I'll back up my program files folders before the upgrade. My OS drive is a small Plextor ssd(60gb) so all my pictures, videos, music, document files ect. are all on secondary HDDs which shouldn't be affected right?

How did you set up your drive so your data was on D? If you are just saving data to D manually in your own folders, then you should be fine. Just make an image of C (you can do this in Windows 7 backup - http://www.ehow.com/how_5783794_create-windows-backup-image.html). Your program files and data on D shouldn't be lost. But if at all possible, to be on the safe side, you really should do a full backup of the data partition as well.

If you changed the location of your Documents, Downloads, and other user folders by right clicking on them, clicking properties, location, and setting the new target directory location, I would GUESS you'll be fine, but I've never upgraded under these circumstances.

However, if you did anything fancy like using a directory junction to move your Users or ProgramData folders to D (which is what I did when I moved Windows to an SSD but left my data on the HD), I believe the upgrade to 8 will not work. In that situation, you're going to have to move Windows back to the HD first, then upgrade. Also, if you did use junctions, you may not be able to go back to that setup after moving to Windows 8. I have a thread here about it: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2280268. If you don't know what junctions are and you didn't have someone else setup your system, ignore this paragraph.

 

[bbhaag]

On most of my programs, take Handbrake for example ,I went into Handbrake and changed the output directory from C :\whatever to D :\downloads\complete\Handbrake. I did this to save space on my SSD.
I did the same for programs like Bittorent or Office. Most of my programs are installed on C: but all of them save to either the D : or E: drives in their respective directories that I have setup.
Does that make any sense?

For pictures I just manually copy them to my external usb HDD(F: drive) from the camera.

 

[bbhaag]

There may be lots of programs that just will not work on Windows 8. They have some kind of program that tells you what will not work. I would not be so quick to switch over to Windows 8. Let someone else be Microsoft's Guinie Pig. I would give Microsoft a chance to work the bugs out a little bit.

You might ask yourself, What reason do I have to switch to Windows 8?

You may want to consider to upgrade to windows 8 Pro. I think for a short period of time, the Media center can be added at no charge. It requires a separate license key, which you normally would have to buy. Windows 8 does not have DVD player software. However, you may have some program of your own to play videos.

Tom's Hardware just put up an article about installing and using Windows 8.

I want a legal copy of Windows on my machine. The copy of Win8 I bought is the Pro version 64 bit. I do use MPC-HC not WMC so I'm ok there. I'll check out Tom's article. thanks

 

[nickbits]

depends how tight they are now

 

[augiem]

On most of my programs, take Handbrake for example. I went into Handbrake and changed the output directory from C :\whatever to D :\downloads\complete\Handbrake. I did this to save space on my SSD.
I did the same for programs like Bittorent or Office. Most of my programs are installed on C: but all of them save to either the D : or E: drives in their respective directories that I have setup.
Does that make any sense?

For pictures I just manually copy them to my external usb HDD(F: drive) from the camera.

Okay, sounds like you're just saving your data manually to D. Upgrading shouldn't mess with your data on D or E.

I want a legal copy of Windows on my machine.

Then I assume your Windows 7 copy isn't legal? If that's the case, buying the $40 upgrade isn't legal either because in the license it requires that you have a legitimate Windows XP or above licence key to upgrade from. I'm sure you'll be able to install it fine and I doubt you'll have any issues, but ultimately it's still not a legal upgrade.

 

[bbhaag]

Okay, sounds like you're just saving your data manually to D. Upgrading shouldn't mess with your data on D or E.

Cool thats what I was thinking to. Do you think I should open the case and unplug my secondary HDDs while the upgrade is going on then plug them back in after it's done? It probably doesn't matter. I'm just over thinking this.haha
Thanks everyone for all the great info and help.

 

[augiem]

Cool thats what I was thinking to. Do you think I should open the case and unplug my secondary HDDs while the upgrade is going on then plug them back in after it's done? It probably doesn't matter. I'm just over thinking this.haha
Thanks everyone for all the great info and help.

Sure, you can if you don't have any programs actually INSTALLED to D or E. I do that sometimes, especially if I have to format, repartition, or restore a backup. Having that one disk highlighted next to all your other precious ones and pressing "enter" can be a scary moment.