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However, despite this detail, Windows XP to Windows 7 upgrades are indeed possible, but customers will have to turn to an alternative path, provided by the Microsoft Deployment Tool 2010. MDT 2010 is a tool offered by the Redmond company as a free download and offers components such as the User State Migration Tool, a solution capable of making sure that user settings for applications and the desktop as well as user files are transferred from XP to Windows 7 in the upgrade process.

In a demo XP to Windows 7 migration, Sebastian Vijeu, Microsoft IT Pro Community Lead, explained that the USMT worked in the same manner as a “traditional” upgrade process. Namely, The User State Migration Tool would save the user state with all the associated settings and files, and subsequently re-install Windows 7, having wiped the disk beforehand. In this sense, USMT would perform what Microsoft referred to as hardlink migration.

“The .WIM (windows imaging format) exists since the advent of Windows Vista,” Vijeu explained. “It’s a formant in which both Windows Vista and Windows 7 are componentized, the operating systems coming with modules containing programs, drivers, etc. This allows for a high level of flexibility. The Microsoft Deployment Toolkit may not be as flexible as our System Center Configuration Manager, which is not free, but that allows customers to cover all possible scenarios, but it does allow for Windows XP to Windows 7 upgrades with the User State Migration Tool.”