- What’s Included and What Works
- How the Wizard Handles Application Settings
- What About Data Files?
- Touring the File and Settings Transfer Wizard
- Summary
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Touring the File and Settings Transfer Wizard
Microsoft designed this specific wizard to handle four different scenarios. These include migrating to a new computer, migrating to a new computer on your home network, migrating to a new computer using a direct cable connection, and migrating to a clean installation of Windows XP. There's a common series of steps that the Wizard follows in each of these four scenarios, and they are illustrated as follows.
The first decision that the wizard prompts you to make is whether the computer you are working on is the new one you are migrating to or an existing one. Figure 1 shows this initial decision point.
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Figure 1 Getting started with the File and Settings Transfer Wizard.
Clearly, this step gives flexibility about where you begin this migration process. The implication here is that both systems have to be on the same or reachable networks.
The next step relies on the Whistler CD to provide the necessary tools for enabling the transition of settings and files. Figure 2 shows the approach that Microsoft is taking for providing the Whistler CD's contents to the old computer whose files and settings are being migrated.
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Figure 2 The Whistler CD is required for bringing over data and settings from your old PC.
What makes the File and Settings Transfer Wizard unique is its off-line prompting regarding steps to be taken on the old PC. Figure 3 shows the prompting that makes this wizard unique.
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Figure 3 Prompting for the old PC to get up and running with Whistler.
Finally, the Wizard asks for the location of the settings and data files to be migrated. Figure 4 shows this step in the process.
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Figure 4 Picking up the settings and data files to complete the migration.
From this point, the wizard confirms whether you want to have both the data files and settings migrated. There is also the opportunity to select the specific Windows NT 4.0 and 2000 accessories that you want migrated from the previous operating system to Windows XP. The install process ends with the connection method defined and the location of settings and data files specified. The actual transfer of data files and settings takes less than five minutes across a typical network.