Updated: July 9, 2020 (December 4, 2006)

Vista Upgrade and Migration Paths

Michael analyzed and wrote about Microsoft's operating systems, including the Windows client OS, as well as compliance and governance. Michael... more

Chart shows supported upgrade and migration paths to Windows Vista from legacy editions of Windows that are in Mainstream support, as well as from one version of Vista to another, such as Home Basic to Ultimate.

	To Windows Vista
From	Upgrade	Windows Easy Transfer Migration¹	User State Migration Tool (USMT) Migration²
Windows 9x	No	No	No
Windows NT 4.0	No	No	No
Windows 2000 with SP4 or SP4 and Upgrade Rollup	No	Yes	Yes
Windows XP SP2 ³	Yes	Yes	Yes
Windows Vista (lower to higher edition)	Yes	Yes	Yes

¹For the migration of only a few computers, Microsoft recommends using Windows Easy Transfer to transfer files and settings from one Windows computer to another.

²For the migration of a large number of computers, or for automated deployments, Microsoft recommends using the User State Migration Tool (USMT) to migrate user accounts, including desktop and application settings, as well as a user’s files.

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