Windows 7 Windows 7 clean install from windows vista, software questions!?

[rahikumar]

I have a Windows vista Home edition and will be upgrading to Windows 7 professional. Windows 7 professional doesn't allow an upgrade path from vista home so i'll need to do a clean install. My question is if there is some way to make a backup of my programs and then just transfer them into windows 7 once its installed. A lot of these programs/applications i've lost the install disk or the key that was needed to run the programs and i'd like to just skip the hassle and headache of reinstalling all my programs if necessary.
I was wondering if i could just make a back up on a portable harddrive and then move the program system files into the new system.
OR
partition my current harddrive with half vista (C drive) half window 7( D drive) (idk if this is even possible) then copy and paste the files from the C drive into the D drive and finally erase C drive (vista). Finally I would move all of those working applications and windows 7 files back into the now empty C drive.

I dont know if any of this is possible or if I should just prepare to buy the software again, etc. PLEASE HELP!

 

[kaos]

Hi
I see your problem
It might not be as simple with programs as you may encounter problems In running them . Also some registry files a program puts on your computer have a set path to where the program was initially installed so you can't just copy the folders over . My best advice is transfer all your files to an external drive and search for the programs again. Although it might be more tome finding the installation .exes but it would save you time in the long run. Mst games or programs are either in the registry , or they are handy program out there to show the keys. Use ya head to look about on search engines . They are legitimate programs that are useful for you