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Prior to migrating or upgrading, you should take a full backup of the original operating system, including all user data. You should get into the habit of backing up important user data regularly. Although using one of the migration tools is likely to be all that you need, you should take a full backup prior to performing a migration or upgrade. Having a full backup gives you a fallback position if something goes catastrophically wrong.

Direct upgrades to Windows Vista from previous versions of Windows are the exception rather than the rule. In general, unless you are running Windows XP, it will be necessary to perform a migration rather than an upgrade. It is also important to consider that it is not possible to upgrade from a 32-bit operating system to a 64-bit or from a 64-bit operating system

to a 32-bit. Moving between operating system architectures requires a clean install on a new volume. Following is a list of previous versions of Windows and the Windows Vista migration and upgrade options that are available for them.

Windows 95 / 98 / Me It is not possible to directly upgrade to any edition of Windows Vista from Windows 95, 98, or Me. It is possible to use earlier versions of the User State Migration Tool to migrate data from these operating systems to any edition of Windows Vista, but Microsoft does not support such a migration. It is not possible to use Windows Easy Transfer to migrate data from these operating systems. Windows NT 4 Workstation It is not possible to upgrade directly from Windows NT 4 Workstation to any edition of Windows Vista. It is possible to use the User State Migration Tool to migrate data from Windows NT 4 to any edition of Windows Vista, but Microsoft does not support such a migration.

Version 2.x of the User State Migration Tool works perfectly well with Windows 95 / 98 / Me and NT 4 and was used to migrate data from these operating systems to Windows XP when it was released. Version 3.x of the tool is unsupported on these earlier operation systems. It is important to note that the most recent versions of the User State Migration Tool are able to import files generated by the version 2.x tool.

Windows 2000 Professional It is impossible to directly upgrade to Windows Vista from Windows 2000 Professional. If Service Pack 4 is installed, it is possible to use Windows Easy Transfer to migrate data and user settings from Windows 2000 Professional to any edition of Windows Vista. It is also possible to use the User State Migration Tool to migrate data and user settings from Windows 2000 Professional to any edition of Windows Vista.

Although it requires a significant amount of effort, if you have the required software, it is of course possible to upgrade Windows 98, Me, NT 4.0, and 2000 to Windows XP and then to upgrade Windows XP to Windows Vista. Because this type of technique is not in any way supported by Microsoft, it will not be on the 70-620 exam.

Windows XP Home It is possible to directly upgrade to all 32-bit editions of Windows Vista from Windows XP Home. It is possible to use both the User State Migration Tool and Windows Easy Transfer to migrate data from Windows XP Home to any edition of Windows Vista. Windows XP Professional Unlike Windows XP Home, it is possible to upgrade Windows XP Professional only to the 32-bit Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista. It is possible to use the User State Migration Tool or Windows Easy Transfer to migrate data from Windows XP Professional to any edition of Windows Vista.