Microsoft P2V Migration for Software Assurance uses the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) and Sysinternals Disk2vhd to convert a user's existing Windows XP or later client environment to a virtual hard disk (VHD), then automates the delivery of an updated and personalized Windows 7 operating system containing a virtual machine (VM) with the user's previous Windows environment, applications, and Web browser. The user's previous virtual desktop retains its existing management components, domain membership, and policies. The process also publishes applications and the browser so that the user can access them seamlessly within the Windows 7 Start menu.

Key benefits:

* Helps reduce Windows 7 deployment time
* Extends the timeframe to mitigate application-compatibility issues
* Users can access potentially incompatible applications from their old systems

Even the most skilled IT shops, with resources to work through application compatibility challenges, often find a few users blocking roll-outs to entire sites or larger numbers of users because of:

* Compatibility of specialized, region or user-specific applications, browser customizations or USB device drivers.
* Missing installation files or media to install applications or drivers for testing or redelivery.
* Critical users who cannot risk losing any functionality of their current desktop environments and require a working backup before moving to Windows 7.

Although P2V Migration can help in targeted cases, by design, it is not scalable to large percentages of users in an organization. Best practice is to ensure native compatibility with applications, websites, and hardware devices for Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 8. Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization scales to deliver and manage more compact and standardized Windows XP VMs to more users requiring a managed set of Windows XP-dependent applications. P2V Migration is recommended in cases where users require specific components from their current PC and those components cannot run in Windows 7 and do not warrant being part of a standardized and managed VM environment for broad use. Licensing for P2V Migration requires that the converted Windows XP desktop and Windows 7 environment be installed using Microsoft Volume Licensing media and covered by Microsoft Software Assurance.

System Requirements

* Supported Operating Systems:Windows 7;Windows Vista;Windows XP

* Microsoft Word or Microsoft Word Viewer 2003 (available as a free download) can be used to view Word documents
* Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint File Formats (available as a free download) can be used to open, edit, and save documents, workbooks, and presentations in the file formats new to Microsoft Office.

Instructions:

To install P2VMigration.msi:

1. Double-lick the P2VMigration.msi.
2. Accept the Microsoft Software License Terms.
3. Follow the steps in the installation process to complete the installation.