Starting today, you can now use the new SkyDrive app on Windows Phone 7.5 to do more with your SkyDrive. It’s available in every country/region where we offer Windows Phone.

Browse your entire SkyDrive—documents, photos, any and all of your files

Being able to see all your folders and files (of all types) is important for SkyDrive power users, as it helps facilitate sharing and file management.

Share any SkyDrive folder or file with one or more people

Pick a file of any type, or even a folder, and share it with as many people as you like. This uses the same “Get a link” mechanism as SkyDrive.com does—you can give the recipients view-only or view-and-edit permissions to your file.

Manage your SkyDrive

Organizing your folders and files just the way you like it is now possible with the SkyDrive app. Create a new folder for a new project or photo album, or delete old files or folders that you no longer need.

More details from the team @ https://windowsteamblog.com/windows_live/b/windowslive/archive/2011/12/13/introducing-skydrive-for-iphone-and-windows-phone.aspx

Step into these virtual labs and explore the new and updated features in Windows 7, including AppLocker, BranchCache, BitLocker, and many others.

It's simple: no complex setup or installation is required to try out Windows 7 running in the full-featured TechNet Virtual Lab. You get a downloadable manual and a 90-minute block of time for each module. You can sign up for additional 90-minute blocks any time.

LINK: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/virtuallabs/ee862412.aspx

1 In-Place Upgrade from one edition of Windows 7 to another edition of Windows 7

2 Windows 7 Upgrade path from Windows XP or Windows Vista

3 Windows 7 Upgrade Paths

Supported Upgrade Scenarios

4 Unsupported Upgrade Scenarios

5 Steps to perform the Upgrade

6 Windows Anytime Upgrade

7 About: USMT for IT Professionals

8 USMT via network or hardlink

9 USMT PROCESS

10 Step-by-Step: Basic Windows Migration using USMT for IT Professionals

1. In-Place Upgrade from one edition of Windows 7 to another edition of Windows 7

Before you upgrade, please review the supported upgrade paths. If your Windows 7 cannot be upgraded from an existing edition, please use USMT (User State Migration) to migrate your settings.

UPGRADES

To use upgrade software, you must first be licensed for the software that is eligible for the upgrade. Upon upgrade, this agreement takes the place of the agreement for the software you upgraded from. After you upgrade, you may no longer use the software you upgraded from.

2. Windows 7 Upgrade path from Windows XP or Windows Vista

3. Windows 7 Upgrade Paths

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd772579(WS.10).aspx

Supported Upgrade Scenarios

4. Unsupported Upgrade Scenarios

· Upgrades to Windows 7 from the following operating systems are not supported:

· Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows XP, Windows Vista® RTM, Windows Vista Starter, Windows 7 M3, Windows 7 Beta, Windows 7 RC, or Windows 7 IDS

· Windows NT® Server 4.0, Windows 2000 Server, Windows Server® 2003, Windows Server 2008, or Windows Server 2008 R2

· Cross-architecture in-place upgrades (for example, x86 to x64) are not supported.

· Cross-language in-place upgrades (for example, en-us to de-de) are not supported.

· Cross-SKU upgrades (for example, Windows 7 N to Windows 7 K) are not supported.

· Upgrades from Windows Vista to Windows N, Windows K, Windows KN, or Windows E are not supported.

· Cross-build type in-place upgrades (for example, fre to chk) are not supported.

5. Steps to perform the Upgrade

1. Power on the computer, if not already on.

2. Start Windows 7 & login to your computer with a user that has administrative credentials

3. Close any application or programs that are running or open like Windows Live Messenger, etc.

4. Insert your Windows 7 UPGRADE DISK installation disk into you DVD drive.

5. Run Setup.exe

6. Choose the Language to install, Time and currency format, and Keyboard or input method that you'd like to use in your Windows 7 installation.

7. Click on the install button

8. The Windows setup process will begin

9. Install updates (Recommended)

10. Accept Windows 7 Software License terms or ELUA

11. Choose the type of installation as “Upgrade”. Do not select “Custom (advanced)” installs a new copy of Windows and deletes your programs and settings”

NOTE: If you get a message informing to use “Windows Anytime upgrade”, then the media that you have does not support the upgrade.

12. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete your upgrade installation to Windows 7.

6. Windows Anytime Upgrade

1. Click Start & type “Windows Anytime Upgrade”

2. In the Windows Anytime Upgrade Wizard, select “Enter an upgrade Key”

3. Type the upgrade key & proceed to follow the on-screen instructions to complete your upgrade installation to Windows 7

7. About: USMT for IT Professionals

USMT 4.0 is available via the Windows® Automated Installation Kit (AIK) for Windows® 7

https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=696DD665-9F76-4177-A811-39C26D3B3B34

Windows® User State Migration Tool (USMT) 4.0 is a scriptable command-line tool that provides a highly-customizable user-profile migration experience for IT professionals. USMT includes two components, ScanState and LoadState, and a set of modifiable .xml files: MigApp.xml, MigUser.xml, and MigDocs.xml. In addition, you can create custom .xml files to support your migration needs. You can also create a Config.xml file to specify files or settings to exclude from the migration.

· Safely migrates user accounts, operating system and application settings.

· Lowers the cost of deploying Windows® by preserving user state

· Reduces end-user downtime required to customize desktops and find missing files

· Reduces help-desk calls

· Reduces the time needed for the user to become familiar with the new operating system

· Increases employee satisfaction with the migration experience.

VIDEO: Windows 7 Walkthrough: User State Migration Tool

Pasted from https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=E263796C-C7E4-44D6-96DD-32E821C88A25&displaylang=en

The following user data and settings can be migrated using USMT 4.0 & a complete list can be found here: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd560792(WS.10).aspx

8. USMT via network or hardlink

Maintaining the users files during an upgrade / migration is a major issues.  USMT (User State Migration Toolkit) is designed to help drive this functionality.  When working with this tool, there are two major options for maintaining the user files: Network based or Local based (hard links).  Each has a specific impact on the deployment architecture you will create.  On a network storage scenario disk space on the server is required.  Additionally you may be moving Private/Secure files onto a server so security is a consideration you need to make.

Storing the users files via hard links is a quicker option, but note this is hardware intensive on the local user hard drive.  If you have older computers in the customer environment be prepared to backup before the install.

Key design decision points for local hard-link migration:

• Hard-link migration only requires 250 MB of local storage on the disk

• USMT will cause a lot of hard drive activity and may cause a hard drive to fail if the hard drive is very old, so please perform a full backup

• Consider only migrating certain data types and excluding others.  You probably don’t want to back up GB’s of MP3 files

• Consider using a full back up in a Refresh just in case USMT does not back up everything the customer may want

9. USMT PROCESS

In a Refresh scenario an existing computer is re-imaged with an Operating System. In this scenario, all of the User data is backed up with USMT either to a local folder (c:\minint) or to a network share.  After the user state is backed up the computer will reboot into Windows PE and optionally a full backup of the computer will be performed.  This is useful just in case USMT does not back up all user data.  A backup takes a very long time (sometimes hours) so shouldn’t be used for all machines but it is useful for important machines. 

After the computer backup is completed, all of the files on the hard driver except for the MININT folder will be deleted and then the new Operating System will be installed and Configured.

USMT 4.0 Frequently Asked Questions

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd560774(WS.10).aspx

10. Step-by-Step: Basic Windows Migration using USMT for IT Professionals

https://technet.microsoft.com/hi-in/library/dd883247(en-us,WS.10).aspx

Applies To: Windows 7

The Windows® User State Migration Tool (USMT) 4.0 is designed to help IT professionals migrate files and settings to the Windows® 7 operating system. USMT 4.0 is a Microsoft application intended for administrators who are performing large-scale automated deployments. For deployment to a small number of computers or for individually customized deployments, you can use Windows Easy Transfer. For more information, see Windows 7 Upgrade and Migration Guide.

This step-by-step guide to Windows migration for IT pros provides a basic example of how to migrate files and settings from Windows XP to Windows 7 using USMT 4.0. (You can also migrate files and settings from a computer running Windows Vista®.) At the end of this process, you will have used the ScanState and LoadState tools to complete an end-to-end migration. You can also customize your migration by editing configuration files used by these tools. For a comprehensive description of all of the tools and configuration files, see the User State Migration Tool (USMT) 4.0 User's Guide (Usmt.chm) downloaded with the Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK) or this Microsoft Web site.

In this example, you gather data from a source computer running Windows XP, create a migration store using the default settings in ScanState, install Windows 7 on a new or newly repartitioned computer, and then apply data from the migration store.

This process includes:

Step 1: Gather data using the ScanState tool

Step 2: Install Windows 7

Step 3: Apply data using the LoadState tool

Requirements

To complete this scenario, you need the following:

· Windows 7 product DVD disc

· Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK) DVD disc
You can download the Windows AIK .iso file from this Microsoft Web site and burn the .iso file onto a blank DVD disc.

· A source computer
A source computer requires a network adapter, a working network environment, and a DVD-ROM drive. This guide uses a source computer running Windows XP. However, you can also use a source computer running Windows Vista. If you choose to use this guide with Windows Vista, the interface will differ slightly from that of Windows XP, and you may have to modify some of the steps for actions on that operating system, but the USMT syntax will remain the same.

· Network connectivity

· A technician computer
A technician computer can be any computer on which you will install the Windows AIK. The technician computer must be running Windows Server® 2003, Windows Vista, or Windows 7. This computer also requires a DVD-ROM drive. After you have installed the Windows AIK on the technician computer, you can copy the USMT to other computers in your organization.

· Optional: a destination computer
A destination computer is the computer onto which you intend to migrate files and settings. This computer requires a network adapter, a working network environment, and a DVD-ROM drive.
For this example, you can reuse the source computer as your destination computer. After you create a migration store on a server, you can then reformat the hard drive of the source computer, returning it to a blank state. The source computer will then become your destination computer.

· Optional: installation software for applications for which you will migrate files and settings

Step 1: Gather Data Using the ScanState Tool

There are two migration scenarios. Migrating to a new operating system on a single computer is known as PC refresh. Migrating to a separate destination computer is known as PC replacement. For more information about PC refresh and PC replacement, see Common Migration Scenarios.

In most PC-refresh scenarios, you can perform a hard-link migration. Use of a hard-link migration store drastically improves migration performance and significantly reduces hard-disk space usage. For more information about hard-link migrations, see Hard-Link Migration Store.

In some PC-refresh scenarios, however, such as repartitioning the drive, you cannot use a hard-link migration store. In this case, you must create a compressed or uncompressed migration store instead. This is called a PC-replacement scenario and is similar to the steps you use when migrating files and settings to a new computer. In this step-by-step guide, you will create a compressed migration store on a server that can be used in either a PC-refresh or PC-replacement scenario.

Install the USMT

You can install the Windows AIK on any computer running a supported operating system such as Windows Vista or Windows 7. After the Windows AIK is installed, you can copy USMT files and tools to other computers in your organization.

1. On a computer running an operating system that is supported by Windows AIK, insert the Windows AIK DVD into the DVD-ROM drive.
The Setup program automatically starts.

2. Follow the online instructions.

3. Copy all of the contents of C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\USMT\<architecture> to a network share or USB port. <architecture> can be either x86 or amd64. For example, at a command prompt, type:

xcopy c:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\USMT\x86 \\fileserver\USMTx86

4. Copy the USMT files and tools to the source computer. For example, on the source computer, at a command prompt, type:

xcopy \\fileserver\USMTx86 c:\USMT

Optional: Create a Test Account to Migrate

If you are using a source computer that has not been customized by a user to include personal files and modifications such as desktop wallpaper, you should create a test account in order to test and verify a successful migration.

To create a local test account on a Windows XP computer that is not joined to a domain

1. Click Start, click Control Panel, click User Accounts, and then click Create a new account.

2. Type USMT Tester, and then click Create Account.

3. Click Close.

To create a local test account on a Windows XP computer that is joined to a domain

1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click User Accounts.

2. In the User Account window, click the Advanced tab.

3. Under Advanced User Management, click Advanced.

4. In the Local Users and Groups pane, click Users.

5. On the Action menu, click New User.

6. Type USMT Tester in the User name: text box, type a password that you will remember, or make a note of it, click the User must change password at next logon check box to clear it, and then click Create.

7. Click Close.

Optional: Add files and Settings to a Test Account

Make any other changes to the USMT Tester account that you would like to test during the migration. For example:

· Copy files from a USB flash drive (UFD) or a network share to the My Documents folder for the test account. You can use .txt files or a sample of file types you would like to migrate. For more information, see What Does USMT Migrate?.

· Copy or create test files on the C:\ drive.

· Set a custom desktop wallpaper. Built-in wallpaper images, such as Tulips.jpg on Windows XP, will not migrate. Instead, save a new image file to the source computer to use as wallpaper.

· Change the font color in the command-prompt application.

· Map a network drive.

· Set the home page in Internet Explorer®.

Optional: Preview What USMT Will Migrate

In USMT 4.0, the MigXmlHelper.GenerateDocPatterns function can be used to automatically find user documents on a computer without authoring extensive custom migration .xml files. This function is included in the MigDocs.xml sample file downloaded with the Windows AIK.

To preview what USMT will migrate

1. Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as.

2. Select an account with administrator privileges, supply a password, and then click OK.

3. At the command prompt, type:

cd /d <USMTpath>

scanstate.exe /genmigxml:<filepath.xml>

Where <USMTpath> is the location on your source computer where you have saved the USMT files and tools, and <filepath.xml> is the full path to a file where you can save the report. For example, type:
cd /d c:\USMT

scanstate.exe /genmigxml:"C:\Documents and Settings\USMT Tester\Desktop\genMig.xml"

4. Open the file that ScanState generated at the location you specified. This guide shows the patterns that you will use in the migration when you run ScanState and specify the MigDocs.xml sample file in the command-line options.

5. Find the component element for USMT Tester in the .xml file. It will look like this:

<component type="Documents" context="STRESSMARMOT\USMT Tester" defaultSupported="Yes">

Review the folders and file patterns that will be migrated for this account. For example, the following line shows that all files in the USMT Tester\My Documents folder will be migrated:

<pattern type="File">c:\documents and settings\usmt tester\my documents\*[*]</pattern>

For more information on what USMT migrates and how to determine what types of files and settings are best to migrate for your organization, see Plan Your Migration.

For more information about customizing configuration files, see Customize USMT XML Files.

Run ScanState to Create a Migration Store on the Server

By default, the ScanState tool will create a compressed migration store. This guide uses the default compressed migration store that is applicable to both PC-refresh and PC-replacement scenarios. For most PC-refresh scenarios, however, you can also use a Hard-Link Migration Store, which improves performance. For more information, see Hard-Link Migration Store.

To create a migration store on a server

1. Log on to the source computer as an account that has administrator privileges. This account should also have permissions to the network share where you will create your migration store.

2. Open a command prompt. Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, and then click Command Prompt.
Run ScanState on the source computer to collect files and settings. Type:

cd /d <USMTpath>

scanstate <StorePath> /i:migdocs.xml /i:migapp.xml /v:13 /l:<logFilePath>

Where <USMTpath> is the location on your source computer where you have saved the USMT files and tools. <StorePath> is the full path to a folder on a network server where you can create the migration store, and <logFilePath> is the full or relative path to a file where you can save the ScanState log information. For example, type:
cd /d c:\USMT

scanstate \\fileserver\migration\mystore /i:migdocs.xml /i:migapp.xml /v:13 /l:scan.log

3. Optional: review the ScanState log. For help with USMT errors, see Troubleshooting.

Step 2: Install Windows 7

After you create a migration store on a server, you will install Windows 7 and load the files and settings from that migration store onto the destination computer. You can reformat the source computer (PC refresh) and use it as your destination computer, or you can use an additional computer (PC replacement).

You must install Windows 7 and any applications for which you will migrate files and settings onto your destination computer.

To install Windows 7

1. If your computer contains user data, back up this data before reformatting.

2. To start Windows 7 Setup, insert the Windows 7 DVD while running Windows, choose your language options, and then click Install Now. If the autorun program does not open the Install Windows screen, browse to the root folder of the DVD and double-click setup.exe.

3. Read and accept the Microsoft Software License Terms. Click I accept the License Terms (required to use Windows), and then click Next. If you click I decline (cancel installation), Windows 7 Setup will exit.

4. Click Custom (advanced).

5. On the Where do you want to install Windows? screen, click Drive options (advanced).

6. Click a partition, and then click Delete. Click OK if you want to delete the partition and any data on it.

7. If there are additional partitions, repeat step 6 for each partition.

8. Select the disk listed as unallocated space, and then click New.

9. Enter a partition size, or click Apply.

10. Click OK. Windows will create the new partition as well as a system partition.

11. Select the new partition, and then click Format. Click OK if you want to reformat the partition and delete any data on it.

12. Click Next.
Windows 7 Setup will proceed without further interaction.

Install Applications

Although it is not always necessary, it is a best practice to install applications before loading files and settings from your migration store.

To install applications

1. Install all user applications on the destination computer. The application version that is installed on the destination computer should be the same version as the one on the source computer. USMT does not support migrating the settings for an older version of an application to a newer version. The exception to this is Microsoft® Office, which USMT can migrate from an older version to a newer version.
For more information about what applications and settings are supported in USMT 4.0, see What Does USMT Migrate?.

2. Close all applications. If some applications are running when you run LoadState, USMT might not migrate all of the specified data. For example, if Microsoft Office Outlook® is open, USMT might not migrate .pst files, which, for example, store a user's local messages and calendar events.

Step 3: Apply Data Using the LoadState Tool

To apply migrated data to your hard drives, you connect the computer to your network, install USMT, and then run LoadState.

To connect the computer to your network

1. Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.

2. Under Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings, click Change Settings.

3. In the System Properties window, click Network ID.

4. Use the Join a Domain or workgroup Wizard to connect to your local area network.

To install the USMT

· Copy the USMT files and tools to the destination computer from the UFD or network share where you have saved them. For example, on the destination computer, at a command prompt, type:

xcopy \\fileserver\USMTx86 c:\USMT

To run LoadState

1. Log on to the destination computer as an account that has administrator privileges. This account should also have permissions to the network share where you created your migration store.

2. Open a command prompt. Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as Administrator.

3. Click Yes to open the command prompt.

4. Run LoadState on the destination computer. Specify the same set of .xml files that you specified when using ScanState.

cd /d <USMTpath>

loadstate <storePath> /i:migdocs.xml /i:migapp.xml /lac /lae /v:13 /l:<logFilePath>

Where <USMTpath> is the location on your source computer where you have saved the USMT files and tools, <storePath> is the full path to a folder on a network server where you can create the migration store, and <logFilePath> is the full or relative path to a file where you can save the ScanState log information. For example, type:
cd /d c:\USMTloadstate \\fileserver\migration\mystore /i:migdocs.xml /lac /lae /i:migapp.xml /v:13 /l:load.log

5. Optional: review the LoadState log file. For help with USMT errors, see Troubleshooting.

After the computer has been restarted, you can verify that the USMT Tester account was successfully migrated and that the test documents are present on the new computer. You can log on to the USMT Tester account and verify the migration of any of the customizations you made in step 1.

Next Steps

You can learn more about customizing your migration from the User State Migration Tool (USMT) 4.0 User's Guide (Usmt.chm) installed with the Windows AIK or at this Microsoft Web site

Presenter Information

Name: Ashokan Achari & Sameer Venugopalan

Email: ashokana@microsoft.com & samev@microsoft.com

Topic Information

Session Details: https://partner.microsoft.com/40150525

Session Type: Live meeting Session

Level: 300 – Advanced

Occurance: Monthly

Session Title: Practice Accelerator for Optimized Desktop

Description:  Your customer trusts you as partners in their business growth. You have the power to take their business ahead by providing them with the latest technology solutions. The 4 days of session with insightful demos will enable you as specialists to successfully deploy & migrate to Windows 7 using Microsoft Deployment Tools and Technologies. You will be in a better position to help your customers understand the benefits of Optimized Desktop.

About Practice Accelerator: Practice Accelerator provides a detailed framework of resources, covering pre-engagement to post-delivery. These reusable tools, templates, best practices, Hands-On Labs, and guides include:

• Planning and design guides to help you provide pre deployment recommendations.
• Project guidance, including templates for planning and managing your customers’ projects.
• Materials to help you with architecture design, along with post-deployment maintenance and monitoring recommendations.
• Easily customizable reference architecture documents for you to design and leave with your customers.

Major Products or Technologies Covered:  Deployment Tools like Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 Update 1 & System Center Configuration Manager 2007, Optimization Technologies like App-V

Audience Category:  IT Professional

Audience Type:  Infrastructure Architect, IT Manager, Technology Specialists, Consultants & Project Managers

Partner Type : Partners who enable customers to migrate from Windows XP to Windows 7 or help them new installation of Windows 7

Prerequisites:

• Qualified to deliver desktop deployment planning service engagements
• Familiarity with Windows administration principles, including Group Policy settings
• Familiarity with General Desktop Management

Suggested Skills:

• Knowledge of Windows 7 operating system
• Basic knowledge of Microsoft Office 2010
• Basic knowledge of Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2
• Basic knowledge of Windows Deployment Services
• Basic knowledge of the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit
• Knowledge of deployment tools and technologies
• Basic programming and scripting experience
• Knowledge of Active Directory
• Basic knowledge of Windows Pre-installation Environment

Audience Key Learning:

• The Objective of the session is provide the guidance on upgrading/migrating your customers environment to Windows 7 with Optimization
• This session would help audience understand Optimized Desktop Framework, various Deployment Phases, Discovery & Assessment Process to in the Deployment Life Cycle

Date & Time : Nov 7th 2011 - Nov 10th 2011, 10:30 AM – 2:30 PM Singapore Standard Time [As the registraton is closed for the week of Nov 4th 2011, you can send an email to me at ashokana@microsoft.com]

REGISTER NOW @ https://partner.microsoft.com/40150525 & Register for Asia Pacific region.