A friend of mine has a lot of software and stuff installed on his Win 7 machine so he doesn't want to do a clean install What is the procedure of doing an upgrade to Windows 8.1 without losing anything?
Works every time. Step 1) Clone the original disk to a new disk Step 2) Attempt your upgrade on the cloned disk. Step 3) If failure at Step 2 re-clone and try again. See the theme, back up the disk first, then you can't lose anything.
This thread by Hellboyx2 along with the additional tool by Woffko describes how to do a full upgrade keeping all programs and data from just about any version of Windows which I'm guessing might be Vista onwards... forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/47611-Complete-Upgrade-from-Windows-8-1-Preview-to-Windows-8-1-RTM-without-loosing-files The backup is probably wise but I experienced no issues other than programs that couldn't possibly be expected to work in the new environment and just needed to be uninstalled... So the older you go, the more common sense required...
The answer depends on which version he is starting from and which version he wants to upgrade to. Some paths can only be accomplished by editing a mounted win8.1 index file c:\windows\servicing\editions\upgradematrix.xml You could change things in that file from "false" to "true" but should only be attempted if the default upgrade doesn't work.
I think you have not yet had the wonderful experience of staring at the latest advance in User Interface Design for the year of 2013 - that deep blue dialog box "choose what you want to keep" and there is a single radio button option "Nothing" Fits right in with the "less is more" design philosophy! I can't paste an image but when you see it on your computer, it is the X-files, Twilight Zone and Outer Limits all rolled into one supreme experience... The utility pointed out by woffko allows you to perform a "virtual click" on the hidden radio buttons in that dialog so you can retain all of your 100's of installed apps... If you really wanted to click the Next button on "Nothing", you might as well just do a clean install...
AFAIK, windows 8.1 has an option to upgrade from previous OS just like windows 8 did not in my world from 7 pro to 8 has 3 options 1 being prog and files from 7 pro to 8.1 only 2 options nothing or files only a fix to this would be great
I have answered this already twice (now 3 times) just within the 7 posts of this thread! From the posts I am seeing, it seems as if either the decision by Microsoft to limit the upgrade scenarios or else my summary of the work-around is baffling people. The work-around devised by HellBoyX2 and Woffko really works! I have tested it within a very unlikely to work scenario by upgrading the "never possible to upgrade" Consumer Preview of 8.0 to the current 8.1 RTM. Others have posted success with Windows 7. You mainly just need to run Woffko's tool so you can actually click on the hidden choice in that upgrade dialog box. Anyone, please let me know how this could be explained in a better way...