is it possible to upgrade XPe to Vista e then to 7e? like it is with XP desktop? I have program that is bound to the OS with no re installation media or activation, the only way that i know of to keep it is to upgrade the OS it's self unless there is some magical program moving software.
well if direct upgrade isn't possible, I found some instructions that claim it is possible to upgrade XPe to XP Pro and XP Pro can be upgraded to vista.
What should be the aim of that 'project' ? The majority of programs and most likely all drivers are incompatible with the newer Win versions so they won't be preserved. I would recommend to get a Win 7 SP1 media refresh version, check for proper drivers and new Program versions, backup all personal stuff and start from scratch by installing a fresh Win 7. The upgrade will last several hours with no guarantees that it will work as expected .
The whole reason is to keep the program. There is chance the program might work on later version of windows but, for all i know it's tied to the hardware, but, for all intensive purposes this particular setup is setup for general use. you make it sounds like a clean install. In this case a clean install is NOT possible as there is no way to get the program back once it's gone, it's gone forever. well mostly you have to send the whole unit in back to the company who it's sold under and they just re image it. So the only logical way is to do an in palce upgrade. unless there is a magical program migrating tool. EDIT: Since the use of said unit include average daily use it would be nice to upgrade to vista or 7 since it has better security but, XPe could work assuming that the registry hack for new updates works with XPe.