Upgrade NXT 1.0 (8527) to Windows 7, 64 bit, and NXT 2.0

[neutron-john]

I had purchased the LEGO Mindstorms NXT 1.0 robot kit (8527) several years ago, when we had a Windows XP computer. Recently our computer died, and we got a computer with Windows 7 Home Premium, 64 bit operating system. I didn't know if the NXT-G 1.0 software would run in this OS, so I looked for ideas on the Internet. The solution I came up with was to download the Mindstorms NXT-G 2.0 software, as described in the post that is pinned to the start of this forum. That software states it is compatible with Windows 7 (and it works fine for me). That file is "MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0.iso", an .iso file, which is an image file designed to be burned on a CD. I saved it to my hard drive, and burned it to a 700 MB CD-R using Windows 7 software (right-click on the .iso file, select "Open with...", select "Windows disc image burner", and burn it to a CD). I then ejected the CD and reinserted it, and followed the prompts to install the NXT 2.0 software on my hard drive. The Help-About Mindstorms..., says it is version 2.0f6, with a date of 2012-02-16-1349. Since patch f6 is already installed, DO NOT install earlier patchs, such as f3, because it crashes the software and you have to remove it and reinstall it. Next I checked the firmware for the NXT which loaded with NXT 2.0. It was version 1.31, and my NXT brick had version 1.1, so I updated the firmware in the NXT brick (using the NXT 2.0 software). I use a usb cable to connect to the NXT brick. I believe the 64 bit usb drivers are part of the NXT 2.0 software, but I'm not 100% sure, since when I was searching the Internet I also downloaded 64 bit usb drivers from the National Instruments Labview website.

The end result is that my NXT 1.0 brick can now be programmed from the NXT 2.0 software (which came with the newer 8547 kit). Be advised that the projects in the Robo center (one each, vehicle, animal, machine, and humanoid) are based on the parts from the 8547 kit. There are several different parts in the 8547 kit. Some Internet shops sell an upgrade kit which supplies almost all (usually not the new color sensor, which is expensive) of the parts need to match an 8527 kit to an 8547 kit, such as http://www.inanimatereason.com. I don't know of any way to recover the projects in the Robo center of the NXT 1.0 software. I haven't built the robots in the NXT 2.0 Robo center, so I don't know if any can be built from a 8527 kit. Hope this helps people who want to upgrade to Windows 7 but keep using their NXT 1.0 kit.