Windows 7 Installation - Transfer to a New Computer

freetvee said:

[1. I think the reason this worked for me was that my hardware virtually remained the same-which should normally be the case for my situation... It seems like this make my process even easier then-no need to sysprep if the hardware is staying the same, right? I might have a different motherboard model # but it is still an asrock mobo so basically the same-no worries then?

2. Soooooooo the bootable CD contains the imaging software, which means I can just create a bootable disk then and save even more time! If I skip all of the sysprep, can I just create the bootable CD within windows 7 like normal or do I need to do this differently?

Then on the new PC, if I understand correctly I can setup my bios to boot to CD (finally something I know how to do!), put my bootable CD I created into the new DVD drive and then it will kick me straight into the Aoemi UI where I can then select which system image I want to use to restore my new PC (old PC system image on my external HD), correct?

If the old PC has a HD partition C: & E: will it automatically keep the same partition/file locations on my new PC, or do I need to do something to accomplish this?

If the image works without sysprepping, sysprep is unnecessary. The imaging software will direct you how to make its bootable CD. All I've seen were installed into Windows, and you make the bootable CD from there. Restoring the image will create the same partition as what was imaged. Just make sure the target drive is big enough to hold the original partition size.

Victor S said:

freetvee said:

[1. I think the reason this worked for me was that my hardware virtually remained the same-which should normally be the case for my situation... It seems like this make my process even easier then-no need to sysprep if the hardware is staying the same, right? I might have a different motherboard model # but it is still an asrock mobo so basically the same-no worries then?

2. Soooooooo the bootable CD contains the imaging software, which means I can just create a bootable disk then and save even more time! If I skip all of the sysprep, can I just create the bootable CD within windows 7 like normal or do I need to do this differently?

Then on the new PC, if I understand correctly I can setup my bios to boot to CD (finally something I know how to do!), put my bootable CD I created into the new DVD drive and then it will kick me straight into the Aoemi UI where I can then select which system image I want to use to restore my new PC (old PC system image on my external HD), correct?

If the old PC has a HD partition C: & E: will it automatically keep the same partition/file locations on my new PC, or do I need to do something to accomplish this?

If the image works without sysprepping, sysprep is unnecessary. The imaging software will direct you how to make its bootable CD. All I've seen were installed into Windows, and you make the bootable CD from there. Restoring the image will create the same partition as what was imaged. Just make sure the target drive is big enough to hold the original partition size.

Thanks for your thoughts folks. I used Aomei freeware and was very impressed-it worked well, was fast, and was pretty user friendly! Free Partition Software for Windows PCs and Servers I was even able to create a boot disk too which was awesome!! The only thing that didnt come across very well was the partitions. My old PC was: system, C: (software) & E: (open for storage), and the new PC showed up as: system, C: (software) & D: (open for storage)-the DVD drive took E: for some reason?!? Is there an easy way to fix this (move dvd to D: and storage drive to E:) that will not cause other issues, before I move forward?

Kaktussoft said:

freetvee said:

Thanks for your thoughts folks. I used Aomei freeware and was very impressed-it worked well, was fast, and was pretty user friendly! Free Partition Software for Windows PCs and Servers I was even able to create a boot disk too which was awesome!! The only thing that didnt come across very well was the partitions. My old PC was: system, C: (software) & E: (open for storage), and the new PC showed up as: system, C: (software) & D: (open for storage)-the DVD drive took E: for some reason?!? Is there an easy way to fix this (move dvd to D: and storage drive to E:) that will not cause other issues, before I move forward?

E has been moved. It is on another disk (other disk signature) and another beginsector. Windows can't find what win7 calls E (it is defined in registry). Because he doesn't he he assigns a free drive letter to new discovered disk. Most software only adjust C, and bootmenu.... otherwise system won't boot.

Repair it using disk management. Just rightclick on D and called it E. You have to rename E to P first (just example)

Thanks, I just did that and then got a pop up at the end asking “Disk or partition properties were changed. Would you like to reload the properties?” Should I select yes or no??

all is working well, thanks!

When I boot windows on the new computer after using sysrep, will I have to re enter my windows product key, or what?

This is a really useful article, but . . .

When I try to use sysprep on my Win7 machine I get the error below. I disabled WMPNetworkSvc as suggested in the writeup. I confess I haven't read all 500 posts in this thread but I've googled the web and used the three or four suggestions I found for fixing this problem, but none worked. I suggest someone add a list of known fixes for this problem to the main article in the area where disabling WMPNetworkSvc was suggested