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Windows 7 Installation - Transfer to a New Computer How to Transfer your Complete Windows 7 Installation to a New Computer
Published by Kari
01-02-2011
| Windows 7 Installation - Transfer to a New Computer How to Transfer your Complete Windows 7 Installation to a New Computer  Information Windows 7 System Preparation Tool is a powerful, native Windows tool. When for instance used in so called Audit Mode, it let's you to freely configure Windows 7 to be then deployed to other computers as hardware independent image.
In this tutorial we use System Preparation Tool (sysprep) to prepare your Windows 7 installation to be moved to a new computer, keeping all your installed applications, program settings and user profiles. You can use this method for instance when you have bought a new PC and want to transfer your existing setup completely, without need to reinstall everything, or when you want to make major hardware changes like change the motherboard or GPU, which would usually cause Windows to stop booting normally.  Warning Using this method causes Windows 7 to lose all activation information, and it needs to be reactivated afterwards. If your Windows 7 is an OEM version, you might not be able to reactivate afterwards, at least not without phone activation option.
With the speed of today's hardware evolution, most of us geeks are upgrading the hardware more often than operating system. Upgrading hardware can be painfully slow process if we need to reinstall the operating system and all our installed applications, plus transfer program settings and user profiles.
Using sysprep makes this easy. Changing the motherboard, or for instance an old ATI GPU to a new nVidia GPU quite often causes Windows 7 not to be able to boot anymore. This fact is usually accepted by the user, who then reinstalls the OS and all applications and transfers user profiles from a backup location.
Same thing when buying a new computer with completely different hardware setup compared to the old one, or trying to restore a system image to different hardware setup. Normally this would include a complete reinstallation of Windows 7 and all applications.
Why not use sysprep to avoid reinstalling? Here are the different scenarios where you can use it.  Warning METHOD ONE Changing hardware components but keeping old hard disk(s)
Use this method if you:
- Change other hardware components but keep your old HD containing Windows 7
- Move the HD containing Windows 7 to another computer - Before installing new hardware, boot Windows 7 normally
- Run Command Prompt as administrator
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. - Type to Command Prompt: %windir%\System32\Sysprep\Sysprep.exe, and hit Enter
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. - In sysprep dialog that opens, choose System Cleanup Action as Enter System Out-of-Box-Experience (OOBE), select Generalize, select Shutdown Options Shutdown. Click OK
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. - Sysprep generalizes now your Windows 7 setup and shuts down your computer. Do not run any other programs during this phase!
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. - Switch the main power of your PC off and install the new hardware OR dismount the hard disk(s) and mount it (them) to a new computer
- Boot the PC from sysprep generalized hard disk. You will notice Windows booting as if it was the first boot after installation, installing default drivers and updating registry. One or two reboots are needed, depending on your system specifications
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. - When Windows finally boots up, you will need to enter all information as if this really was a new, fresh installation
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. - Because your old user profiles already exist, Windows does not accept your normal username, but instead you have to create a new temporary user. I use username Test for this purpose
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. - When login screen appears, choose your old user account to login
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. - Windows boots now to default OOBE first boot desktop, with default 800*600 resolution and default theme. All your installed applications are there, as well as your old user profiles and folders. Windows has installed the default drivers for your setup, you can update them if needed
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. - Go to Control Panel > User Accounts and delete the temporary user account (in this case Test) that you just created
METHOD TWO Change the hard disk(s) or move Windows 7 setup to a new computer using third party imaging software Use this method if you:
- Replace the HD containing Windows 7 on your old computer
- Move Windows 7 to a new HD on another computer - Follow steps 1 through 5 above (method 1)
- Boot PC with an imaging CD/DVD (Paragon, Macrium etc.)
- Create an image of your system
- Turn PC off, change the hard disk(s) and reboot with imaging application, restoring the image OR boot the new computer with imaging software and restore the image
- Continue from step 7 above (method 1)
METHOD THREE Change the hard disk(s) or move Windows 7 setup to a new computer using Windows Seven's native Backup and Restore Use this method if you:
- Replace the HD containing Windows 7 on your old computer
- Move Windows 7 to a new HD on another computer - Follow steps 1 through 5 above (method 1)
- Change the hardware componets you want to, letting the old HD be still mounted as system disk OR if transferring to a new computer, mount the old HD to the new computer as system (boot) disk
- Boot computer normally, continuing from step 7 above (method 1)
- Launch Windows Seven Backup and Restore, create a complete system image. This tutorial shows you how: Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup
- Shut down the computer, dismount the HD and mount the new one
- Boot from Windows 7 installation DVD, choosing Repair > Restore an image, using the image you created in previous step. This tutorial shows you how (from Step Two / 7): System Image Recovery
- When image is restored, boot your computer normally
This procedure is failsafe, and works every time. There is nothing to worry, but of course it is recommended to make a backup before trying this. I have even used this method when some serious driver issues caused the PC to constantly crash (BSOD), to reset all drivers to Windows defaults and then reinstalling them one by one to find the culprit.  Note What does Sysprep generalizing do to my Windows 7 setup?- All system specific information is removed or uninstalled
- Security ID (SID) of your hardware setup is reseted
- All system restore points are deleted
- All event logs are deleted
- All personalization is removed (taskbar, toolbars, folder options, start orb etc.)
- Built-in administrator account is disabled (if it was enabled) and needs to be re-enabled if needed
What happens when booting first time after sysprep generalizing?- First boot configuration is run
- New SID is created
- Re-arm counter is reseted if not already re-armed three times
- Windows 7 is booted using first boot default drivers and settings
I have tested all above mentioned methods with all versions of Windows 7, from Starter to Enterprise. It works every time, with one exception: for reasons unknown to me, sysprep seems sometimes dislike Windows Media Player networking service, which is by default started every time Windows 7 starts. In about every third time I've done this, I've got an error message when trying to generalize:
However, this is not a big problem. You just need to stop the WMP networking service, and run sysprep with generalize option again. You can stop the service in question by typing net stop WMPNetworkSvc to command prompt, and hitting Enter:
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask.
Happy computing!
Kari |  Published by | | An angry old man Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: A Finnish immigrant in Leipzig, Germany Posts: 9,452 | |
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01-02-2011
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#1 | | |
Awesome work Kari, very handy tutorial.
| My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number compaq sr5410f case OS Windows 7 Pro 64 SP1 CPU AMD X2 4450E @ 2.3 ghz Motherboard Biostar MCP6P M2+ Memory 4.0 g Graphics Card Nvidia GeForce 9600 GT , 512mb Sound Card onboard Monitor(s) Displays auria eq2367 Screen Resolution 1920 x 1080 Keyboard logitech wave cordless Mouse logitech LX8 cordless laser mouse PSU 250 watts Case compaq Cooling couple fans Hard Drives 1 tb Hitachi HDT721010SLA scsi, 500 gb external Internet Speed comcast hi speed 19 dn 8 up Other Info hauppauge win tv hvr 1600 tv card, media center remote |
01-02-2011
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#2 | | |
Thanks, Derek. If I'm allowed to say it myself, this is a very handy method to avoid problems and issues for instance when changing motherboard.
Kari | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number HP ENVY 17-1150eg OS Windows 7 x64 Ultimate CPU 1.6 GHz Intel Core i7-720QM Processor Memory 6 GB Graphics Card ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 Graphics Sound Card Beats sound system with integrated subwoofer Monitor(s) Displays 17" laptop display, 22" LCD and 32" Full HD TV through HDMI Screen Resolution 1600*900, 1680*1050 and 1920*1080 Keyboard Logitech diNovo Media Desktop Laser (bluetooth) Mouse Logitech MX1000 Laser (Bluetooth) Hard Drives Internal: 2 x 500 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive 7200 rpm
External: 2TB for backups, 3TB USB3 network drive for media Internet Speed 50/10 Mbps VDSL Other Info Windows 7 Ultimate Retail Full in English, additional Guest-user accounts in Finnish, German and Swedish (Working languages English & Swedish, Family language German, my own language, mother tongue, Finnish. I really need Ultimate to get to use Language Packs!) |
01-02-2011
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#3 | | 7 Home Pre x64, Windows XP Pro, Ubuntu 9.04 |
| My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number Custom OS 7 Home Pre x64, Windows XP Pro, Ubuntu 9.04 CPU AMD Athlon 64 3400+ (single core) Motherboard Foxconn NF4UK8AA Memory 2 X 1GB OCZ Platinum DDR400 Dual Channel Graphics Card PNY GeForce 7300 256MB PCIE Sound Card NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra Onboard Chipset Monitor(s) Displays 2 x Acer AL1716 Screen Resolution 1280 x 1024 PSU Antec Earthwatts EA-430D Hard Drives Maxtor 6Y060L0, WD 1600JS Internet Speed 3M Cable Other Info Windows Experience Index: 3.3 |
01-02-2011
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#4 | | |

Quote: Originally Posted by Kari Thanks, Derek. If I'm allowed to say it myself, this is a very handy method to avoid problems and issues for instance when changing motherboard.
Kari You're allowed.
Excellent walk through! | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number compaq sr5410f case OS Windows 7 Pro 64 SP1 CPU AMD X2 4450E @ 2.3 ghz Motherboard Biostar MCP6P M2+ Memory 4.0 g Graphics Card Nvidia GeForce 9600 GT , 512mb Sound Card onboard Monitor(s) Displays auria eq2367 Screen Resolution 1920 x 1080 Keyboard logitech wave cordless Mouse logitech LX8 cordless laser mouse PSU 250 watts Case compaq Cooling couple fans Hard Drives 1 tb Hitachi HDT721010SLA scsi, 500 gb external Internet Speed comcast hi speed 19 dn 8 up Other Info hauppauge win tv hvr 1600 tv card, media center remote |
01-02-2011
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#5 | | Xp Pro SP3 x64, Win7 x86 (Ult 7600), Win7 x64 Ult 7600, TechNet RTM on AMD x64 (2.8Ghz) |
Nice Tutorial Kari,
Bookmarked for future reference | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number Built them myself, Science Experiments ! OS Xp Pro SP3 x64, Win7 x86 (Ult 7600), Win7 x64 Ult 7600, TechNet RTM on AMD x64 (2.8Ghz) CPU AMD-64 3000mhz, AMD-32 2400mhz, AMD-64 3200mhz, AMDx64 2.8G Motherboard SIS 755, ECS-K8M890M-M (Ult 7600), & others Memory 2gb, 4gb on the Ult 7600, 4gb on Technet RTM Graphics Card Draw my own Graphics, several nVidia cards Sound Card on motherboard Monitor(s) Displays 19" flat scr, 19" Acer widescr, 22" Emprex Widescr, 23" Acer Screen Resolution 1280 x 1024, 1440 x 900, 1920 x 1080 Keyboard Compaq & Dell recycled from GoodWill Mouse Made in China Optical Wired Mouse PSU 430w, 550w, 600w, etc Case All Generic Full Towers Cooling Open Air & a few fans Hard Drives 6 pata Ide HD's & 2 Sata HD's
added 80gb external on Ult 7600 computer,
several extra 1tb & 2TB SATA HD's Internet Speed Fast Cable InterNet Other Info Linksys Routers, switches, & Hubs
Too Many USB Flash Drives to count, Biggest is 64GB !
Eight computers in my home network.
Twelve computers at my business network.
Linked via TeamViewer !
Lots of old used spare computer parts everywhere! System Manufacturer/Model Number HP ENVY 17-1150eg OS Windows 7 x64 Ultimate CPU 1.6 GHz Intel Core i7-720QM Processor Memory 6 GB Graphics Card ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 Graphics Sound Card Beats sound system with integrated subwoofer Monitor(s) Displays 17" laptop display, 22" LCD and 32" Full HD TV through HDMI Screen Resolution 1600*900, 1680*1050 and 1920*1080 Keyboard Logitech diNovo Media Desktop Laser (bluetooth) Mouse Logitech MX1000 Laser (Bluetooth) Hard Drives Internal: 2 x 500 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive 7200 rpm
External: 2TB for backups, 3TB USB3 network drive for media Internet Speed 50/10 Mbps VDSL Other Info Windows 7 Ultimate Retail Full in English, additional Guest-user accounts in Finnish, German and Swedish (Working languages English & Swedish, Family language German, my own language, mother tongue, Finnish. I really need Ultimate to get to use Language Packs!) |
01-03-2011
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#7 | | Windows 7 Enterprise (x64); Windows Server 2008 R2 (x64) |
Great work Kari!
Please note as Kari has stated:
All personalization is removed (taskbar, toolbars, folder options, start orb etc.) This is one of the major problems with sysprep that computer techs have complained about for years. In major deployments we NEED the personalization to stay in the image. Another note: If you have the Built-In Administrator account Enabled it will Disable it. If you have any custom settings for the Built-In Administrator account those are wiped out too as it is part of the personalization removal process. Very annoying. -WS | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number Dell OP760 OS Windows 7 Enterprise (x64); Windows Server 2008 R2 (x64) Memory 8GB Monitor(s) Displays 2 Dell 19" LCD Screen Resolution 1280x1024 Keyboard Dell Mouse Dell Optical Internet Speed 40meg |
01-03-2011
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#8 | | |
WS, thanks for pointing out I forgot to mention that about sysprep generalizing disabling built-in administrator account. I add that piece of information to tutorial.
I agree with you, including personalization should be possible. Using this method to transfer a single user's existing Windows setup to new hardware setup or computer, even deploying a Windows setup to a few computers as I have done transferring an existing setup from an older computer to a new desktop and new laptop, then activating them with two codes, this is not a big deal. But deploying tens, maybe hundreds of images in a corporate network should have the option to fine tune it as wanted and needed.
It's a bit funny that as much as I want to think that Microsoft listens users and their needs, this issue still remains although it has been discussed on every major pro forum and board.
Kari | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number HP ENVY 17-1150eg OS Windows 7 x64 Ultimate CPU 1.6 GHz Intel Core i7-720QM Processor Memory 6 GB Graphics Card ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 Graphics Sound Card Beats sound system with integrated subwoofer Monitor(s) Displays 17" laptop display, 22" LCD and 32" Full HD TV through HDMI Screen Resolution 1600*900, 1680*1050 and 1920*1080 Keyboard Logitech diNovo Media Desktop Laser (bluetooth) Mouse Logitech MX1000 Laser (Bluetooth) Hard Drives Internal: 2 x 500 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive 7200 rpm
External: 2TB for backups, 3TB USB3 network drive for media Internet Speed 50/10 Mbps VDSL Other Info Windows 7 Ultimate Retail Full in English, additional Guest-user accounts in Finnish, German and Swedish (Working languages English & Swedish, Family language German, my own language, mother tongue, Finnish. I really need Ultimate to get to use Language Packs!) |
01-03-2011
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#9 | | Windows 7 Ult x64 - SP1/ Windows 8 Dev Build x64 |
Nice tutorial, great work Kari, thanks this will be handy. | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number 76~1.4 OS Windows 7 Ult x64 - SP1/ Windows 8 Dev Build x64 CPU Intel Core i5-750 3.84GHz Motherboard Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P, SATA 6Gb/s USB 3, f14 Memory 8GB (2X4GB) DDR3 1600 Corsair Vengeance CL8 1.5v Graphics Card XFX HD 5770 1GB DDR5 Sound Card Realtek HD Audio ALC889 Integrated Chip Monitor(s) Displays 22" LCD Dell Screen Resolution 1680x1050 Keyboard Logitech Wave Mouse CM Sentinel PSU Corsair HX650W Case Cooler Master Storm Scout Cooling Corsair H80 2x12cm Noctua NF P12 , 2x14cm case fans Hard Drives Intel X25 M 120GB SSD,
Seagate Barracuda 500GB SATA2 7200rpm 32MB cache, Seagate Barracuda 1TB SATA2 7200rpm 32MB cache, Internet Speed Dismal Other Info eSATA ports,
External eSATA Seagate 500GB SATA2 7200rpm,
External USB WD 500GB Windows 7 Installation - Transfer to a New Computer problems? All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:09 PM. |  |