How to make my Win7 OS drive work on new PC

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  1. BlueBonnett
    Posts : 118
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
       New #1

    How to make my Win7 OS drive work on new PC


    So I finally got my new computer, a Dell with no CSM/legacy boot so I have to work with UEFI. All the resources I see on the web are about INSTALLING Windows 7 on a modern PC but I'm not doing a clean install, I'm just moving my SSD from my old computer to this one.

    How do I make it bootable on a UEFI motherboard? I'm guessing the first step is to convert the MBR disk to GPT which I did with EaseUS but that still doesn't make it bootable. I have the drive image backed up so I am ready to experiment.
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  3. nt351
    Posts : 23
    slackware
       New #2

    (this is Part 2 of your inquiry
    What modern hardware is good for upgrading my Win7 rig?)

    So I finally got my new computer, a Dell
    (what is inside that Dell ? Pentium-4 or ThreadRipper?)
    I have the drive image backed up
    (isn't an image of an MBR disk an MBR image ?)
    __________________________________

    In the meantime, please download the upgraded Win7 installation .iso recommended and linked to by SIW2.
    Place the SSD (and no other hard-drive) into your newly-acquired Dell.
    Start the installation process.
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  4. BlueBonnett
    Posts : 118
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       New #3

    nt351 said:
    (this is Part 2 of your inquiry
    Yes.
    (what is inside that Dell ? Pentium-4 or ThreadRipper?)
    10th gen i5.
    (isn't an image of an MBR disk an MBR image ?)
    Yes.
    In the meantime, please download the upgraded Win7 installation .iso recommended and linked to by SIW2.
    Place the SSD (and no other hard-drive) into your newly-acquired Dell.
    Start the installation process.
    I don't want to reinstall, my OS is already installed, I just need it to boot on UEFI. How do I do that?
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  6. SIW2
    Posts : 16,163
    7 X64
       New #4

    If it an mbr disk it can be converted to gpt. You could try mbr2gpt which is included in win10 installation media.

    Or a 3rd party program such as aomei partition assistant pro.
    convert to gpt post#16

    or you can do it manually using the free version of diskgenius and then the bcdboot command.

    convert to gpt with diskgenius post #17
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  7. BlueBonnett
    Posts : 118
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       New #5

    I already tried the conversion with EaseUS, it clearly corrupted it. I'm disappointed as that is my go-to company for any partitioning or disk rescue tools.

    I'll try MBR2GPT since it's Microsoft's tool built for their OS, but it's not located on my Win10 installation ISO. I did retrieve the EXE from the Win10 OS on my new PC so how do I run it from boot?
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  8. SIW2
    Posts : 16,163
    7 X64
       New #6

    It is in boot.wim .

    boot the win10 installation media. Go to command prompt

    mbr2gpt.exe /validate /disk:0
    MBR2GPT: Attempting to validate disk 0
    hopefuly it will say:
    MBR2GPT: Retrieving layout of disk
    MBR2GPT: Validating layout, disk sector size is: 512
    MBR2GPT: Validation completed successfully
    then type:
    mbr2gpt.exe /convert /disk:0

    obviously if there is more than one disk, you will first have to check which is the target disk by typing:
    diskpart
    lis dis
    exi
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  10. BlueBonnett
    Posts : 118
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       New #7

    I looked in boot.wim and found no mbr2gpt in there. My Windows 10 ISO is a small lite version that's free of all the bloatware so that tool was probably excluded.
    EDIT: I tried the regular Win10 ISO and it too did not have mbr2gpt. Is there a way I can just force it inside the .wim? I have the damn thing.

    Also, I followed your instructions for the AOMEI method and I got this error:
    The file (2Gpt_BCD or 2Mbr_BCD) may be lost, we suggest you reinstall AOMEI software and try again.
    EDIT: After getting my hands on a AOMEI Partition Pro WinPE ISO, I converted to GPT but it destroyed the drive just like EaseUS. At least it provided a more detailed error this time.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Another update, I finally got MBR2GPT to work. It appears the ISO I downloaded was the original from 2015 which didn't contain it.

    Not that it matters, because Windows just crashes when starting up just like before. The only error MBR2GPT reported was that it didn't update an xml file or something.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails How to make my Win7 OS drive work on new PC-virtualbox_w7uefitest1-error.png   How to make my Win7 OS drive work on new PC-virtualbox_w7uefitest1-error2.png  
    Last edited by BlueBonnett; 19 Feb 2024 at 08:45.
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  11. nt351
    Posts : 23
    slackware
       New #8

    This gentleman just assembled a high-horsepower machine and installed Windows 7 on it:
    Super Windows 7 Build Project Help

    So far you spent much more time and effort and frustration on trying to convert an MBR image, than you would have on a new installation.
    Perhaps:
    attach your SSD with Windows 7 to a machine operating on Windows 10, and attempt the conversion process

    How to convert MBR to GPT drive to switch BIOS to UEFI on Windows 10 | Windows Central
    "You can use the MBR2GPT tool on a traditional hard drive (HDD), solid-state drive (SSD), or an M.2 drive with virtually any version of Windows 10, but you must run the tool from a Windows 10 (version 1703 or later) installation.

    "Finally, Microsoft designed the tool to convert drives running Windows 8.1, 7, or from an older version, but you can always upgrade the installation to the latest release of Windows 10 and then use the tool to convert from MBR to GPT."
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  12. BlueBonnett
    Posts : 118
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       New #9

    nt351 said:
    Perhaps:
    attach your SSD with Windows 7 to a machine operating on Windows 10, and attempt the conversion process

    How to convert MBR to GPT drive to switch BIOS to UEFI on Windows 10 | Windows Central
    "You can use the MBR2GPT tool on a traditional hard drive (HDD), solid-state drive (SSD), or an M.2 drive with virtually any version of Windows 10, but you must run the tool from a Windows 10 (version 1703 or later) installation.

    "Finally, Microsoft designed the tool to convert drives running Windows 8.1, 7, or from an older version, but you can always upgrade the installation to the latest release of Windows 10 and then use the tool to convert from MBR to GPT."
    I tried that just now and got "Cannot find OS partition for disk 0" when doing mbr2gpt /validate /disk:0

    Both when running it from the Win10 installation USB and from a Win10 OS. Note that I did a "clone data" rather than "clone OS" with EaseUS Partition Master so could this have been a problem?

    EDIT: FFS, that wasn't the problem. Still no OS detected.
    Last edited by BlueBonnett; 19 Feb 2024 at 13:25.
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  13. nt351
    Posts : 23
    slackware
       New #10

    "Cannot find OS partition for disk 0" when doing mbr2gpt /validate /disk:0
    disk:0 is the disk on which Windows 10 is, and boots and operates the windows 10 computer. Very likely you also have a spinning hard-drive where you keep your videos, games, etc.

    So, your SSD, which you attached for the purpose of converting, should be disk:2
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