Can I 'system image' recover

[flyingkiwi67]

Hi,

I just changed my gigabyte Z68 mobo to a Z77 but could not boot Windows 7 (made an image of my old 'C' drive before hand)...so I fresh installed to the same disk and installed drivers for the new mobo (windows.old is there). Now all my disks and their partitions are the same as before (names and letters) BUT...Can I do a 'system image' restore to get back the files,folders and programs from the previous (Z68) 'C' drive back into the new Win 7?

Will doing so bugger up the drivers for the new mobo?

Will I have to reinstall all my programs etc?

regards Russ

 

[Britton30]

You should just reinstall everything, the image will have all the board drivers for the old board and may cause conflicts with the newer ones.

 

[Victor S]

If I understand you right, the image taken when the old MB was in place didn't work with the new MB.
So trying that image again will just overwrite your new Win 7 install, and again won't boot.
You should have done this first
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/135077-windows-7-installation-transfer-new-computer.html

If you start trouble-shooting why your image didn't boot, it's possible you can get that going, but you wasted your time with the new Win 7 install,
You'll probably be better off now time-wise just reinstalling your programs.

 

[mjf]

I go along with a clean install. Windows will take care of most of your drivers but I would install the manufacturers graphics driver from their website. Also, deactivate any paid software that requires deactivating (eg. Photoshop).

 

[gregrocker]

You can mount the image from the old install in Disk Mgmt to open it like a drive and copy out the files if necessary: Virtual Hard Disk - Create and Attach VHD

But if you have windows.old all of your files should be in there anyway. It also means you didn't really do a Clean Install, deleting all partitions, creating and formatting new as you should before install to avoid complications.

If you want to reinstall the old mobo you can SysPrep the image as shown in the tutorial Victor linked. It's too late otherwise.

Win7 is a driver-complete OS in the installer, quickly updated via Optional Windows Updates. You do not need to provide mobo drivers like with XP. They are provided. Only supply drivers still missing after all rounds of Updates are done.

 

[SIW2]

'flying,

If you really need to, you can restore the image.

Before booting it up you will need to adjust the system hive.

Fiddly hand, but Paragon has a point and click module that will do it in a second.

The module is called p2p adjust (aka adaptive restore )

You would need a paid version, though. It is included in the BR 12 Home ( not sure if it in the trail version - doubt it )

Paragon Backup & Recovery Home - Backup and restore partitions, hard disks or files


If you are really stuck, if you post up the system hive in a zip I will have a go at fixing it manually and post it back.

 

[flyingkiwi67]

Thanks for all the info,

I couldn't do a sysprep...even tho I was sure my installation was a fresh one.

I don't know why but when I attached my 'C' harddrive back into the same sata0 port on the new mobo...first it showed up as the 'I' drive...so my attempt to restore the image didn't work. Then when I removed all my other disks and had just the old 'C' drive it showed up as a 'D' drive...this complicated the situation somewhat!!!

Why would this have happened...any idea?

cheers.

 

[gregrocker]

SysPrep must be done on the original hardware. The drive is now only a data drive to be issued the next available letter from the new install you made on new mobo.

Si, is Paragon Adaptive Restore CD still in the public domain for freeware sharing? Seems it should be the same situation as with PW 4.2 we share to do free Dynamic conversion.

I have the ISO if so. CD still works great, actually better than their Virtualization trial from last year.

 

[SIW2]

I have no idea Greg.

I vaguely recall they were giving one away some time ago.

I don't think they are still handing it out, or at least I haven't seen it for a while.

Was it called Adaptive restore cd or some other name.

 

[gregrocker]

Yes, we linked it here for about a year in 2010 and then the download links all went away. About a year after that they put out the Virtualization manager trial which wasn't even as good, not even a boot disk.

I use my PAR disk all the time to this day.

 

[flyingkiwi67]

would copying back the files and folders from the windows.old folder and then installing a copy of the registry I made have devastating consequences?

 

[SIW2]

What registry you made?

In theory it should ok to copy everything back - but you are likely to miss something from appdata or programdata, unless you do the complete rollback.

Same as this but don't do step 5 and 6.

How to restore a Windows 7-based computer to a previous Windows installation by using the Windows.old folder


Because the mobo is different, you would then still have to adjust the system hive, before booting up.

 

[mjf]

I've never understood some of this. If you go down the sysprep path or the Paragon program referred to above can't you endup with 2 program installations - Windows OS plus applications for nothing.
We know it is legally wrong but are you saying it is technically possible. I find it hard to believe that MS or the big application software houses would allow this.

 

[flyingkiwi67]

Well I took the plunge and tried to do a 'system image' repair...I must be a glutton for punishment...the result is I'll have to format my OS drive and start from scratch...bugger!!!

 

[Victor S]

I've never understood some of this. If you go down the sysprep path or the Paragon program referred to above can't you endup with 2 program installations - Windows OS plus applications for nothing.
We know it is legally wrong but are you saying it is technically possible. I find it hard to believe that MS or the big application software houses would allow this.

From Kari's sysprep tutorial:

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.
I do not recommend to use this method on RAID systems. All experiments on RAID I know have failed.

 

[Victor S]

Well I took the plunge and tried to do a 'system image' repair...I must be a glutton for punishment...the result is I'll have to format my OS drive and start from scratch...bugger!!!

Too late now, but you could have imaged your install on the new MB. Might have saved you some time.
Sorry to mention it.

 

[SIW2]

If you move windows to new hardware:

1) It may not boot. Depends how different the hardware is.

If it doesn't boot, you can fix it with paragon p2p adjust, or by manual adjustments to the system hive.

2) Windows will likely need reactivating.

Therefore you need a windows license which allows moving to new hardware. If you don't have that ( preinstalled os ), MS will usually do it for you over the phone if you tell them your mobo died and you had to replace it.

 

[gregrocker]

I've never understood some of this. If you go down the sysprep path or the Paragon program referred to above can't you endup with 2 program installations - Windows OS plus applications for nothing.
We know it is legally wrong but are you saying it is technically possible. I find it hard to believe that MS or the big application software houses would allow this.

These programs merely remove enough of the drivers, SID and HID so Win7 will start without interference, and (in the case of Paragon) insert the necessary storage drivers to enable it to start. This is performed on the same moved HD or re-imaged partition holding Win7 so doesn't really duplicate anything.

 

[mjf]

I thought this would be the case - just checking
So unless you are migrating multiple PCs to new hardware I would definitely do a clean install and fresh install of applications. I have a large number of applications and setting things up on a new system/motherboard took me ~ 3 hours max from memory. After all how many times do you change motherboards.

An OEM OS is supposed to work with the original and only the original motherboard. If you catch a kind hearted MS operator on a good day then you may be lucky. I'm yet to come across one.

 

[SIW2]

An OEM OS is supposed to work with the original and only the original motherboard. If you catch a kind hearted MS operator on a good day then you may be lucky. I'm yet to come across one.

As far as I know - MS always say yes. If it is the same machine and you had to replace the mobo.

I haven't got the link - but pretty sure MS said so in a blog post

They are good at that kind of thing.

If you are putting it on a totally different machine - then you will need a license which allows that.