Solved Clone windows 7 ultimate 64bit to new laptop

[justjags]

Hi there!

I have an existing windows 7 installation with lots of my programs installed over it.
I got a new laptop and would like to copy over my existing windows over to new laptop.

The laptops differ in h/w specs. Which means drivers of existing windows will fail to load correctly on new laptop. Keeping this in mind, whats my best bet to move this over.

Is their a way to strip off all drivers from my existing windows 7 install and keep all my program installation intact?

Edit: Ignoring the licensing issue right now. I would like to know is it technically possible.
Edit: I read this guide: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/135077-windows-7-installation-transfer-new-computer.html but I belive its not applicable to my scenario because h/w differs.


Thanks!

 

[andrew129260]

Unfortunately, no. Especially because of the license keys. You can though, with the windows installed on the other pc, You could use windows 7 easy transfer mode.
Windows Easy Transfer - Microsoft Windows

Keep in mind this will not transfer programs. It will transfer their data and settings, as well as your personal files though.
You will need to re-install your programs ether way.

Unless, this is just a guess, but you could possibly do the system image and copy it over, then change the licence key to match the new one on the new pc.....but I do not think that will work. As the key will probably not work since it is most likely a retail key.

 

[justjags]

Before figuring out the licensing issue I wanted to make sure that its doable technically (in terms of all applications running correctly).

The issue which I faced was related to drivers. Since my current windows contains different drivers, it failed to load (boots but then blue screen of death) when I copied over its image to other machine.

If there was to strip off all drivers from my windows installation then the default drivers may not give these conflicts when I will move it over a different machine. But not sure how to reset all drivers to default.

 

[Pauly]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/135077-windows-7-installation-transfer-new-computer.html
Thats exactly what its for
Sysprep basically makes a hardware free installation ready to load onto dissimilar hardware, upon booting windows should load most necessary drivers and any more required can be obtained from manufacturers www

But be warned not everyone seems to get on with sysprep although it does a job some prefer 3rd party software to perform such functions
If you go ahead with this and have any issues i suggest posting on the tutorial or contacting kari as he has indepth knowledge of this

 

[justjags]

If I read articles correctly, sysprep requires me to plug the "prepped" hard-disk into another PC.
I am on a laptop and my windows installation is on a dekstop. This can be a bit difficult. Although I can 1st move my current windows install to an external harddisk and then boot with USB on my laptop. But not sure if this will work. Does BIOS boots from USB harddisk since there are multiple partitions which one will it pick?

 

[Pauly]

take a backup of the existing system then sysprep the install then use clone software to transfer to laptop

 

[justjags]

do you have a specific clone s/w in mind?

 

[Mark Phelps]

I have done something very similar with Macrium Reflect. The Pro version (paid for) has an option to restore to dissimilar hardware, meaning, that you can "migrate" an existing install to another machine and then replace the old drivers with new drivers. The tool is called Redeploy and is described in the following: v5: How to use Macrium ReDeploy (ReDeploy, Restore, V5)

I believe that EASUS also has the same feature, but I think their version is free.

Acronis also has the same feature, but like with Macrium, you have to purchase it.