Make Windows 7 bootable after motherboard swap

Make Windows 7 bootable after motherboard swap, or bootable after swapping hard drive to new machine. Software described Paragon P2P Adjust OS.


This procedure describes how to do it. Procedure can be used in case of:

• Windows 7 Installation - Transfer to a New Computer doesn't work.
• You forgot to SYSPREP.
• You can't SYSPREP because your motherboard died.
• You simply don't want to use SYSPREP.

1. Download "Paragon Adaptive Restore 2010" from Paragon Adaptive Restore 2010 on my DROPBOX.
2. Burn the ISO to CD/DVD using Windows Disc Image Burner or ImgBurn.
3. Set CD/DVD as first boot device in BIOS.

Do the following:

1. Boot the computer from Paragon Windows PE 3.0 based CD/DVD.
2. Accept the end user license agreement, otherwise you are not able to use the tool.
   
3. Launch P2P Adjust OS.
   
4. Select the operating system you need to adjust to your new hardware.
   
5. Choose whether you want to add third-party drivers or not, and the way to do it.
   
6. If you chose "Adjust the OS to the new hardware automatically", the P2P Adjust OS Wizard will automatically accomplish all the necessary actions.
   
7. The only thing that might need your interaction is to specify additional driver repository.
   
8. At last, choose "Yes, apply the changes physically" and then restart your computer after operations are done. Do remember, you cannot interrupt the process or undo the changes.
   

Compelete pdf manual: Paragon Adaptive Restore 2010 on my DROPBOX.

Just before the OS adjustment, you can additionally:

   Warning

Sometimes the internal hard drive is not recognized in Paragon P2P Adjust OS due to missing SATA or RAID driver. In that case add specific drivers to Windows PE based Paragon Recovery Environment.

1. Click to open Add Drivers dialog.
   
2. Browse for an .INF file of the required driver, then click the Open button to initiate the process.
   
3. Click Yes to confirm the operation.
   

   Information

You can only add third-party drivers in INF file. If they are zipped, you need to unpack them before processing the steps. The Windows PE environment is 32bit-based, so you need to use 32-bit drivers for injection.

After procedure has finished succesfully and system boots fine, first check if Enable hardware auto-updating via Windows Update (Set to Automatic) is on so it will query Windows Update. After that:

1. Uninstall Device and Device Driver for devices no longer attached to system. Uninstall associated software as well.
2. Install all of your device drivers, then Windows Updates.
3. Refresh your Windows Experience Index (WEI) score.
4. When done, all you will need to do is to activate Windows 7.

After rebooting from disk, drivers should start swapping out in a cascade you can monitor by clicking on the system tray animation. Wait until all are finished before doing the requested restart. After reboot, go immediately to Check for Updates and install all Important and Optional Updates which may include critical drivers and patches for the OS to run on that hardware.

You must reactivate at the Change Product Key link on System page. If it's not present you can insert Product Key and then Activate using SLMgr Commands

On some systems you see "setup is preparing your computer for first use" on every reboot. Read this to fix that issue: Fix "Setup is Preparing Your Computer for First Use" on Every Reboot

Related Tutorials

---

• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/135077-windows-7-installation-transfer-new-computer.html
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/96442-device-manager-finding-unknown-devices.html

 

[seanincali]

You can add a boot menu entry to your current bcd store using easybcd, or visualbcd, or bootice, or by using bcdedit commands.

EasyBCD - NeoSmart Technologies

Download Visual BCD

Also, Secure boot must be turned off in bios to boot win 7.

i've already disabled the secure boot and enabled the legacy boot when i first tried the cd boot option which didn't work for me

My laptop won't boot from the cd/dvd even though bios was ch... - HP Support Community - 7073305

 

[SIW2]

it doesn't give me the option to reboot into windows 7

Have you added a boot menu entry?

 

[seanincali]

Have you added a boot menu entry?

is that soemthing different from what I have already done?

i've disabled the secure boot.

i've enable the legacy boot.

i've changed the order of the boot so that internal cd/dvd rom is the first boot device.

the computer asked me to confirm the boot device change, which I did.

now how do i add a boot menu item?

 

[SIW2]

I've tried rebooting and it doesn't give me the option to reboot into windows 7

To boot into windows 7, you need a boot menu entry that points at it.

You need a boot menu entry for each operating system (OS). Then you should be able to select which OS to boot into.

If you have OS on separate hard drives, then one way is to select which hard drive to boot from in bios. That assumes you have the necessary boot files and boot menu entry on each hard drive.

Another way is to use one hard drive to boot from. That hard drive would then need entries for both operating systems.

Try selecting the windows 7 hard drive in bios to boot from.

If your windows 7 was set up as bios boot rather than efi, then you should enable the legacy option in your bios, if you have one.

 

[Stason99]

Transferring Win7 to a z390 motherboard with custom USB drivers.

I want to transfer my multiboot Win7 to a z390 motherboard. There are no official USB drivers for Win 7 for that chipset. Someone created custom USB drivers, they are available here. Without USB drivers even a mouse and keyboard won't work because there is no PS/2 port.

Will the method described in this thread work using these custom USB drivers if I point Paragon Adaptive Restore to them prior to changing the motherboard?

 

[SIW2]

It should. How are you planning on integrating the usb drivers? Were you going to do it with paragon or dism++?
Do you have usb2 port on that mobo?

 

[Stason99]

It should. How are you planning on integrating the usb drivers? Were you going to do it with paragon or dism++?
Do you have usb2 port on that mobo?

The motherboard I was going to buy is either GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS Ultra or Wifi.
They have USB 2.0



Yes, I was thinking of integrating the USB drivers with Paragon. I honestly don't know what
dism++ is. I haven't used Paragon either but I'm researching this subject with this great thread.

Is there a reason why this shouldn't work while people are saying that integrating these drivers into Win 7 installation ISO does work?

 

[SIW2]

It should work. Canonkong's driver mods work fine for me.

View attachment Dism++10.1.1000.100.zip

 

[Stason99]

Thank you! You're giving me hope

 

[Stason99]

It should work. Canonkong's driver mods work fine for me.

View attachment 409434

What is this? Are these the USB drivers or just the utility to integrate drivers into Win 7 install ISO?
I guess if the latter then I have no use of it since I can't do a fresh Win7 install for various reasons.

 

[SIW2]

I honestly don't know what
dism++ is

I attached it for your edification.

 

[Stason99]

I got the ZIP but I still didn't understand what it is.. Excuse my lame... . Could you please briefly describe it so that I know if this is something I need?

 

[SIW2]

You don't need it if you want to use paragon to inject the drivers.

It can be used for other things, installing/unistalling updates/drivers, backing up activation, applying/creating/mounting/servicing wim/esd images and plenty more.

If you unzip it and have a play, you will quickly see what you can do with . It is very obvious - the UI can be used by a 5yr old.

 

[Stason99]

Alright, thanks. I'll check it out.

 

[Stason99]

Does it make a difference if a Win7 is transferred from an Intel system to an AMD using Paragon? Or it must be same platform?

I'm considering an AMD machine instead...

Thanks.

 

[SIW2]

Should be fine.

 

[Stason99]

I want to transfer my multiboot Win7 to a z390 motherboard. There are no official USB drivers for Win 7 for that chipset. Someone created custom USB drivers, they are available here. Without USB drivers even a mouse and keyboard won't work because there is no PS/2 port.

Will the method described in this thread work using these custom USB drivers if I point Paragon Adaptive Restore to them prior to changing the motherboard?

Its not working.. I've spend two days trying to transfer Win 7 to an AMD hardware. Paragon doesn't recognize Canonkong's INF drivers, without them I get BSOD and restart upon booting from new hardware. My motherboard is Asrock x570 Taichi which has dual PS2 port but for some reason it doesn't work with my PS2 mouse (the mouse works on old PC)...

Also Paragon doesn't see drives over 2Tb it seems...

DISM+++ is to mount drivers into in installation ISO so it won't help me as I'm trying to transfer existing OSs, right?

 

[SIW2]

That paragon is in 32 bit windows 7 winpe. So you probably need something more recent in 64 bit pe.

You can get the excellent O&O disk Image Pro v12 on giveaway.
Registration for your FREE license of O&O DiskImage 12

Download Archive
Maybe try use O&O to adjust to new hardware and add the drivers.




You can include dism++ in winpe or a running OS and point at any other installation to integrate drivers.

This boot media has dism++ already included
16299x64-v2.iso

 

[Stason99]

But what difference does it make if PE is 32 or 64 bit, in regards to Paragon adjusting OS?

I still didn't understand what dism++ does. Can it integrate drivers into an image only or into existing OS into its library of drivers? I need the latter so that I can just transfer existing OS to new hardware.

 

[SIW2]

Can it integrate drivers into an image only or into existing OS into its library of drivers? I need the latter so that I can just transfer existing OS to new hardware.

YES.

Screenshots for dism++ usage
Reinstall Win7 what updates to avoid for telemetry & winX preparation?