Windows 7 Installation - Transfer to a New Computer

How to Transfer your Complete Windows 7 Installation to New Computer​

To start, a warning from Microsoft:

   Note

Important

You must use the Sysprep /generalize command to generalize a complete Windows installation before you can use the installation for deployment to a new computer, whether you use imaging, hard disk duplication, or another method. Moving or copying a Windows image to a different computer without running the Sysprep /generalize command is not supported.

This tutorial will show you how to do the transfer.

   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 it, 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.

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

An upgraded Windows cannot be sysprepped. As this method is based in sysprepping, this tutorial is valid only for Windows setups which have not been upgraded.

This means that if you have for instance in-place upgraded Vista to Seven, or using Anytime Upgrade upgraded for instance a Home Premium to Ultimate, you cannot sysprep and this tutorial cannot be used in your case.

Notice that a repair install is also an upgrade install, so if you have ever done a repair install (= in-place upgrade to same edition), you cannot sysprep.

PLEASE DO NOT FORGET TO CREATE A SYSTEM IMAGE BEFORE PROCEEDING!​

As you can read on this thread, on rare occasions this method does not work. If this happens, you can always restore your system using your backup image.

Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup
System Image Recovery

IE10 Users: Please read this article first: Sysprep Fatal Error With IE 10 (FIX) | System Administration

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

1. Before installing new hardware, boot Windows 7 normally
2. Disconnect all external hardware except mouse, keyboard and main display. If your system folders are located only on C: drive, disconnect all other hard disks except that containing the C:. In case of relocated system folders, for instance the profile folder Users located in another drive and other system folders on C:, first move the relocated system folders back to C: then disconnect all other drives. Reboot after this
3. Run Command Prompt as administrator
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4. Type to Command Prompt: %windir%\System32\Sysprep\Sysprep.exe, and hit Enter
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5. 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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6. 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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7. 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
8. 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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9. 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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10. 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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11. When login screen appears, choose your old user account to login
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12. 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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13. 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

1. Follow steps 1 through 5 above (method 1)
2. Boot PC with an imaging CD/DVD (Paragon, Macrium etc.). See Macrium Reflect Free:at our sister site TenForums.com: Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect Windows 10 Backup Restore Tutorials . Also see this post for a practical tip to create a Macrium system image.
3. Create an image of your system
4. 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
5. Continue from step 7 above (method 1)

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 after the transfer 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

EDIT: A Useful tip from xxxwea, as later confirmed by Victor:

Kari, just a suggestion.

You might note in the tutorial that if on first booting Windows can't finish configuring, a reboot into safe mode, then a normal reboot will allow it to finish successfully.

This has happened to me both times I used a sysprepped system drive in a new computer. I found the answer to this problem buried deep in this thread the first time I ran into it, and the same thing happened yesterday on a different computer.

It's a seemingly very silly solution, but it works. I do believe many people have abandoned their sysprep work when they encounter the problem.

I think the solution deserves more visibility.

 

[BadRando]

WOW ! Thank you so much for this info. It took me only 3hrs to go from an empty case and a bunch of parts to benchmarks complete using this method. Booted up right the first time and went just as described in the tutorial.

Thanks again

 

[Kari]

Hi BadRando, welcome to the Seven Forums-

You are welcome, it is nice to hear you succeeded.

Kari

 

[venice]

Hi Kari,

1. I have my Windows installed on C: drive, all my Program Files on a D: drive, than my games on a E: drive.
Will Sysprep restore all of these?

2. Regarding personalization. Is it possible to use a 3rd party app to do a backup of all personalized stuff like save games, applications preferences and stuff? Can you recommend one?

I was considering using Easy transfer for this. First doing an Easy Transfer and save it on a USB drive. Then Sysprep my system, transfer hardware, boot up as the tutorial goes and then launch Easy Transfer to restore all personalization? Will this work?

 

[Kaktussoft]

Venice are you trying to swap your motherboard, or do you want to put harddrive in another pc? Are C, D en E drive partitions on 1 physical disk?
What is listed in device manager under "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers"?

 

[venice]

I am going to replace my: CPU, MoBo and RAM
I am keeping the hard drive and GPU
I have one physical drive.

IDE ATA/ATAPI CONTROLLERS:
ATA Channel 0
ATA Channel 0
ATA Channel 1
ATA Channel 1
Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller

I have a hell of a lot applications preferecens in my user folder. Especially the Adobe ones I want to keep intacted. Please help

 

[Kaktussoft]

Does your current MoBo have an on board GPU, networkcard, wifi and maybe more?
Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller .. nice that's what I wanna say.. change to standard

 

[Kari]

Hi Venice, welcome to the Seven Forums.

Sysprep takes care of the whole Windows system, regardless on which drives your system folders are located.

I would like to recommend you to do a full backup before proceeding. Because your system is on several drives, use a third partu backup application. I use Macrium Free but other geeks might recommend something else.

Windows Easy Transfer adds an extra layer to security by doing a backup of your personal files, but I see it as an unnecessary step if you do a full system backup.

Kari

 

[Kaktussoft]

What is your old cpu type and what's the new one?

 

[venice]

So doing Sysprep... will it save all my personlised data for my installed applications? For example Adobe Photoshop preferences like Actions, Palletes etc are all saved in my User folder.

I am transferring form LGA 775 to 1155. Both motherboards come from Asus and do not have GPU units onbaoard. Only LAN and Audio.

 

[Kaktussoft]

1. Remove all drivers no longer needed (on board devices). For example network, wifi, usb.
2. Uninstall all software related to this stuff
3. Now shutdown and power off. (don't reboot!)
4. Replace Mobo, CPU, memory
5. Start your PC
6. Install drivers. Use DVD which comes with MoBo
7. Check device management for errors

This simple procedure works in 99.9% of the cases.

 

[Kari]

Sysprep does not touch on anything else than hardware specific drivers and settings, replacing them with generic ones to allow system to be transferred to any hardware setup. If it works, as usual, everything you have installed stays intact. If not, you always have your backup to restore.

You can of course do this manually, as Kaktussoft told above. One by one uninstall everything manually. It's just that sysprep with generalizing switch is designed to do this automatically with one click, easy and secure.

Kari

 

[Kaktussoft]

There are some personal settings that revert back to default!
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/135077-windows-7-installation-transfer-new-computer.html

 

[venice]

All I want is my application preferences to stay intact. I've read that Kaktussoft method works - just uninstall unwanted devices and shutdown. Replace hardware, boot up windows so it installs proper drivers for the current setup.

 

[kensiko]

It should work, the IDE/SATA driver is the most important driver to uninstall.

Sysprep should be used as a last resort.

 

[cyclometric]

I used this tutorial a few months ago when I was trying out a new motherboard... Works very well.

But my situation now is that my mobo sizzled after my water cooling tubes came loose and it "rained" all over my board. Even after drying the system completely there are major issues. So I bought a new mobo last night and since I can't boot into my Windows installation, wondered if I might try booting with the drive attached to the new board, but in Safe Mode, and run Sysprep at that point. Now that I've written the idea, it seems unlikely that it would work but I don't know what else to try.

Thanks,

 

[Kari]

Never tried like that, I have my doubts. I think this is one of those occasions where a complete fresh install is the only right thing to do.

Kari

 

[cyclometric]

I strongly suspect so, too. All my data is safe. Using a boot disc, I'm going to try to at least save off a <dir> list of my Program Files folders; that's always helpful when building from scratch. B-)

 

[Philos]

Personalization

Hi Kari,

Thank you for the clearest, most succinct explanation of sysprep and how to create a system image that I've seen so far. (I'm not a full-time IT person, so I appreciate keeping it simple.)

I'm working on upgrading about 10 new computers. I want them all to "look and feel" the same. So, losing the personalization with sysprep is a problem. My new pc's have oem licenses, which I'd like to use again. But with my installation of Win 7, personalizations, applications, etc.

Do you know of a workaround to either include the personalizations, or to replace them once I've used sysprep and restored the image?

What would you recommend ?

Thanks!

Phil

 

[Kari]

Hi Phil, welcome to the Seven Forums.

The generalize switch used in this tutorial with sysprep is the reason you lose all personalization. However, you can sysprep without generalizing, although I would not recommend method described in this tutorial to be used in corporate environment for Windows deployment.

Please check these Microsoft guides first, then come back if you have any more questions:
- Windows 7: Deployment
- Building a Standard Image of Windows 7: Step-by-Step Guide

Kari

 

[Philos]

Kari,

Thanks for the quick response!

I could try sysprep without generalizing and then use Acronis with Universal Restore to image and restore, using Universal Restore to load drivers for the different PC's. Would that work?

Is there an alternative to sysprep that would allow me to enter the OEM product key for each pc? I don't really need the oobe. For these workstations, I use the same account for all users on all of the pc's. I only need to change the computer name. Everything else can be the same as all the others.

Thanks again for your help!

Phil