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.

 

[Kaktussoft]

Sometimes sysprep simply doesn't work. And you have to sysprep BEFORE swapping motherboard, which is impossible in case motherboard becomes faulty all of a sudden. In those cases you can do Paragon P2P adjust OS. It automatically injects missing critical drivers to make system bootable again. Do it AFTER motherboard swap, or after transfering to new computer. Very easy procedure. It injects drivers from windows repositry or any folders you select. Normally all is done with a few clicks.... only win7 standard sata driver (which is on harddisk anyway) needs to be installed to make it bootable.

Of course you have to install motherboard drivers from motherboard CD afterwards. Afterwards also check "device manager" for devices without drivers and other problems listed there.

Manual (pdf) and ISO can be found on my dropbox. Burn ISO to DVD and boot from that DVD https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ogvkez2hnab1isv/GMh6pwmwcP

 

[iamjim]

. . . only win7 standard sata driver (which is on harddisk anyway) needs to be installed to make it bootable.

I'm not sure what that means. Does that happen automatically or does something special have to be done?

 

[churin]

Sometimes sysprep simply doesn't work. And you have to sysprep BEFORE swapping motherboard, which is impossible in case motherboard becomes faulty all of a sudden. In those cases you can do Paragon P2P adjust OS. It automatically injects missing critical drivers to make system bootable again. Do it AFTER motherboard swap, or after transfering to new computer. Very easy procedure. It injects drivers from windows repositry or any folders you select. Normally all is done with a few clicks.... only win7 standard sata driver (which is on harddisk anyway) needs to be installed to make it bootable.

Of course you have to install motherboard drivers from motherboard CD afterwards. Afterwards also check "device manager" for devices without drivers and other problems listed there.

Manual (pdf) and ISO can be found on my dropbox. Burn ISO to DVD and boot from that DVD https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ogvkez2hnab1isv/GMh6pwmwcP

Is my understanding correct which is that I create a W7 backup image on old machine in whatever way, restore it on a new machine, and if it fails to boot then I use the Paragon tool to make it boot?

 

[Kaktussoft]

. . . only win7 standard sata driver (which is on harddisk anyway) needs to be installed to make it bootable.

I'm not sure what that means. Does that happen automatically or does something special have to be done?

The Adjust OS routine automatically uninstalls the special SATA driver (for old chipset not present on new motherboard). Afterwards it automatically installs the standard win7 sata driver which works with most chipsets.

In very few cases .. less than 3% it doesn't work with the standard stuff. But in that case, even adjust os can't find the win7 OS to adjust (it can't find the physical drive). So if you can select the win7 instance there.. you know for sure it will work.

In that case (if it can't find the drive) you have to inject drivers in WINPE itself. See page 22 of manual. After that it has the drivers and all goes fine.

 

[Kaktussoft]

Sometimes sysprep simply doesn't work. And you have to sysprep BEFORE swapping motherboard, which is impossible in case motherboard becomes faulty all of a sudden. In those cases you can do Paragon P2P adjust OS. It automatically injects missing critical drivers to make system bootable again. Do it AFTER motherboard swap, or after transfering to new computer. Very easy procedure. It injects drivers from windows repositry or any folders you select. Normally all is done with a few clicks.... only win7 standard sata driver (which is on harddisk anyway) needs to be installed to make it bootable.

Of course you have to install motherboard drivers from motherboard CD afterwards. Afterwards also check "device manager" for devices without drivers and other problems listed there.

Manual (pdf) and ISO can be found on my dropbox. Burn ISO to DVD and boot from that DVD https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ogvkez2hnab1isv/GMh6pwmwcP

Is my understanding correct which is that I create a W7 backup image on old machine in whatever way, restore it on a new machine, and if it fails to boot then I use the Paragon tool to make it boot?

w7 restore will clean the disk automatically first, so all is gone on that disk. Be sure new disk is at least as large as old disk. It will logically be an exact copy (if you backupped all partitions). So all partitions have same size as before and are on same spot.

Use P2P Adjust OS afterwards.

You can resize/move partitions later using Partition Wizard Free.

 

[churin]

Windows 7 restore will clean the disk automatically first, so all is gone on that disk. Be sure new disk is at least as large as old disk. It will logically an exact copy (if you backupped all partitions). So all partitions have same size as before and are on same spot.

Use P2P Adjust OS afterwards.

You can resize/move partitions later using Partition Wizard Free.

I gather my understanding is correct.
What I am interested in is restoring just one partition backup, not multiple partitions or a whole disk which includes more than one partitions.

What are "P2P" and "Partition Wizard" ?

.

 

[Kaktussoft]

Windows 7 restore will clean the disk automatically first, so all is gone on that disk. Be sure new disk is at least as large as old disk. It will logically an exact copy (if you backupped all partitions). So all partitions have same size as before and are on same spot.

Use P2P Adjust OS afterwards.

You can resize/move partitions later using Partition Wizard Free.

I gather my understanding is correct.
What I am interested in is restoring just one partition backup, not multiple partitions or a whole disk which includes more than one partitions.

What are "P2P" and "Partition Wizard" ?

.

P2P means Physical to Physical, so from one physical machine to another. Partition Wizard Best Free Partition Manager Freeware and free partition magic for Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista and Windows XP 32 bit & 64 bit. MiniTool Free Partition Manager Software Home Edition. is a FREE partition manager.

With win7 built-in backup utility you can backup 1 or more partitions. At least the ACTIVE partition (with bootmanager and bootmenu) and win7 partition will be backupped. If you want you can include more partitions as well.

On restore, win7 checks if you restore to original disk. It must have same partition layout as before!! So no resized partitions, no deleted, no extra partitions. It it so it's not original as it was at time of backup... it cleans the disk totally and makes the old structure itself.

As a result, on restore all partitions have same size as time of backup. So you can't restore to a smalller disk!

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html that is more flexible tool! It can resize on restore (use winpe version if restoring!). It can restore to smaller disk

 

[axzg31]

Life Saver

Hi Kari,

You saved my life and you have thought an amazing thing! A million thanks for this great tutorial/post!!!! Simply amazing!

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Kari]

Hi Axzg31, welcome to the Seven Forums.

Good to know it worked for you. A thank you is always nice, especially when you seem to have joined the forums just to say it. It gives an extra vanity boost .

 

[Elric]

Unprepared old HDD and OS on new PC

Hello there,

I've just travelled to another country with all my original internal and external HDDs.
On one of the hard-drives is the installation of the original OS (Win 7 Ultimate -32). For various reasons, I couldn't bring the old PC with me and I have made no changes (or any other preparations) to the OS beforehand. Now, I have received a new PC (with new and different hardware) and would like to ask if there's a way to still make the old OS load and work?

Please excuse me if this question has been already raised in this thread.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Kaktussoft]

Hello there,

I've just travelled to another country with all my original internal and external HDDs.
On one of the hard-drives is the installation of the original OS (Win 7 Ultimate -32). For various reasons, I couldn't bring the old PC with me and I have made no changes (or any other preparations) to the OS beforehand. Now, I have received a new PC (with new and different hardware) and would like to ask if there's a way to still make the old OS load and work?

Please excuse me if this question has been already raised in this thread.

Thanks in advance!

Use Paragon Adaptive Restore https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ogvkez2hnab1isv/GMh6pwmwcP pdf manual is also there. Burn the ISO to DVD and boot from it. Did you simply swap harddisk from old disk to new disk. Or did you backup and restore?

Only thing to do in Paragon Adaptive Restore is "P2P Adjust OS" (all info is in pdf maual). Critical drivers that are missing can be found on internet. Most important are the SATA drivers but you see that in the wizard. After system boots succesfully (eventually to safe mode):

• In device manager uninstall graphics adapter driver. It's most likely another graphics card.
• boot to normal mode if you were in safe mode
• Goto device manager. Uninstall all device drivers for devices no longer attached to system (those with an exclamation mark). Not the ones under "other devices".
• uninstall special configuration software belonging to devices no longer attached to system.

Now install the correct drivers from manufactures website, or from driver CD. Most important is LAN or WLAN driver so you can go to internet.

Still drivers missing? http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/96442-device-manager-finding-unknown-devices.html

What brand and model is new machine? You have a valid win7 ultimate product key (NOT OEM!)?
----
also see #520 and next few posts

 

[Elric]

First of all, thank you for your speedy reply; it is much appreciated.
Let me describe in more details my situation:
1. My HDDs were taken out as they were from the old PC.
2. One primary HDD has the win 7 ultimate (genuine license) OS and other software installed on it. The other HDDs are storage only.
3. Protection: The OS is password protected for 1 adminsitrator only. Some folders on all HDDs are protected by FolderGuard.
3. All HDDs are SATA.
4. Old PC had the MSI 915P Neo2 Platinum Mainboard with Inetel Pentium processor.
5. New PC will come with no hard-drive and will have the Gigabyte z77-d3h mainboard and Intel Core i7-3770 Quad-Core Processor 3.4 GHz 4 Core LGA 1155 in it.

My questions:
A. Is there a way to make the primary HDD load with the originally installed OS and programs (I must have access to FolderGuard) and let windows replace the drivers either automatically or manually?
B. If "A" is unlikely or impossible then is there a way to migrate the OS and programs from the old to a new Primary HDD with a freshly installed OS?

 

[Kaktussoft]

First of all, thank you for your speedy reply; it is much appreciated.
Let me describe in more details my situation:
1. My HDDs were taken out as they were from the old PC.
2. One primary HDD has the win 7 ultimate (genuine license) OS and other software installed on it. The other HDDs are storage only.
3. Protection: The OS is password protected for 1 adminsitrator only. Some folders on all HDDs are protected by FolderGuard.
3. All HDDs are SATA.
4. Old PC had the MSI 915P Neo2 Platinum Mainboard with Inetel Pentium processor.
5. New PC will come with no hard-drive and will have the Gigabyte z77-d3h mainboard and Intel Core i7-3770 Quad-Core Processor 3.4 GHz 4 Core LGA 1155 in it.

My questions:
A. Is there a way to make the primary HDD load with the originally installed OS and programs (I must have access to FolderGuard) and let windows replace the drivers either automatically or manually?
B. If "A" is unlikely or impossible then is there a way to migrate the OS and programs from the old to a new Primary HDD with a freshly installed OS?

What's not clear for you in #530 ?

Windows replaces drivers automatically. But not the devices it doesn't recognize out of the box (as in normal win7 install). Graphics adapter doesn't work I assume. Boot to safe mode and uninstall the graphics adapter and associated software (it reverts to standard vga adapter, just as on standard win7 install). Uninstall all drivers and associated software not needed anymore.

New PC will come with no hard-drive

So you have the new motherboard driver cd?

For drivers GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket 1155 - GA-Z77-D3H (rev. 1.1)
and very handy GIGABYTE Download Center

You have 32 bit win7 ultimate? How much memory has new machine? 32bits OS only supports 4GB.
----
so basicly it's a driver cleanup and new driver install

 

[Kaktussoft]

@Elric: Atheros LAN driverOS:Windows XP 32bit,Windows XP 64bit,Windows Vista 32bit,Windows Vista 64bit,Windows 7 32bit,Windows 7 64bit,Windows 8 32bit,Windows 8 64bit
2.1.0.73.08 MB2012/09/20Asia China America Europe Europe(Russia) : FTP / Http
That's the LAN driver to access the internet wired. Put on usb stick and run on new machine
-------------------
Your new mainboard has SATA "Intel® Rapid Storage Technology"... will work with default SATA as well. Paragon P2P adjust OS will gracefully upgrade to default win7 sata driver. Afterwards you can upgrade the driver. I expect no problems at all.

But sure to boot from correct HDD from BIOS!

 

[Elric]

What's not clear for you in #530 ?

now all is clear although it seemed a bit too simple... but if you say it'd work with Paragon from boot DVD then who am I to complain.

So you have the new motherboard driver cd?

Yes, I have. The new machine will have all the necessary drivers for all of its parts.

You have 32 bit Windows 7 ultimate? How much memory has new machine? 32bits OS only supports 4GB.

Very true. Long story. What is vital for me right now is to reach the encrypted folders and back them up.
Thanks once moe.

 

[Kaktussoft]

What is vital for me right now is to reach the encrypted folders and back them up.

FolderGuard doesn't encrypt as far as I understand. It installs itself and prohibits access the "protected" stuff. But you can access the folders easily if you attach the disk with protected folders to another machine (without folderguard). Or boot into recovery environment. Or disable folderguard protection. Or uninstall folderguard.

I've reinstalled Windows and cannot access my protected folders. What should I do?
If you have not installed a fresh copy of Folder Guard yet and you still cannot access your protected folders, it means that the problem is not related to Folder Guard: when Folder Guard is not installed, it is not protecting anything. Most probably, the NTFS permissions of Windows prevent you from accessing your files and folders. To restore access, you need to "take ownership" of your files and folders. Please refer to Windows Help for more information or for the instructions on how to do that.

Will Folder Guard encrypt my files?
No, Folder Guard does NOT encrypt or otherwise modify your files in ANY WAY. Folder Guard protects your files dynamically, that is, it intercepts requests from other programs to open files or list the contents of folders, and then rejects such requests for the files in the folder you have chosen to protect. The files and folders themselves remain undisturbed during this process, in their original condition.
As a result of such design, there is no danger of losing your documents if you lose your encryption key. On the other hand, your secret folder is protected only on your computer, where Folder Guard is installed and configured. If you require your private files to be protected even when taken to another computer, or when Windows or Folder Guard are not running, then you need an encryption program.

 

[Elric]

If that is the case with Folder Guard then I will sleep well tonight... ha ha.
Your tips are formidable! can't thank you enough.

 

[Kaktussoft]

If that is the case with Folder Guard then I will sleep well tonight... ha ha.
Your tips are formidable! can't thank you enough.

No more questions, all clear?

 

[Elric]

Zeg nooit nooit.

 

[Kaktussoft]

Zeg nooit nooit.

Why are you saying that? Are you Dutch emigrant?