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.

 

[Kari]

In that case this is exactly the method you should use, generalize your Windows with sysprep before moving the old HD with Windows installation to a new computer or changing the hardware on your old one.

 

[Britton30]

I have to make the wife's PC almost as fast as mine.

 

[Kari]

Old HD, new hardware? It's Method One for you, then.

A few tips to make it really work:

• Using Msconfig tool's boot options, disable all but Microsoft services
• Reboot
• Stop the Windows Media Player Network Sharing service manually
• Using Task Manager, end all unnecessary tasks and background programs
• Disconnect all external hardware except display, mouse and keyboard
• Run sysprep /generalize with sysprep set to OOBE and Shutdown as told in tutorial, Method One Step 4
• Replace hardware
• Boot to OOBE

Remember that generalizing will remove all activation data, you need to re-activate with a valid product key after the first OOBE boot.

Kari

 

[Britton30]

Thanks Kari, that will be helpful.
Tut and tips printed out.

 

[plk4]

I'm not sure if this question was asked before but how can I keep the settings without going back to to the old motherboard, my old one is dead and I can only use my new one. Thanks for any answers

 

[Kari]

I'm not sure if this question was asked before but how can I keep the settings without going back to to the old motherboard, my old one is dead and I can only use my new one. Thanks for any answers

Hi Plk4, welcome to the Seven Forums.

A simple answer: this method only works as told in tutorial when done before the hardware components are replaced.

In your case, old motherboard dead and the new one already in place, if you can boot to Windows but with errors, you can try to sysprep as told in tutorial but it might not work. If it works, the HW errors should be gone as Windows generalizes the setup and replaces all HW drivers with generic ones.

Other than that, my recommendation is a re-install on new HW.

Replacing hardware as essential as the motherboard is exactly the same than transferring Windows installation to a new computer. About how it should be done, Microsoft makes it very clear:

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.

(Source: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh825033.aspx)

Kari

 

[plk4]

Thank you for a quick response Kari, sadly I can't even go past safe mode, the system restoration works but bugs out. I am cloning the drive however to a secondary one in case, I'll reinstall clean windows on that one, is it possible to transfer data from one drive to another in this manner (not just the actual files but the settings as well, my 3tb drive is full of games and thats just the tip of the iceberg)?

 

[nicoX]

I wonder what steps I should take before undergoing the guide, for replacing my mobo with a new.
Shall I uninstall the mobo drivers on my mobo first? And should I install the drivers for my new mobo, on the disk that is on the old mobo before starting with the guide?

 

[Kari]

Thank you for a quick response Kari, sadly I can't even go past safe mode, the system restoration works but bugs out. I am cloning the drive however to a secondary one in case, I'll reinstall clean windows on that one, is it possible to transfer data from one drive to another in this manner (not just the actual files but the settings as well, my 3tb drive is full of games and thats just the tip of the iceberg)?

Transferring your personal data is easy, simply copy the docs, pics, media and other personal files from the old user profile folders to new ones.

Transferring game settings is not always so simple although it usually works quite well. An example: I am not a gamer, when I play something I'll play only The Sims 3 and Sim City. When I reinstalled the last time, I simply backed up the Users\Kari\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 folder where The Sims 3 keeps my saved stuff, reinstalled The Sims 3 after Windows was reinstalled, launched the game once, closed it and copied the The Sims 3 folder from backup to respective location on my new Windows installation, finally relaunching the game.

Everything was there.

I wonder what steps I should take before undergoing the guide, for replacing my mobo with a new.
Shall I uninstall the mobo drivers on my mobo first? And should I install the drivers for my new mobo, on the disk that is on the old mobo before starting with the guide?

Hi Nico, welcome to the Seven Forums.

No need to uninstall anything. In your case, replacing the motherboard, simply follow the instructions in this tutorial. Method One is the one for you.

Kari

 

[Britton30]

The Sysprep Generalize done as in the tutorial removes the drivers, do that first, then transfer to new hardware, then install new drivers.
EDIT: Kari said it first, better.

 

[TheTankster]

hello i am getting a new motherboard soon so i will be sysprepping, will sysprep be fine with avast installed because i dont want my computer to screw up if it wont plus i cant back up an image because my computer hdd image is pretty much 100gb, so will avast be fine i think the avast program version is 6

 

[Kari]

Hi TheTankster, welcome to the Seven Forums.
It's always a good idea to disable AV before sysprepping. However, if your AV program (Avast) licence is tied to a certain computer (SID), it will need to be reactivated after the sysprep.

 

[TheTankster]

Well i don't know if you can disable avast also what do you mean by disable avast? the service or just the shields? because i don't know if avast will allow you to disable the service all together. but can you still sysprep with it enabled? i will disable avast self defense module though because i have had conflicts with system restore with that enabled, with recent system restores i have disabled self defense module and system restore went smoothly.

 

[A Guy]

Welcome to Seven Forums TheTankster. To disable the shields only.

Right click on the avast icon in system tray> avast! shields control> Disable until computer is restarted



If Kari thinks that is not sufficient

Open Avast user interface> Settings> Troubleshooting> Uncheck Enable avast! self-defense module> OK



Now go to services> Start> In search box type services.msc> Enter> Scroll down to Avast antivirus> Right click and select Properties> Stop the service> Set the startup type to disabled

After you are finished, reverse the process, set service to automatic, start the service, recheck to enable self defense within Avast.

A Guy

 

[Kari]

Making the AV program inactive is enough, so I think stopping the shields for a moment is enough. Most probably you can sysprep without doing anything for Avast, this is more like a precautionary suggestion than instructions.

 

[TheTankster]

Okay thanks.

 

[TheTankster]

Also there is a way to reactivate OEM versions of Windows 7 because i switched my motherboard and followed this: Moved my hdd to a new pc. Windows 7 wants a new license

 

[Britton30]

Also there is a way to reactivate OEM versions of Windows 7 because i switched my motherboard and followed this: Moved my hdd to a new pc. Windows 7 wants a new license

Good job, MS is benevolent at times. A friend of mine also did the same thing.

 

[TheTankster]

Also there is a way to reactivate OEM versions of Windows 7 because i switched my motherboard and followed this: Moved my hdd to a new pc. Windows 7 wants a new license

You can add that link to the tutorial or rewrite it in your own words if you want Kari, it would be useful.

 

[Britton30]

Also there is a way to reactivate OEM versions of Windows 7 because i switched my motherboard and followed this: Moved my hdd to a new pc. Windows 7 wants a new license

You can add that link to the tutorial or rewrite it in your own words if you want Kari, it would be useful.

The link isn't there, but the method is mentioned in the first warning box.