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.

 

[Madmaxneo]

A horror story turned romantic drama .

It is good to know you finally got it working Bruce. About your 3 minor issues:

1. See this tutorial for how to change drive letters: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/82994-drive-letter-add-change-remove-windows.html. You need to change first the current D: (CD/DVD) to an unused on like X: to free the E:, then change the D: to E: and finally the X: to something else.
2. Run Windows Update with all optional updates (if using Ultimate, this does not apply to language packs) as many times as required to get "No updates available".
3. If you have installed chipset driver, Windows should be able to storage drivers. I will check this a bit more.

Kari

Kari,
1. It took some time but windows media player eventually found all the music files and playlists. It's all good on that part now.
2. Running windows update until it showed "no updates available" was probably the first thing I did. The computer still boots up slower than it did in the old Dell btx motherboard. When I installed the SSD I followed some directions in another forum somewhere on how to optimize SSD performance, I wonder if I have to do that again. I just need to find that forum now.
3. The USB 3.0 card started working, though it doesn't recognize anything other than USB 3.0 devices (no USB 2.0 devices are recognized). I plug my xbox 360 controller in and the green ring slow blinks 3 times then goes out, but it works fine in my USB 2.0 ports, it doesn't even recognize my k95 keyboard anymore. Needless to say my external 1tb USB 3.0 drive has much better access times now. The SATA 3 card I have installed is still acting weird. I had contacted Rosewill support and I we exchanged two emails and they have yet to reply to my last response and it has been a week.

Bruce

 

[Kari]

With this tool several headaches will go away in my life.

However, right now I have a mess in my house: the family computer's motherboard suddenly stopped working! (problems with the video card) and I didn't have time to do what is specified in your tutorial. Is there any way to perform this procedure after changing computer?

Thanks again.

As Madmaxneo told already it is not possible.

 

[Yaguar]

As Madmaxneo said... is not possible.... unless you have a time machine or have the same motherboard or the same computer in another place.

I'm working in the time machine, but will take time. Fortunately, a friend of mine has an identical computer that was broke down on house. I hope he will help me to solve this mess.

I don't have all the answers, but if you ask those who know, they will know how to help you.

Thank you so much.

 

[mchldpy]

i might have missed this when searching,
Now the $34 question...
I'm going to the same brand and model, chipset etc motherboard, 3 core amd to a 4 core amd, ati 5570 to ati 5670 gpu, different optical drives and ddr2 to ddr2 ram. Won't win7 x64 install a generic driver for the 4 core amd, the gpu's use the same ati drivers so do i even need to use sysprep?

I have acronis with u/restore but I'm not sure if this qualifies as "dissimilar" hardware.

thanks for any help,
michael clyde

 

[Kari]

It's not about hardware being dissimilar. Two computers with exactly the same hardware are still different. Different MAC addresses, different SID and so on.

I recommend using the sysprep method anyway, based on my own experience and Microsoft recommendation (quote from the beginning of the tutorial):

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.

 

[mchldpy]

thanks for the instantaneous response.
I will heed your advice over what M/S says is not supported as I have run windows from a non primary partition before but m/s says I can't do that, it's not supported.

thanks again

 

[Kari]

I have run windows from a non primary partition before but m/s says I can't do that, it's not supported.

Microsoft stating that a certain procedure is the only supported scenario does not mean it's the only way to get it work.

Take for instance renaming a system folder: renaming the main profile folder Users to MeAndMyFamily with sysprep and an answer file works in most cases but might lead to issues later on. Microsoft telling us that renaming it is not supported means that when not renamed, it works but they or the user cannot be sure it works all the time when renamed.

Kari

 

[Grander01]

Will This Work To Move To A New SSD Drive??

Hi Kari

Just been reading your tutorial (Really Good Stuff) at present I am looking for a way to move just my OS (Win7 64bit) to a new 250GB SSD Drive.

The problem I face is I only want to mount the OS on the SSD, I want to leave all my programs on the current drive along with the data.

I have just bought Paragon's Move OS to SSD software which looks pretty good and it allows you to choose which non OS programs you do not want to move, unfortunately it does not really make it clear which programs you must include in the OS move.

So I am currently trying to find a list of programs that must be included in the move of the OS, so far without any real success.

 

[Kari]

This method moves everything, you cannot select which parts of the Windows installation you want to include. I recommend you the Paragon Move OS.

 

[Gubin]

Transfering to a New Build

Hello i was mainly wondering the best way to back up my OS from my 2 TB RAID 0, Onto my Samsung 850 PRO . im converting to a new motherboard with a different chipset so i know i cant take my RAID with me, but i want my OS to just be on my SSD (The 850 PRO IS INSANELY FAST), i dont really care about my other files, so long as i avoid the hassle of reactivating my Win 7. I guess in conclusion i was wodnering if a OS can be backed up from RAID onto a single HDD so that when i plug in my new HDD into the Mobo, it should just boot into Windows without any annoying hassle of activation. (im missing my product key sadly)

 

[Kari]

Hi Gubin, welcome to the Seven Forums.

Obviously this method does not work for you, first because of the RAID and second because it requires Windows to be reactivated. As I am a novice when it comes to RAID, I am not able to assist you.

I suggest you create your own thread in our Installation & Setup section. Explain your situation and goal as well as possible, I'm sure you will get some tips.

Kari

 

[Madmaxneo]

Gubin, Unfortunately I don't think that is possible. There might be a way (in addition to using the sysprep method most of us on this thread have used) if you copy everything related to windows over to the new drive in the proper folders. Then try using the sysprep method described on this thread. There might be something related to the registry settings that may not allow this to be done effectively, I'm not sure.

There is a way to retrieve your product key from your computer by right clicking on "Computer" in your start menu and clicking on properties. It's in the last section under windows activation directly across from the Genuine Windows tag.

Bruce

 

[Kari]

There is a way to retrieve your product key from your computer by right clicking on "Computer" in your start menu and clicking on properties. It's in the last section under windows activation directly across from the Genuine Windows tag.

That is not true. Screenshot from Windows 8.1 but it applies to Windows 7, too:

 

[Madmaxneo]

I forgot to mention one detail. That product ID can be used to get your product key from Windows support, at least that's how it was explained to me via Windows Support.

 

[A Guy]

Welcome to Seven Forums Gubin. I've never worked with RAID, but Windows, and imaging software should see it as a "drive", and you can restore that image to a large enough single drive. Macrium Reflect should do it, Acronis True Image will also. Do wait for others with personal experience to reply. I'd also start a new thread in General Discussion - Windows 7 Help Forums (the admins can move it if necessary). I would title my post Transfer raid 0 image to single drive? or similar.

Windows 7 Help Forums - FAQ: Board FAQ

A Guy

 

[crashnbuen]

When I last worked with RAIDs, you had to first unpair a mirror before you could image it and re-raid again.

The only possibilities that 'claimed' and worked with imaging them directly if I remember correctly were Server Suite versions of one of these Easeus, Paragon, Acronis. I never did get to try it out though.

 

[Arianna3]

Lou in FL

Thanks Karl,
Followed your directions, used method 1 and it worked after I stopped media player from loading as you said to do. Re activated everything I had to on line. Only hangup was windows "cleaning up" took about 1 hour. So people don't panic and be patient when doing this.

 

[Arianna3]

To fix sleep mode problem try turning off network adapters, and audio controllers. Go to device manager and then go to power management, to turn off these devices

 

[Wozby]

To fix sleep mode problem try turning off network adapters, and audio controllers. Go to device manager and then go to power management, to turn off these devices

Ok, I right clicked my computer, pressed manage, then I went to device manager, but I cannot find anything that says power management.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

To fix sleep mode problem try turning off network adapters, and audio controllers. Go to device manager and then go to power management, to turn off these devices

Ok, I right clicked my computer, pressed manage, then I went to device manager, but I cannot find anything that says power management.

Mate power management is usually in the Control Panel > Power options.