Windows Easy Transfer - Transfer To & From Computers

How to Transfer Files from One Computer to Another Computer with Windows Easy Transfer​

   Information

This tutorial will show you how to transfer your user files and settings from one computer to another using the Windows Easy Transfer tool.

   Note

This feature is available in Vista and Windows 7. It can also be used as a handy backup if you are thinking about installing a new build of Windows 7 on your current machine.

   Tip

This process can also be used between accounts if, for example, your old account has been acting up and you do not want to re-install and transfer your old data.

   Tip

To do this you will need to follow the steps outlined in Step 1 below, then create a new user account. Next, log into the new User account and proceed to follow Step 2 below to invoke the copy process.

Many thanks to Ztruker for testing & highlighting the above possibility.

STEP ONE

Save Transfer File from Old Computer

1. Open the start menu and type transfer in the search line, or navigate to All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and click on Windows Easy Transfer.​

2. Click on Next when the application opens.

3. Choose destination to save the Transfer file and click on Next.
NOTE: Please note for the purpose of this tutorial I have selected the external hard disk or USB flash drive.

4. Select This is my old computer from the list.

5. Windows Easy Transfer will scan for files that can be transferred.

6. Select which files you wish saved suring the transfer process, then click on Next.

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7. You will be prompted for a password in the next screen, but this is optional.

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8. Choose where to save your Transfer file and what to name it, then click Save.

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9. Windows will begin the saving process.
WARNING: This can take some time depending on the overall size of the data being saved.

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10. Windows will prompt when saving has finished.

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STEP TWO

Transfer Files to New Computer

1. Follow steps 1, 2 & 3 in the STEP ONE section above.​

2. Select This is my new computer from the list.​

3. Windows will display a notification asking if you have already saved files from your old computer, select Yes.

4. Select the Transfer file previously saved in the STEP ONE (step 6) section and click on Open.

5. You will be shown a selection of options that can be transferred. Choose which the options you want and click on Transfer.

6. Windows will start transferring user files and settings to your new computer.

7. Once finished, Windows will give the option to view which files have been transfered....

and which programs you will need to install for some settings to work correctly.

8. You will recieve a final completion notification and asked if you wish to restart your computer.

   Note

Once Windows restarts, you can now access all the files and folders that have been transferred.

Related Tutorials

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• How to Run Windows Easy Transfer from XP or Vista to Windows 7

 

[mulsey]

lost emails

Hi

i have just moved on to Windows 7 on a new Laptop. I carried out the easy transfer and all appeared to work until i opened Windows live mail none of me emails from Windows mail seem to have transfered i have tried importing them when i do i can see all my old email folders but they appear to be empty. thought i could go on my old PC and resend them all but Windows mail now will not open get an error message saying contacts failed to load. Wonderd if you had any ideas.

would be much appreciated if you have

 

[Cheril]

I cannot boot up my computer past Windows logon even in Safe Mode following re-transferring my files with Easy Transfer.

The new Windows 7 Home Premium was working perfectly until I restored by file with Easy Transfer.

I have run Disk self-tests and received two Failures.

Can anyone suggest a solution?

 

[iseeuu]

I cannot boot up my computer past Windows logon even in Safe Mode following re-transferring my files with Easy Transfer.

The new Windows 7 Home Premium was working perfectly until I restored by file with Easy Transfer.

I have run Disk self-tests and received two Failures.

Can anyone suggest a solution?

If you have saved restore points, you can boot to the 7 install DVD and select the restore point utility.

Cheers!
Robert

 

[Cheril]

Thanks Robert. Unfortunately, there were no restore points.
It is strange that I could not use Last Known Good Configuration either. I have tried Low Resolution, and remove signature demands from drivers. There doesn't seem any alternatives left.

I have used the Wind 7 disk Repair feature and that says that there is nothing to repair.

Any more ideas, guys?

 

[Dave76]

I cannot boot up my computer past Windows logon even in Safe Mode following re-transferring my files with Easy Transfer.

The new Windows 7 Home Premium was working perfectly until I restored by file with Easy Transfer.

I have run Disk self-tests and received two Failures.

Can anyone suggest a solution?

What are the failures? Any info will help.

Thanks Robert. Unfortunately, there were no restore points.
It is strange that I could not use Last Known Good Configuration either. I have tried Low Resolution, and remove signature demands from drivers. There doesn't seem any alternatives left.

I have used the Wind 7 disk Repair feature and that says that there is nothing to repair.

Any more ideas, guys?

Have you tried SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker

There's always re-install.

Clean Install Windows 7

Upgrade Install with Windows 7

 

[Cheril]

Thanks Dave,

I have successfully clean reinstalled. Everything is running beautifully. Good sound, and perfect display which is something on a Pavilion zd8000.

Thanks everyone for your help.

God Bless

 

[Dave76]

Your welcome Cheril, sometimes a clean install is the best thing you can do.

If you don't already, you should consider making image backups. You can restore in a fraction of the time it takes to install and won't have to re-setup everything.

 

[loftus49]

Serial cable

Many thanks for the link. It is becoming "clearer" now!

 

[tscinc]

I just bought a HP PAvilliion Laptop and along with it the belkin easy transfer cable. Old laptop is a HP/Compaq as well. Installed the easy transfer CD that came with the Belkin cable and activated the easy transfer on the new computer. XP software on old and Win 7 on new. Got all the way to the connect part....that is when neither computer can connect to the other. There are three lights that are on the Belkin cable one on each side of the middle part signifying each computer and both are light up. A center one flashing showing it is trying to connect. Any help you can offer to get them to speak to each other other?

 

[iseeuu]

I just bought a HP PAvilliion Laptop and along with it the belkin easy transfer cable. Old laptop is a HP/Compaq as well. Installed the easy transfer CD that came with the Belkin cable and activated the easy transfer on the new computer. XP software on old and Win 7 on new. Got all the way to the connect part....that is when neither computer can connect to the other. There are three lights that are on the Belkin cable one on each side of the middle part signifying each computer and both are light up. A center one flashing showing it is trying to connect. Any help you can offer to get them to speak to each other other?

Hello tscinc, and welcome to Windows Seven Forums.

The last time I checked out USB Transfer Cables, there was NO support (drivers) for Windows 7. Since you did not identify a part number for the Belkin product, I have no way of investigating its suitability for Windows 7. If you wish to add that info, perhaps even a screen shot if the Belkin CD claims to work with Windows 7, we might be able to look into this further.

The Easy Transfer Wizard will create a large file, and that can be a problem when using laptops. With a desktop, I can just open the case and temporarily connect the old hard drive and copy the file to the new hard drive. Unless your laptop has options for two hard drives, this won't work. Other options are an external USB or Firewire hard drive, good idea for backups also, or a home network.

Cheers!
Robert

 

[tscinc]

Belkin which show on the package it is for Windows 7.....The one thing I did see is that it does not support 64bit to 32 bit which I think is the case here. 64 bit XP and 32 bit Windows 7. Any ideas?
I do not have a screen shot for this but the Belkin cable clearly states the Windows 7 compatability. On the side of the box it shows migration from 64 bit to 32 bit is not supported.

 

[Ztruker]

Any chance you could update this tutorial to indicate you can also use it to transfer data and settings between accounts on the same computer? If not then maybe a new tutorial is needed, though it's identical to this one except you use two accounts instead of two computers.


This can be very handy when you are create a new account because something is messed up with the old one.

I verified this works, using the External hard drive or flash drive method.

Start with the old account. When done, log off then login to the new account instead of using a different computer.

 

[Orbital Shark]

Excellent Idea, I'll implement ASAP

 

[Ztruker]

Excellent! Looks good. Many thanks.

 

[Dave76]

Nice addition, thanks Ztruker.

 

[Tweek]

Really hoping that some of you experts can help out with this one!

My old XP PC has been giving me problems recently, frequent crashes and slow performance. I have, today, been out and purchased a new Windows 7 PC.

After looking at the forums I decided to use the Easy Transfer Wizard over Ethernet method. All was going well until my old PC crashed half way through the transfer. Thus I had to start over, again, my old PC died half way through.

Now I know that it is possible to mount my old internal hdd in my new PC as an additional drive. However, I was wondering if it is possible then to run the Transfer wizard from my old HDD to the new one within the same PC? I realise that I could manually copy the data and config files between drives but was hoping that the Wizard can handle this situation. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

If you mount the old drive in the new pc, why not just run the transfer software on the old drive FROM the new pc?
Or just pull and migrate the files and folders you want to keep, just reading them off the old drive..

hope this helps?

 

[hiddepolen]

This is great! Thanks so much!

 

[Orbital Shark]

This is great! Thanks so much!

You're welcome, glad you like it and hope you find many more useful tutorials here

 

[mikcara]

New computer?

I'm planning to upgrade my computer motherboard,cpu and ram I have a backup made to an external hard drive.Can I use the backup on my new setup? Should I use easy transfer ?I'm not to sure about this because there will be new drivers installed,I'm not explaining it very well can anyone see what I'm trying to do!

 

[Pumpman2]

Hi,

My HP's vista motherboard went bad and I bought a new HP win 7 machine. The old hard drive I mounted as a slave hard drive on the new computer. How do I transfer my files from the old salve Drive (G to my new hard drive (C IT probably really simple but i have not been able to figure it out yet.

Richard