Windows 7 Installation - Transfer to a New Computer

So I recently purchased a new motherboard so I can run sli on my computer rig. I have an SSD and an HDD, the former for boot and some applications and the latter for almost all of my games. I created backup images of both the SSD and HDD prior to doing anything.

I ran sysprep, checked generalized, and selected shutdown to prepare my PC with no issues. After replacing my motherboard however, when I reach step 7 instead of updating my registries and drivers to then restart and boot up, I keep getting an error message that the system configuration failed and that I need to restart my computer. Well, this keeps happening every time I restart.

I've looked on other forums about this issue but they're all regarding switching hard drives and not simply changing hardware and keeping everything else the same. I'm at a loss how to proceed . . .

Any help is much appreciated!

apizz said:

I keep getting an error message that the system configuration failed and that I need to restart my computer. Well, this keeps happening every time I restart.

I don't recall the exact error message, but when I had an issue where configuration failed upon booting the sysprepped HD, I found the solution here.
When configuration fails, reboot into safe mode. It will fail again.
Then reboot into normal mode, and it will finish. Seems silly, but it has worked for me and others.

Thank you thank you Victor and Kari! You guys are the best. Computer is now installing devices, etc. (Step 7).

Terrific guide and support!

SevenRick said:

I successfully ran sysprep, moved the ssd to the new machine and get the following errors and bsod:

1. Auto check program not found
2. Then windows logo, then blue screen flash with error c000021a "session manager initialization system process terminated."
3. immediate reboot

I was really hoping this would work, any ideas?

Would the inability to not find the "auto check program" upon booting the syspreped drive have something to do with the "system reserve" partition being altered and Windows looking at the "C" drive at boot instead of system reserve partition?

I've scoured through this tutorial and the messages but it feels like I missed something...


The top of the tutorial warns that I should make a back-up image copy of my hard drive in the rare case that this transfer fails...

But when I looked into the thread, I found this post Kari made:

If you are keeping your old hard disk where Windows is installed, just changing the motherboard, there's no need to make an image. The image is only needed when you also change the hard disk.

So, when only changing the motherboard, do this:
- Sysprep as told in tutorial (Method One, steps 1 to 5)
- When computer is shut down, replace motherboard (Method One, step 6)
- Boot the computer (Method One, steps 7 to 12)

Given that I only want to change my motherboard and cpu, does this apply to me? Or is this just a case of "Always back up just in case" like an airplane seat floatation device?



As it stands, if there is a significant enough risk of losing all the data on my harddrive (like, between 5-10%) I'd sooner just buy a new copy of Windows 7 to install on a new harddrive (which I would need to buy as a back-up regardless).



Potentially an answer to my stuff: How would I know if this method doesn't work on me? Would there be a point where I could cancel the Windows installation or booting before it wipes my data? Or would it just automatically vaporize all the data on its own?

AndarielHalo said:

Given that I only want to change my motherboard and cpu, does this apply to me? Or is this just a case of "Always back up just in case" like an airplane seat floatation device?

That's how I look at it. I've been restoring images for years. They've ALWAYS worked. No matter the success ratio with sysprep, it has failed for some people.
Let's say your new MB is bad, and has to be RMA'd. Do you want to go back to what you have while you wait out the RMA process? If you have an image you can do that immediately.
And if you do put your old MB back in, what if the sysprepped drive won't start Win 7 again. I don't know the odds on that, but I do know my success rate of restoring images to the same machine is 100%. So you can just restore the image, and avoid the new configuration of the sysprepped drive.
You've raised other questions about data that I can't answer, because I don't know your partitioning scheme. Installing Win 7 fresh will always raise questions of partitioning and possible data loss, so that has to be examined.
My bottom line is to alway take images, but what process is used really depends on the hardware you're working with, space available, partitions, etc.