Windows 7 Installation - Transfer to a New Computer

TheTankster said:

TheTankster said:

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 said:

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

Officially Microsoft's licencing policy does not allow an OEM version of Windows to be transferred to a new computer, or too much hardware to be changed.

To stay in accordance with official EULA I will not post any links or quotes from third party sites advising on how to proceed in unsupported scenarios.

The warning Britton mentioned at the beginning of the tutorial is enough:

   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.

Kari

What are the models of the two computers in question?

anoopsingh1198 said:

As per your Method 3, I do not know how to mount the old HDD to new laptop...Any Suggestions.[/COLOR][/B]

Open the lid covering the HDD on old laptop, open all possible screws keeping it in place, remove the HDD, following the same steps remove the old HDD from your new laptop, insert the HDD from old laptop.

All further questions about swapping / replacing hardware in this section, please: Hardware & Devices - Windows 7 Help Forums

anoopsingh1198 said:

The Old one from which i want to make the image is Dell i7, Nvidia , 64 bit Windows Ultimate, 640gb 5400rpm HDD..

Want to transfer to a Maingear Laptop. i7 4800 MQ, 2 X 1Tb HDD , No Raid Configuration, Nvidia.

No idea about either motherboard or chipset if that matters.

The point i didn't get in the tutorial in Method 2 was

That after i do the first 5 steps in my old laptop and then make a full image using Paragon Software...Then i use this image to Boot my new Computer ?
How do i boot my new laptop, like pressing F8 and then Boot from USB ?
And would the Different Size of the C:/ and D:/ matter in the new laptop or it would just copy the image om new laptop and bring all my programs as it is .

You don't know how to boot your computer from a CD or DVD?

The tut asks you to boot with imaging application, not with the image itself. It means the CD or DVD you made for restoring images made by your imaging solution. In your case Paragon must have a function to create a boot CD to be used to restore images made with it.

For instance I use Macrium reflect for imaging; when I want to restore an image to a PC, I boot it with a Macrium Boot CD and follow the instructions of Macrium to restore (install) my image.

All further questions about using imaging applications in this section, please: Backup and Restore - Windows 7 Help Forums

Kari

Use Macrium Reflect Free for your imaging and restoring, for that we have experts available here at the Seven Forums if help is needed.

See the tutorials:

• Imaging with free Macrium
• MACRIUM REFLECT - Create Bootable Rescue USB Drive

Hi Steve, welcome to the Seven Forums.

Did you read this at the very bottom of the tutorial:

EDIT: A Useful tip from xxxwea, as later confirmed by Victor:

Victor S said:

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.

Safe Mode boot really helps often. Also, before booting the new rig first time disconnect all other hard disks except the system disk, all external devices except mouse and keyboard, and so on.

I have had a few systems when nothing I have done have helped. They have all had an Intel to AMD or AMD to Intel processor change in common.

Kari