What about "Windows easy transfer"?

[manu2b]

Hi all,

I am about to change MoBo and cpu (955BE 790xt Chipset to 8120FX 970 Chipset), and I have a bunch of apps/games.

Is "Windows easy transfer" efficient?

 

[SteveLord]

Your apps and games will not. It's primarily used for documents and media.

 

[av8tor]

I asked the same question in another thread and there is a way. I have yet to applied it , if you want to be the first to give it a go I'll hang until you report back I did a search and Win7 has a System Preparation Tool for just this purpose. It let's you freely configure Windows 7 to be then deployed to other computers as a hardware independent image.I guess it prepares your Windows 7 installation to be moved to a new computer keeping ALL you installed app's, program settings and user profiles. This program can be used in a couple of ways, like changing mobos or GPU...from ATI to a nvidia...or major hardware changes... without the need to reinstall everything....give it a go manu2b

 

[johan851]

^ Interesting. People around here are looking for that kind of stuff all the time. I usually just reinstall, personally. Do you have a link?

 

[av8tor]

Ya sure try this....

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/135077-windows-7-installation-transfer-new-computer.html

 

[johan851]

Very interesting. It completely resets your drivers. So this would be a great way to do a completely clean driver install, if someone was interested in that. Don't switch computers, just run the tool and flush everything hardware-specific, then reboot.

 

[manu2b]

That's very interesting.

I try tonight (already have an Acronis disk image if anything goes sideway).

 

[av8tor]

I am about to do the same thing so please let us know about any glitches you might come across..

 

[av8tor]

Very interesting. It completely resets your drivers. So this would be a great way to do a completely clean driver install, if someone was interested in that. Don't switch computers, just run the tool and flush everything hardware-specific, then reboot.

That's a great idea johan....never though of using it for that. It would save a lot of time...

 

[Pinky]

The big issue is possibly reactivation.

Paragon advanced system recovery will do this without loss of any settings, but it also will require a reactivation. Paragon costs a lot of money!

 

[manu2b]

SO, I tried without success: got a fatal error each time I try (even in safe mode).

 

[av8tor]

SO, I tried without success: got a fatal error each time I try (even in safe mode).

Well that sucks....what happen? Was the error with the drivers on the new board? Please advise so we can help find a solution for you.

 

[manu2b]

Nope, just got a "fatal error" when the"System Out-of-Box-Experience " started. I've tried a few times, with both boards, both CPUs and in safe mode.
I threw the towel!

 

[av8tor]

I did some more reading and got confused with this quote"Boot the PC from sysprep generalized hard disk." (step 7) I did not understand how this was done.did you do this correctly? I have found this:
-Boot your old computer normally to Windows
-Follow the steps 1 through 5 in method 1
-When sysprep is finished and computer shut down, boot the new setup from the imaging CD/DVD. DO NOT BOOT NORMALLY TO WINDOWS!

Now If you are transferring you Windows setup to a new computer, boot it with the imaging CD/DVD and restore the image to its HD. Boot the new computer normally from the HD which contains the generalized image of your old Windows setup and you should boot normally. Just remember that generalizing removes all hardware related drivers, deletes the activation, resets the SID and so on ,So the first boot after running sysprep, is an OOBE first run meaning it's like booting the computer first time.
This is all new to me also so here is what I'm gonna do tomorrow.
I think the easiest way to do this with Backup and Restore would be first to sysprep the Windows installation, then mount the HD to a new computer, boot once normally, run Windows Backup and Restore to create an image, dismount the HD and mount a new one, boot with Seven installation DVD and finally choosing repair options > restore an image then--->. I am only swapping the Motherboard and the processor nothing else. Hope this helps!

EDIT:To simplify this, You followed the instructions of this tutorial Method one steps 1 through 5, then turn the old computer off and removed the hard disk, attached it to a new computer and booted it up.

 

[manu2b]

I was stuck in the first steps: no way to use sysprep without a fatal error.

 

[medo145]

I could have used this a couple of months ago. I replaced the mobo/cpu in my rig, everything seemed to run fine and stable. I tried to install bluetooth drivers but they wouldn't install because there was an issue with .net framework. I wasn't able to remove .net from programs and features as it was not listed along with a bunch of other stuff. Then I knew it was time for a reinstall. This might come in handy in the future though. I'll be keeping an eye on this.


edit:

manu2b, check out the end of the first post on that site, it has a note about the fatal error and how to get around it

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:

Windows 7 Installation - Transfer to a New Computer-sysprep_fatal_error.png

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:

 

[BeepBeep2]

Uhh, switching from 7x0 series chipset to 9x0 series chipset is as easy as hooking up the HDD(s) to new motherboard/cpu and boot/reboot.

Same with CPUs from A64 X2 (on 7x0) to FX.