How to transfer the Windows OS system and data to a new (different) computer. Transferring Windows to another empty hard drive using AOMEI Partition Assistant Copying Windows 7 to another computer

There are times when it is necessary to transfer the operating system to another hard drive. For example, imagine that you have a small hard drive installed on your computer, and you do not have enough memory. And now you have finally bought a new hard drive with more memory and want to install it on your PC. The question arises - how to transfer the operating system to another screw. By following my instructions, you can do this absolutely without problems. So, if you're ready, let's begin!

My computer has two hard drives. One of them is old with 80 GB (disk A), the second is new with 500 GB (disk B). So it turns out that I need to transfer the Windows operating system from hard drive A to drive B. For the transfer, we will use a very convenient and multifunctional program called Acronis Disk Director 11 Home. Finding it will not be difficult on various trackers, as it is very popular.

Well, we installed the program, now turn off the PC. Open the side cover and insert a new hard drive (also called a hard drive or screw). Turn on the computer. You don't have to prepare a new hard drive to copy the operating system. So, let's launch the Acronis program.

IMPORTANT! Before you begin transferring the OS, you need to turn off sleep mode on your computer.


Having launched the program, we observe that another disk has appeared. Now you need move the system from one hard drive to another. Right-click on the disk on which the system is installed to bring up the context menu, where we select Clone basic disk.



In this window, do not forget to check the One to One box. In this mode, the disk will be copied one to one. Click Finish

All we have to do is apply the actions by clicking the checkbox button.

Acronis will ask in a new window, where we click Continue

At this stage, the program will inform you that you need to restart the computer, since all operations to copy the system will be carried out in DOS mode. Before you click OK, check out the pictures below to understand what will happen to your PC after it restarts.

When the computer restarts, do not press anything, because important operations are now being carried out. After the second reboot, look carefully - the following message will appear in the lower left corner

After which the process of copying the Windows operating system will begin.

Here we click OK.

When all the operations are done, we can see that all the information from the old hard drive (including Windows itself) has been transferred to the new one. However, the new hard drive has more memory than the old one, so we will be left with an unallocated empty area. We can correct this.

First, right-click on the disk and in the menu that appears, click Resize Volume

Here we change the size of our disk. To do this, drag the slider to the very end.

Next, we will set the size of the unallocated space in front of the disk itself, since to increase drive C, free space is needed. My C drive was 50 GB, but I decided to increase the system disk to 100 GB. To do this, I need to leave about 50 GB in order to add it to drive C after all operations. Now click OK.

We perform the same operations with system drive C. By the way, I wrote recently.



After the disk sizes have been adjusted to the required volumes, click on the button with the checkbox for our changes to take effect.

Imagine the situation: you are changing the motherboard or transferring a hard drive with the installed system to a new computer. And of course, the system will not start on new hardware. What do many people do in such a situation? Reinstall the system. However, there is another way: to pre-prepare the system for migration using the sysprep utility.


Starting with Windows Vista, sysprep is included with the operating system.

Using sysprep, all unique information about the installed system is cleared. This includes clearing information about installed drivers. In this case, the user's programs and settings are not affected.

Yes, I want to warn you right away - among other things, activation information is also cleared. After the transfer, you will have to activate the system again. Particular attention to those who had Windows pre-installed with their computer (OEM version); after transferring to new hardware, you will not be able to activate the system automatically via the Internet, only by phone. Even then they may refuse, because... The OEM license is strictly tied to the hardware of the computer sold to you.

So, let's run sysprep on the system we are going to transfer. This must be done BEFORE THE TRANSFER. You should only use the version of sysprep that was installed with Windows.

In a command line opened as administrator, run:

%windir%\system32\sysprep\sysprep

In the window that opens, make the following settings:

  • in “Actions to clean up the system”, select the option “Go to the system welcome window (OOBE)” and check the “Prepare for use” option;
  • In “Shutdown Options” select “Shutdown”. You can select “Reboot” if you want to immediately remove an image of an already prepared system disk by booting from DVD or USB. The main thing is not to let it boot from the prepared system disk, otherwise the whole process will have to start over again.

After clicking OK, the system cleaning process starts, and after it is completed, the computer turns off. Now you can transfer the hard drive to a new system, change the motherboard, etc.

At the beginning of the download, you will see the message “Preparing the system for use”, then “Installing devices”:

The system may reboot and continue installation - this is normal.

In the end, you should see the regional settings window (the appearance of this window already indicates that the transfer was successful):

Enter the name of the new user. In order not to confuse the settings of existing users, enter a name that has not been used before (for example, Test). This user can then be deleted.

Next, we perform the standard settings for date and time, automatic updates, etc. As a result, you will be taken to the Test user's desktop. Now you can log out and log in with your regular account. The final touch is updating the drivers.

That's all. The transfer is quite simple and quick.

How widely can equipment parameters be changed?

Microsoft advises using this technology only for computers with similar configurations (it seems). Those. this method may not always work. For example, it is completely unclear what will happen if the image was made on an Intel system and transferred to AMD and vice versa (whoever tries it, please unsubscribe). On the other hand, I created an image on a virtual machine (Virtaul PC 2007) and successfully transferred it to computers with very different configurations. True, it was all from Intel to Intel.

When buying a new PC, users often ask the question of how to transfer Windows 7 to another computer. This is very important, because you really don’t want to deprive yourself of all installed programs, accounts and personal files.The system utility sysprep will help you perform this operation. It will help prepare an image of the entire system for transfer to a new PC. .

For everything to work out, it is advisable to port it to a compatible architecture. Those. It may not be possible to transfer Windows from an AMD platform to an Intel platform and vice versa. Having started the transfer, it is advisable to create a backup image of your system, so that if the transfer is unsuccessful, you will be able to recover from it. Before creating the image, you need to remove all virtual hard disk emulators (UltraISO, DAEMON Tools, etc.)

To begin, you need to run the command on the command line slmgr/dlv.

After this, a window will open where you can see the number of Windows transfers to other PCs.

The next step is to enter the command C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep\Sysprep.exe. This command will open a system utility that will begin to prepare Windows 7 for “deportation” to new hardware.


You need to set everything exactly as in the screenshot above.

It is necessary to put the system into mode OOBE, which will ensure that the transfer mode is activated the next time the system is launched on new equipment.

You need to check the box " Preparation for use" This means that all information that the utility will not use for copying, namely (activation information, security identifiers) will be deleted from the system. All programs must be transferred in full. Next, a window will appear on the screen, which will display the process of preparing Windows 7 for transfer to a new computer. This operation will continue for several minutes, after which the PC will turn off.

The next step is to remove the hard drive from your old PC by carefully dismantling it. After the drive is secured and connected to the new computer, the PC must be turned on. After this, Windows 7 will begin updating registry configurations and starting services. If an error occurs, you need to restart the PC for the setup to start again. As a rule, errors occur if emulators or antivirus programs remain in the operating system that needs to be transferred. If everything is fine, the system will begin installing devices and applying the configuration settings.

This will be followed by a normal reboot and setting up account settings. It is very important to enter a new username here. For example, on the old PC the name was Sergey. To avoid a conflict in the system during transfer, you need to enter any other name, because This account will be temporary. Next are the standard operations for setting up the system - password, time zone, accept the license terms. In the window " Windows setup» select the item « defer decision" When you first boot, the system will offer to run from multiple accounts. If the old PC had, for example, two accounts, then Windows will offer to start with three, including the new one, which was created in the previous paragraph. After downloading, this account can be deleted.

Quite often, computer and laptop users have situations where they replace existing equipment (for example, a motherboard or hard drive). Naturally, the old OS will not accept a new “motherboard” or an uninitialized hard drive just like that (like other built-in or peripheral equipment for which you just need to install drivers). Some argue that the system is easiest to reinstall. Yes, indeed, this is so. But in an old OS, which also works quite normally, programs that the user needs may be installed, the re-installation of which may take too much time, or the user simply does not have their installation distributions. This is where the need arises to transfer Windows 7 to another hardware or even to a new computer if the old one cannot be upgraded.

But it's not that simple. The fact is that, according to some, creating an image will not give any effect, since the OS itself is, as it were, “tied” to the equipment that was installed earlier. And it’s not a fact that it will be possible to simply copy the system from an image to a disk with a capacity of 2 TB or more, which has not an MBR. However, to perform such actions, you can use several options, which we will discuss later, but the main emphasis will be on the built-in tools of the system itself, so as not to resort to installing or using third-party software.

Is it possible to transfer Windows 7 to another hardware: options

First, let's take a brief look at possible situations on which the user's further actions will depend. The simplest option, as it is considered, involves replacing the motherboard. In this case, the installed equipment will need to be “decoupled” from the system in order to bring it into a state as if it was just beginning to recognize new equipment (most often this may be associated with replacing the motherboard). In the second case, when you need to transfer a working system to a new 1TB hard drive or any other size, the actions become somewhat more complicated. But, if you follow all the instructions below exactly, there shouldn’t be any problems.

Checking the hardware of a new computer or laptop

It goes without saying that the configuration of the new hardware installed on the motherboard should also be taken into account. For example, what kind of processor is needed for a 64-bit G7?

Naturally, only one that has the appropriate architecture, otherwise the system simply will not work. In a sense, this can also apply to hard drives, only here the problem comes down to the partition style. A hard drive with 1TB of memory of any OS version seven is recognized without problems, but devices with capacities of 2TB and higher can be detected only partially (not all available disk space will be available) or not recognized at all (not to mention SSD drives). We will dwell on actions with hard drives a little later, but for now we will focus on some important aspects regarding preliminary preparation.

Utilities used

As for the software used, you can use many utilities, for example, from Acronis, or even run the full one with a working system. However, if you don’t have such tools at hand, you can use the built-in “native” Windows 7 Sysprep program. With its help, the transfer, however, may take a little longer, however, in most cases, the use of this particular tool seems to be the most acceptable for any user.

Preliminary actions

Finally, before you start transferring Windows 7 to another hardware, it is advisable to completely uninstall all installed antiviruses, as well as applications for working with disk images or virtual drives like UltraISO or Alcohol 120%, since their presence may provoke conflicts during the transfer process or unexpected errors.

Also, just in case, when transferring Windows 7 to another computer that will use an existing hard drive, it is advisable to create an image of the original system in advance. If something goes wrong, you can recover from it fairly quickly.

How to transfer Windows 7 to another hardware with an existing hard drive?

Now directly about the actions performed. First of all, we launch the Sysprep utility (Windows 7 will begin the transfer only the next time it starts).

We call the command line on behalf of the administrator, enter the command of the same name, after which in the window that appears, from the list of actions, select the option to go to the welcome window (OOBE), check the box to prepare for use and set the shutdown mode. At this point, the running service will remove all hardware IDs, activation information, etc.

After turning off the computer, remove the hard drive, replace the motherboard and connect it again (or install it on a new PC). After turning on, the system will independently update the registry settings, launch the necessary services, install the equipment and test it upon restart.

Configuring system settings immediately after the transfer

After this, as with the first installation of the system, you will need to select a language and region, and then create a new user registration.

It is extremely important that it differs from those already available in the system! This entry can be deleted later. Next, you will need to perform standard procedures for setting the time, Internet, etc. When the system starts, in the welcome window you need to select the registration that was installed in the system earlier (and not the one that was created at the transfer stage) and delete the temporary “account”.

Note: Please note that the system will need to be reactivated. If you do not have a license, use the KMSAuto Net utility or a similar one, although this is considered, to put it mildly, illegal or even illegal.

Transferring the system to a new HDD

In the case of transferring Windows 7 to another disk, the steps performed are completely similar to those just described, only the disk with the system is connected as external media and is set first in the BIOS boot priority. After starting the OS, you need to go to the backup and recovery section in the Control Panel and create a system image. To save the image, you will need an additional third media (for example, an external USB HDD). You can skip the recovery disk creation step. After this, you need to disconnect the source disk, boot the system from the installation DVD, select the recovery partition and specify recovery from a previously created image.

Then the found image will appear on the external drive, which should be used. This will be followed by the start of the process of transferring all parameters, upon completion the computer will reboot, but after the restart you will receive the system in the form in which it was on the old hard drive. As you can see, the Sysprep utility in Windows 7 (or any other OS in this family) is not as difficult to use as it might seem at first glance.

What should you consider when migrating an OS to large disks?

Finally, a few words about the hard drives themselves. Firstly, if you are migrating the system to a new HDD, please note that quite often you may need to create a primary volume and create a simple volume (for example, after connecting the old disk to the new computer as an external one).

Secondly, it is advisable to split the new disk into partitions in order to leave not all the space for the system, but as much as is needed. Thirdly, for large volumes (2 TB or more), you should use exclusively 64-bit Windows paired with UEFI, and not BIOS. Otherwise, transferring Windows 7 to another hardware will be impossible. As a last resort, a large hard drive can be divided into more than two logical partitions (but no more than four), setting the MBR style for each of them, not GPT. It goes without saying that in order to carry out the transfer correctly, as mentioned above, you should take into account which processor is used, how much RAM is installed and what is the bit depth of the OS itself. And in general, does a new or upgraded PC meet the minimum requirements for a portable version of the Seven?

Hello, dear readers, Trishkin Denis is here.

Over time, any hardware becomes obsolete morally and physically. Fortunately, computers are designed in such a way that parts of them can be changed. After the procedure itself there are usually no problems. But what if you want to completely upgrade your hardware, leaving only the hard drive? Fortunately, Microsoft developers foresaw this situation and implemented the transfer of Windows 7 to another computer. After all, if you simply rearrange the hard drive, in most cases, when you turn it on, a blue screen of death will appear, since the system simply will not find the appropriate drivers connecting the motherboard with the HDD, and therefore all the others.

It must be said right away that the problem does not always appear. If you install an old hard drive in a pair with a motherboard whose brand is the same as the previous one, chances are good that you won’t need to do anything at all. The only thing is to download and install updates. This will help the operating system independently connect all connected components at the software level.

As usual, this can be done in several ways:

    built-in Sysprep utility;

    tool from Acronis.

Transferring with sysprep( )

The first method involves using the special Sysprep program before transferring a hard drive with an installed operating system to new equipment.

To do this you need to do a chain of actions:

The program removes controllers and most of the information that is associated with Windows. Therefore, updates are not transferred. This is for the best, because in this way the OS will be able to find everything that it is missing, including missing drivers.

Afterwards, preparations will be made to clone the image in order to use it for installation in a new environment. Then the work will be completed.
Next, the necessary hardware elements are replaced. Or the HDD is installed in a new system unit.

After this, a few more simple movements are carried out:


Although this method transfers installed programs, nevertheless, activation is removed from all of them. The only thing that is fully carried out is profile transfer. There will be no problems here.

Transfer using Acronis( )

To transfer data using Acronis, we need the True Image tool from this developer and a disk. In addition, you need a removable USB memory on which the operating system image will be placed (this must be a portable hard drive). And for a successful launch, you need to install a program in advance to save drivers on external media. Ours is DriverMax.

From the very beginning, we make a copy of all working drivers using the above application.

Important! When transferring, the size of the initial partition should not exceed the final one. That is, the C:\ drive on the first computer should be the same or smaller in size than on the second.

So what should you do? This method requires more movement. But I just couldn’t help but tell you about it:


The second part of this procedure is to restore the image on another computer. To do this, you also need to make a few movements:


This way, everything that was on the previous computer is copied. Sometimes, however, the OS does not want to transfer the license. So be careful.
Well, it is clear that such tools can simplify the procedure for setting up new equipment to suit the user's needs.

Despite the presence of such a function, I still recommend installing a clean operating system. This will not only allow you to configure the equipment correctly, but will also remove all sorts of troubles that were encountered in the previous version.

I hope you found useful information in this article. Subscribe and tell your friends about my blog.

 

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