I have had my pc since 2010.
It is Windows 10 with all the updates, but is feeling a bit tired and
anyhow I fancy a new one.
It is running fine, but too limited for Windows 11 and I will have to
bite that bullet sooner or later.
I think I installed everything that is there to a virgin m/c at the time
and although I have the time and know-how to do it all again, I wondered >whether my local computer dealer could copy over everything to a new pc
OR should I just take it to him and have the necessary upgrade to this
m/c and leave the hard drive as it is (it has plenty space).
I suppose it might be possible just to transplant the hard drive to a
new machine - I just don't know, which is why I'm asking.
I also have an external HDD running Macrium backup.
If I were to do it myself, I'm not sure I have the original >discs/downloads/passwords for all the programs.
TIA
Please don't suggest Linux as I'm really too old to begin that learning >curve.
I have had my pc since 2010.
It is Windows 10 with all the updates, but is feeling a bit tired and
anyhow I fancy a new one.
It is running fine, but too limited for Windows 11 and I will have to
bite that bullet sooner or later.
I think I installed everything that is there to a virgin m/c at the time
and although I have the time and know-how to do it all again, I wondered whether my local computer dealer could copy over everything to a new pc
OR should I just take it to him and have the necessary upgrade to this
m/c and leave the hard drive as it is (it has plenty space).
I suppose it might be possible just to transplant the hard drive to a
new machine - I just don't know, which is why I'm asking.
I also have an external HDD running Macrium backup.
If I were to do it myself, I'm not sure I have the original discs/downloads/passwords for all the programs.
TIA
Please don't suggest Linux as I'm really too old to begin that learning curve.
I have had my pc since 2010.
It is Windows 10 with all the updates, but is feeling a bit tired and anyhow I fancy a new one.
It is running fine, but too limited for Windows 11 and I will have to bite that bullet sooner or later.
I think I installed everything that is there to a virgin m/c at the time and although I have the time and know-how to do it all again, I wondered whether my local computer dealer could copy over everything to a new pc
OR should I just take it to him and have the necessary upgrade to this m/c and leave the hard drive as it is (it has plenty space).
I suppose it might be possible just to transplant the hard drive to a new machine - I just don't know, which is why I'm asking.
I also have an external HDD running Macrium backup.
If I were to do it myself, I'm not sure I have the original discs/downloads/passwords for all the programs.
TIA
Please don't suggest Linux as I'm really too old to begin that learning curve.
There are three commercial utilities available, for moving programs and files >from one windows OS to another.
On Tue, 4 Feb 2025 19:08:12 -0500, Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> wrote:
There are three commercial utilities available, for moving programs and files
from one windows OS to another.
Is Macrium Reflect one of the three utilities?
Here's an interesting thread that talks about using non-paid versions of Macrium Reflect to restore to different hardware, which would be one way
to get the new laptop up and running relatively quickly, edge cases
aside.
Paid versions of Macrium Reflect have the ReDeploy module, of course, so
no workarounds might be required in that case.
<https://www.tenforums.com/backup-restore/158449-macrium-free-restore-totally-different-hardware-working.html>
On Tue, 2/4/2025 8:08 PM, Char Jackson wrote:
On Tue, 4 Feb 2025 19:08:12 -0500, Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> wrote:
There are three commercial utilities available, for moving programs and files
from one windows OS to another.
Is Macrium Reflect one of the three utilities?
Here's an interesting thread that talks about using non-paid versions of
Macrium Reflect to restore to different hardware, which would be one way
to get the new laptop up and running relatively quickly, edge cases
aside.
Paid versions of Macrium Reflect have the ReDeploy module, of course, so
no workarounds might be required in that case.
<https://www.tenforums.com/backup-restore/158449-macrium-free-restore-totally-different-hardware-working.html>
If Macrium Reflect could re-build the Windows folder in the ESP,
then I might believe it could have some useful functions for things
like this. But they tend to color within the lines, and their
capabilities never extend outside of what you can do with a WADK
your own self (with DISM and friends).
On Tue, 4 Feb 2025 22:19:02 -0500, Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> wrote:
On Tue, 2/4/2025 8:08 PM, Char Jackson wrote:<snip>
On Tue, 4 Feb 2025 19:08:12 -0500, Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> wrote:
There are three commercial utilities available, for moving programs and files
from one windows OS to another.
Is Macrium Reflect one of the three utilities?
Here's an interesting thread that talks about using non-paid versions of >>> Macrium Reflect to restore to different hardware, which would be one way >>> to get the new laptop up and running relatively quickly, edge cases
aside.
Paid versions of Macrium Reflect have the ReDeploy module, of course, so >>> no workarounds might be required in that case.
<https://www.tenforums.com/backup-restore/158449-macrium-free-restore-totally-different-hardware-working.html>
If Macrium Reflect could re-build the Windows folder in the ESP,
then I might believe it could have some useful functions for things
like this. But they tend to color within the lines, and their
capabilities never extend outside of what you can do with a WADK
your own self (with DISM and friends).
I haven't had an opportunity to use either of the Macrium methods, but I would fully expect their ReDeploy utility to work properly in most circumstances. The other approach, using non-paid versions of Reflect,
that one could be a little less likely, maybe only 75%.
I guess Macrium wasn't one of your top three.
It is Windows 10 with all the updates
I have successfully (with caveats) moved a disk from one machine to another, on more than one occasion, and usually, by accident (stuck wrong drive into
a machine, it booted anyway). It enumerates the new hardware, so it would
be adding a bunch of new detections into the ENUM key. The OS isn't even that neat and tidy, and the ENUM key is not the only place that gets detections, so hardware detection is more of a mess than it used to be. I don't know
if there is an easy cleaning procedure to remove hardware detections that
are no longer valid. (As an example of stupid, I can have an NVidia vid card in my daily driver, and still be receiving driver updates for AMD graphics which are switched off in the BIOS. The machines tend to not forget the hardware they have seen, or at least, the drivers that did not get
removed at some point.)
Char Jackson wrote:
On Tue, 4 Feb 2025 19:08:12 -0500, Paul <nospam> wrote:
There are three commercial utilities available, for moving programs and files
from one windows OS to another.
Is Macrium Reflect one of the three utilities?
Here's an interesting thread that talks about using non-paid versions of Macrium Reflect to restore to different hardware, which would be one way
to get the new laptop up and running relatively quickly, edge cases
aside.
Paid versions of Macrium Reflect have the ReDeploy module, of course, so
no workarounds might be required in that case.
On 2025-02-05 00:08, Paul wrote:
I have successfully (with caveats) moved a disk from one machine to
another,
on more than one occasion, and usually, by accident (stuck wrong drive
into
a machine, it booted anyway). It enumerates the new hardware, so it would
be adding a bunch of new detections into the ENUM key. The OS isn't
even that
neat and tidy, and the ENUM key is not the only place that gets
detections,
so hardware detection is more of a mess than it used to be. I don't know
if there is an easy cleaning procedure to remove hardware detections that
are no longer valid. (As an example of stupid, I can have an NVidia
vid card
in my daily driver, and still be receiving driver updates for AMD
graphics
which are switched off in the BIOS. The machines tend to not forget the
hardware they have seen, or at least, the drivers that did not get
removed at some point.)
Nearly all my PCs here are quite happily running OSs installed from
images copied by Ghost or tars from other machines. In particular, all
the 7+ builds originated from a single Windows 7 Ultimate build I
created with all the software I wanted on it, which was copied
throughout my PCs, where necessary down/upgrading it to suit the licence sticker on any given PC, and all the Ubuntu builds were copied via tars
from a single PC.
The machines I had/have and the OS down/upgrade paths followed are:
2 x self-built towers (junked after my monitor burned out)
W2k (original build on one copied to other by Ghost/SysPrep);
Dell Latitude D610 (still works but rarely used now)
WinXP (upgrade from above W2k; has some old music software and
can run an old scanner which is still needed)
Dell Precision M4300 (died)
Win7U (the original build)
WinXP (copied from the Latitude above by Ghost/SysPrep)
Dell Precision M6300
Win7U (original build copied from the M4300 when it died)
Win7U (as above) -> Win10Pro (in place upgrade)
WinXP (copied from Latitude above by Ghost/SysPrep)
Ubuntu 22
Dell Inspiron 15RSE 7520
Win7U -> Win7HP (downgrade via a method that I devised)
Ubuntu 22
Dell Precision M6700
Win7U -> Win7Pro (downgrade as above)
Win7Pro (as above) -> Win10Pro (in place upgrade)
Win7Pro,32-Bit (new build to run that old scanner)
Ubuntu 22
Dell Precision M6800
Win7Pro (from M6700)
Win7Pro -> Win8.1Pro -> Win10Pro (in place upgrades)
Win7,32-Bit (from M6700)
Ubuntu 22
Despite the convoluted paths above, everything seems to work pretty
well, the most significant problems have been authentication, and ...
As you suggest, getting rid of old hardware from a Windows build is
something of a pain. First, the slow but fairly sure and very tedious method ...
Beforehand, you need to take a backup image of the OS, in case you FU.
My personal choice is Ghost, but others are happy with Macrium, etc;
anything reliable will do.
You need to have an environment setting that affects the way Device
Manager views 'absent' hardware - IMPORTANT: Note that 'absent'
hardware includes not just hardware from any previous machines the build might have been on, which needs to be uninstalled, but also peripherals
such as scanners or cameras that happen not to be attached to the PC at
the moment, which perhaps should be left alone, depending on the
difficulty of reinstalling them. The setting is:
devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
To make this setting, it's not enough just to launch a command console
and set it there, you have to do it in the environment settings
themselves, so that the new setting will available to all running
software, including Device Manager. These instructions are correct for
Win 7, but should also be close or identical for later versions. It's certainly best, perhaps even necessary, to be signed on as the
Administrator:
<Rt-Click> My Computer/Computer
Properties
Advanced System Settings
Advanced
Environment Variables
Choosing either ...
Current User (preferably the Administrator)
System
... click New and enter ...
Variable name: devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices
Variable value: 1
Click 'Ok' all the way out.
As it's such a long time since I set this, I can't remember whether a
reboot is required for it to be picked up, but logically I don't think
it should be.
Having done this, you can go into Device Manager and choose ...
View, Devices by connection
View, Show hidden devices
... and the first time you do this may be quite a shock if your OS has
moved around a few times!
The non-present devices are now more obvious by not being located in the
main ACPI* device tree where mostly they would be, but note that
software 'devices' and other pseudo 'devices' relating to services
aren't going to be in the tree either, so absolutely do NOT, repeat NOT,
just delete everything not in the ACPI* tree! Also note that some of
the off-tree devices have a faded icon, but again this alone is not
enough of an identifier.
What you are looking for are devices with a faded icon that have
counterparts of present devices within the ACPI* tree, which shows that
that is where they really belong. Those are the devices which were or
are real, but currently are not present. Switching between 'Devices by type' and 'Devices by connection' may be useful here. If a device
appears in the former with a faded icon alongside devices with a normal
icon, and appears in the latter off the ACPI* tree, then most probably
it's just the sort of thing you are looking for. It's up to you whether
you choose to delete anything like USB devices that happen not to be
attached to the PC at the moment - I tend to leave things like
scanners, phones, cameras, alone, but delete USB drives, as otherwise
they clutter the view so much, but that's a personal choice. What you should most probably do is uninstall non-present system devices such a Processors, Real-Time Clocks, Hard-disk controllers, etc, as they will
have come from previous hardware the OS was on.
There *used* to be a much faster way to remove old hardware from an
image, using, IMS, an MS supplied program called DevCon.exe. By giving
it different command lines and logging and comparing the output of each,
you could subtract the present devices from the total devices and so
have a list of those non-present, and then uninstall any appropriate
items from that, but this was in the days of W2k and possible XP. I'm
not aware of anything more modern which is as useful as that, but
perhaps others may be able to make suggestions.
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