Duplicating Windows Installs

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Socoder -> Off Topic -> Duplicating Windows Installs
Mon, 15 Aug 2022, 10:50
spinal	Heres a question that maybe someone can answer, I'm hoping to get an old (but less old than my current) computer working again soon (waiting for a part). I want to strnsfer my current ’’everything included installed software’’ forom my current computer to this one as it's better. Do you think it would work to just cloan my hdd to the other machine, which I assume will not boot properly because of hardware differences, but then install windows over the top while in the new machine, hopefully updating windows withouthaving to reinstall every damned thing again? -=-=- Check out my excellent homepage!
Mon, 15 Aug 2022, 10:50
Jayenkai	Never tried. Always preferred a fresh install myself. Gets rid of the crap that's built up over the years!! Should "just work' though. I think.. Windows is fairly good at handling changes. Have a fresh Windows license on standby, though.. -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Mon, 15 Aug 2022, 10:53
spinal	I suppose the only thing I will lose out on is time, if it doesn't work, then I'll do it the 'proper' way. -=-=- Check out my excellent homepage!
Mon, 15 Aug 2022, 12:21
AndyH	If it is Windows 10 or 11, you may find it recognises it as a new computer and require you to buy a new license. I did cloning in the past with a tool that came with the SSD I bought that worked fine. And I thin Windows 10 is pretty happy to adapt if you boot it from a different computer to where it is installed. There's some requisites with Windows 11 so you are more likely to have trouble with that. I'm in the doing a fresh install camp too, unless there is a good reason such as not having the ability to reinstall the software you use. -=-=- Andy H 8-bit games at www.hewco.uk Cartoons at awful.ovine.net Ovine at ovine.net
Mon, 15 Aug 2022, 12:38
spinal	It's win 10 on both, and the newer one came with windows 10 initially, so licence shouldn't be an issue, M$ already know. My reasoning is I don't want to go through all my crap and check what software I use and maybe track down 20+ year old installers onlline that might not exist Plus, I customise the hell out of my desktop and never make notes on what hacks I install and in what order they need to be done... -=-=- Check out my excellent homepage!
Fri, 19 Aug 2022, 03:07
spinal	OK, referished motherboard arrived, everything boots! That's saved a lot of money. Now... cloaning ssd from current main computer to other ssd. Either this idea will work or I'll have wasted a few hours. -=-=- Check out my excellent homepage!
Fri, 19 Aug 2022, 03:59
Jayenkai	Good luck!
Fri, 19 Aug 2022, 10:58
rockford	Did it work?
Sat, 20 Aug 2022, 02:53
spinal	It Mostly did! Had a couple of problems with bluetooth devices being both not detected and not removable, that was fun, then there is manually installing all the bloatware that I usually remove just to make sure I have the correct drivers for everything. But, yes. I think this is genuinely a valid way to transfer your crap from one computer to another. Method - Use Macrium Reflect trial to cloan the ssd, resizing any partitions if needed. Plug cloaned ssd into different machine Boot up install loads of missing drivers Profit -=-=- Check out my excellent homepage!
Sat, 20 Aug 2022, 03:06
rockford	Good news then
Sat, 20 Aug 2022, 03:09
Jayenkai	Now.. Back that up!!!
Sat, 20 Aug 2022, 04:17
spinal	I even managed to split the only power connecter inside the damned thing and wedge my 3.5" ssd in there, so Now I have the drive I cloned and the clone in the same pc, just incas something is missing. Now trying to find what is the best gfx card supported by the computer, it's an Alienware x51 R3, most of the reports I'm finding are a few years old, so are outdated. -=-=- Check out my excellent homepage!
Tue, 23 Aug 2022, 17:55
PHS	Fascinating. Something I wanted to experiment with as well. Nice to hear it worked out. For me, it's a little different scenario, as I'm still using Windows 7 Ultimate but like you Spinal I've done so many modifications and have it running just how I like it that I'd never be able to get it to this stage again. It's always bothered me to have to do a fresh install and god forbid have to do all of these old updates that I'm sure might not even work in 2022. (Though I always wished that I could somehow find offline installers and/or packages on my hdd that are the actual updates.) Will give that cloning thing a try at some point.
Wed, 24 Aug 2022, 10:53
spinal	I have since bought a larger ssd, and performed a clean install on that. Now I'm trying to think of a good way to load up windows from the old ssd (I'm going to try virtualbox) so I can look at what software I actually used, to figure out what to reinstall. -=-=- Check out my excellent homepage!
Wed, 24 Aug 2022, 11:16
Jayenkai	D'oh! What happened, or was it just a case of "need more space"? -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Wed, 24 Aug 2022, 12:25
spinal	Just need more space, the ssd that came with it was tiny, so I figured I'd get a new one. But come to think of it, I might just re-clone. Seems like a boring job to install everything again. However I did get the old SSD to boot in virtualbox, seemingly running at a good speed. -=-=- Check out my excellent homepage!