There are many ways to migrate Windows from an old PC to a new one, and often people want to learn doing it manually instead of using 3-d party tools. It can be done in combination of 2 ways: by modifying online OS volume after booting from it, and/or modifying offline OS volume with or without 3-d party migration tools. One can migrate Win 7 to a new PC by directly restoring its backup image to the new hard drive, or transferring it via a VHD. In both cases you don't have to worry about complex migration and deployment tools, strategies and limitations, eagerly crafted by MS. Its also useful, when attempts to boot OS migrated to a new PC with a 3-rd party tool failed.
![:)](http://reboot.pro/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.png)
1. Transfer your existing Win7 volume to a new hard drive:
- remove an empty hard drive from your new PC and attach it to the old PC without removing its old drive
- boot from the old drive, download a ready to use or prepare Win7 PE on CD, ISO or USB Thumb with WAIK or WinBuilder
- capture an existing Win7 volume with all apps to a WIM image with ImageX (see code example in Create Native Boot VHDs)
- add missing IDE or SATA drivers to Win7 WIM with DISM tool, if your new HD is of a different type than the old one
- then use ImageX to apply the Win7 WIM image you just captured to the new hard drive, OR
- use USB_W7_Fix and other tools from wimb's IMG_XP package to add missing drivers offline and prepare for boot the captured OS image
- alternatively to ImageX, you can backup and restore your old drive with a backup tool like Acronis with Universal Restore or Paragon
2. Generalize transferred Win7 volume on your old PC:
- open Regedit as Admininstrator from Start Search, click on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
- from Menu select File - Load Hive, and point to SYSTEM registry file on the new drive in the folder E:windowssystem32config
- name the new key Win7_Copy, open it and delete DosDevicesC: value in MountedDevices subkey of Win7_Copy key
- click on Win7_Copy key, select File - Unload Hive from Menu, exit Regedit
- shut down the old PC, remove the old drive and reboot from the new drive on your old PC, or set it as 1-st boot drive in BIOS
- open Device Management Console (devmgmt.msc) from Command Prompt
- uninstall 3-d party or manufacturer's drivers one by one for critical boot devices on your PC (IDE and USB Storage Controllers - if booting from a USB drive, and also Display Adapter, Monitor, Network adapter, Keyboard & Mice)
- select Action - Scan for Hardware Changes in Console Menu, choose for each affected device a generic MS driver offered by OS
- update driver for Computer type to standard non-ACPI PC from your Win Setup DVD if available and close the Console, OR
- instead of using Device Manager, run Devcon.exe from Command Prompt to remove these old PC devices
- run from Command Prompt to activate HAL (Computer type) detection: bcdedit /set {default} detecthal on
- open Regedit and enable switching between IDE/AHCI/RAID modes by changing Start values to 0 in subkeys iaStorV, Msahci, Pciide of the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetservices. Depending on your PC config and Win7 version, other Registry changes might be needed.
- shut down Windows and reboot to Win7 PE
- open Regedit from Command Prompt, click on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
- from Menu select File - Load Hive, and point to SYSTEM registry file on the new drive in the folder E:windowssystem32config
- name the key Win7_Copy, open it and delete MountedDevices subkey in the attached Win7_Copy key
- click on Win7_Copy key, select File - Unload Hive from Menu, exit Regedit
- type notepad in Command Prompt, then click File - Open in Notepad Menu
- browse to E:windowssystem32config, delete all files with extensions evt, sav, log, exit Notepad and Win7 PE
- insert the old drive back to your old PC if removed earlier
3. Re-specialize transferred Win7 volume on the new PC:
- move the new drive back to your new PC and switch it ON
- enter BIOS, select AHCI/SATA mode if supported by your new Motherboard, select ACPI mode, save and exit BIOS
- Win7 will boot and auto install all required generic drivers for the new PC
- once booted, you might want to manually install or update some installed drivers with latest device manufacturer's drivers
- you might need to re-activate Win7 after moving it to dissimilar hardware
- enjoy working on your new PC with familiar OS volume, all previously installed apps and user accounts
DONE!
![:clap:](http://reboot.pro/public/style_emoticons/default/clap.gif)