Windows 7 Restore from image on new laptop issues

[maguiresc]

I backed up an image of my sony vaio laptop running windows 7 Home Premium and am looking to use the image to restore a new sony laptop I purchased and I am getting errors while attempting to re-image the new laptop. Is this because it’s a new laptop and the drivers are conflicting? Do you have a program you could recommend I use….i don’t want to lose my programs?

 

[Saltgrass]

I will assume you are moving your Win 7 install to a new computer and removing it from the old one. I have never tried to re-image an install to a new computer, but I assume Microsoft might not allow this due to folks using it for illegal means. If it is an OEM version of Win 7 you can't move it anyway.

Does the image work on the old computer? Is the new hard drive at least as large as the old one? Have you tried putting the old drive in the new computer so you can set it up as the licensed computer?

 

[maguiresc]

Basically what I am trying to do is move all my programs and files from one windows 7 laptop to another windows 7 laptop. I am not swapping any hdd’s and aren’t messing with windows licenses. Theres got to be a simple solution to move all my files and programs/settings over? Thanks..

 

[Saltgrass]

If I understand, you have 2 Win 7 computers. If you re-image the second computer, and it worked, the entire drive would be redone and you would have to deal with licensing issues.

You can't just move programs over, since they need to be reinstalled to put the correct information in the registry. About the only thing I can think of is Windows Easy Transfer in the Accessories-System Tools area which moves your settings and data. You can research that in Help and Support

 

[patcooke]

Theres got to be a simple solution to move all my files and programs/settings over?

No, I'm afraid there isn't. Apart from serious issues with licensing - of the operating system and any licensed software installed there are pretty well insurmountable problems with drivers, registry settings, configuration parameters . . . ad infinitum. What you are trying to achieve is near impossible - if and ever you manged to get it running your system would be illegal, unstable and unsupportable.

 

[maguiresc]

The long and the short of it is I am getting a new computer. I will be looking to transfer my program files and data to the new computer. I know OSX makes this extremely easy but again that’s OSX :} I can try the utility you mentioned above. I was just looking for a simple solution to transfer everything over but it doesn’t seem possible