Ok guys, I really need help with desktop images

J

jordan12

[H]F Junkie
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So I am only using windows 7. I have a very old machine that is starting to flake out. I really just need to image it and restore said image to a new desktop. But since it is completely different hardware related, once I restore, it just blue screens.

Is there a program or a process I can follow that would let me do this?
 
If the old machine didn't have AHCI enabled and the new one does, it will blue screen.
All new motherboards I have used recently have had AHCI enabled by default.
 
Zepher said:
If the old machine didn't have AHCI enabled and the new one does, it will blue screen.
All new motherboards I have used recently have had AHCI enabled by default.
Click to expand...

So could I simply change something in the BIOS of the new machine to allow it to boot?
 
Sometimes you can, Ive seen some newest machines dont have that option in the BIOS anymore
 
schizrade said:
Use the windows OOBE (sysprep)

Back up your user data, run sysprep/OOBE, capture your image, restore image to new box, install new drivers, then restore your data.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc721940(v=ws.10).aspx
Click to expand...

It's nowhere near that simple (especially with different hardware drivers).

OP--You likely need to install the appropriate storage controller driver on the image prior to moving it to the new machine. You also need to ensure that ACHI/SATA are configured properly for the boot device.

Bottom line, a clean install would be easier/quicker/cleaner.
 
REDYOUCH said:
It's nowhere near that simple (especially with different hardware drivers).

OP--You likely need to install the appropriate storage controller driver on the image prior to moving it to the new machine. You also need to ensure that ACHI/SATA are configured properly for the boot device.

Bottom line, a clean install would be easier/quicker/cleaner.
Click to expand...

My installs on my 3 machines in my sig are from August of 2009 and would probably take over a day to install and update windows and install all of my applications.
I was up and running with the new 4790K setup in half an hour.

If windows is not running 100% or the clone doesn't work then I would break down and do a clean install, but I will personally will clone first.
 
REDYOUCH said:
It's nowhere near that simple (especially with different hardware drivers).

OP--You likely need to install the appropriate storage controller driver on the image prior to moving it to the new machine. You also need to ensure that ACHI/SATA are configured properly for the boot device.

Bottom line, a clean install would be easier/quicker/cleaner.
Click to expand...

Ok then. OOBE strips drivers from the install for imaging. You have an alternate method besides fresh installing?
 
Sysprep just isn’t the way to go for this sort of migration. It does strip out drivers, but only the basic components of most drivers. Just go through Programs and Features and remove any hardware-specific installations (mostly drivers). Before you transfer, disable anti-virus and enable all of the storage mode drivers (set the Start keys for msahci and iastorv under HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services to 0, plus any other storage drivers you might need).

Note that as much as this might work for most computers today, I still wouldn’t recommend migrating an environment. Installing/uninstalling drivers and other factors to a hardware change add considerable complexity to the environment and as complexity increases so does the possibility of something going wrong. With that said, if you deem the risk acceptable and are comfortable performing a fresh install and restoring your data if you need to, moving between hardware can be done most of the time.

Oh, also make sure both systems are set to the same firmware mode (UEFI vs BIOS/Legacy/CSM).

Brandon
Windows Outreach Team- IT Pro
Windows for IT Pros at TechNet
 
How much is your time worth? I'd just pull the drive, buy a new SSD, install clean, copy data. Anything I don't try to get after a few months is unlikely to be needed. If you're worried about that, though, zip up the drive and back it up to a cloud provider somewhere.
 
Windows 7 has been very good with hardware swaps with me.
win-install-dates.jpg

Both of my main machines are running original Windows 7 installs from 2009.
HAL-9000 went from an E8400 to a Q9400 to a Q6600 to an i7 870 to a i7 2600K to an i7 3770K.
HAL-X100 went from a E5200 to an E6700 to a Q9550 and to an i7 4790K.

Both systems run great, the 3700k was my gaming machine but now I game on the 4790K and the 3770K is just a file server that runs 24/7.
 
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