{"id":582,"date":"2015-02-01T22:05:36","date_gmt":"2015-02-02T03:05:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mindworkshop.info\/?p=582"},"modified":"2023-07-17T20:40:33","modified_gmt":"2023-07-18T01:40:33","slug":"windows-adjustments-moving-a-windows-hard-drive-to-a-new-computer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mindworkshop.com\/?p=582","title":{"rendered":"Windows Adjustments: Moving a Windows Hard Drive to a New Computer"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nNeither words, elaborate hand gestures nor emotive cave paintings can adequately describe the existential horror of having to reinstall Windows and all the applications that run under it on a new computer. Shopping for and subsequently paying for a new system is as nothing compared to actually populating the beast.<\/p>\n

If you have an existing computer that\u2019s currently running Windows 7 or better and you\u2019ve decided to spring for a newer machine to get hardware that\u2019s quicker, roomier or less funky, chances are that your Windows installation is working fine. While the procedure for doing so isn\u2019t widely used, it\u2019s shockingly easy to uproot the hard drive from an old machine, bolt it into a new computer and have Windows carry on running all your stuff, never having really appreciated that it has changed digs.<\/p>\n

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Before we get into the details of this remarkable bit of thaumaturgy, it\u2019s probably worth noting that the rest of this post does embody the slight but very real prospect of turning your existing Windows installation into a smoldering mountain of drooling electrons. We urge you to read this post in its entirety before you start clicking on stuff, be careful to follow the instructions and give serious thought to cloning your hard drive and moving the clone, rather than bashing away at your working operating system. We\u2019ll get to the details of that latter issue in a moment.<\/p>\n

Be sure to power down and unplug the various computers involved for those steps that require the removal or installation of hardware.<\/p>\n

Important:<\/strong> The following procedure involves the use of the Windows sysprep command, to be discussed in detail shortly. Microsoft’s documentation states that “if you run Sysprep on an NTFS file system partition that contains encrypted files or folders, the data in those folders becomes completely unreadable and unrecoverable.” We haven’t tried this, as none of the computers in house use encrypted files or folders. If your computer does, it sounds like something to resolve before you go any further.<\/p>\n

We hasten to add that that all the information in this and related posts is provided without any warranty or promise of support. While we have undertaken all reasonable efforts to ensure that the information herein is accurate and complete, if anything goes wrong, you\u2019re on your own. Please click on BACK now if you\u2019re unable to agree to these terms. See the home page of this blog<\/a> for more detailed terms of use \u2013 if you read any further, you\u2019ve agreed to be bound by them.<\/p>\n

Mule Driver<\/h6>\n

If your existing computer and your new computer were identical, moving your existing hard drive between them would require little more than a screwdriver. You could unbolt the drive from your old machine, plant it in your new one, reattach the power and data cables thereto and fire up the engines.<\/p>\n

This said, if your existing computer and your new computer were identical, there would be little point in buying a new computer, and you wouldn\u2019t be reading this.<\/p>\n

Should you attempt to move a Windows hard drive between differing hardware platforms, you\u2019ll see little more than error messages when it wakes up in its new surroundings. They result from the way Windows handles drivers.<\/p>\n

Windows can run on all sorts of hardware. It manages this by figuring out the nature of the hardware it\u2019s being installed on and loading the appropriate \u201cdrivers.\u201d A driver is a small program that knows how to translate Windows\u2019 instructions to run a network interface, a hard drive controller or a sound card, for example, into the correct instructions for the specific devices that perform these functions on your computer.<\/p>\n

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Once Windows has been installed, and it has installed the drivers specific to the computer it\u2019s running on, it can\u2019t run on any other computers \u2013 which would have different hardware \u2013 because it will have chosen drivers for the computer it thinks it\u2019s supposed to call home. As such, if you move Windows to a new machine, it will try to communicate with the hardware therein using the wrong drivers, and everything will come to a shuddering halt.<\/p>\n

Many computers come with Windows pre-installed, but not pre-configured. This is formally called the Windows Out Of Box Experience \u2013 you can\u2019t make up something like this. In this state, Windows will select the correct drivers for the computer it has been installed on as you work through the initial start-up screens.<\/p>\n

In order to move an existing Windows hard drive to a new computer and have it set itself up with the correct drivers for your new hardware, then, it\u2019s necessary to return Windows to its Out Of Box Experience state before it makes the trip.<\/p>\n

Before we get into the details of brainwashing Windows in this regard, we\u2019d like to urge you to read an earlier posting at this blog that deals with cloning a Windows hard drive<\/a>. As the name likely implies, cloning a hard drive involves making an exact copy of it. A cloned hard drive will boot up just like the drive it was cloned from.<\/p>\n

There are actually several highly commendable reasons for cloning your hard drive and moving the clone to your new computer, rather than working with your original drive, to wit:<\/p>\n