Back up and restore to another pc

LeonC1963

Solid State Member
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7
Location
UK
Hi

I am about to embark on building a new gaming machine for my son, firstly he had an issue sourcing a socket 1155 mobo board that would fit his i5 3rd gen processor as his budget would not stretch to a new processor too after spending £260 on a decent graphics card.

My son is a musician that is his world and thus has a lot of music programs on his old machine

I understand that taking a system image back up would not work on his new machine as drivers and setting would not be compatible with new mobo board yes?

So would taking a backing of just his programs folder as well as you usual personal files work on his new machine once restored and in particular his important programs that he has built up.

He has Win 8.1 at the moment and was waiting to get the new machine before upgrading to win 10

SHould this upgrade be done just before on his old machine to get the key code/ID as the new machine would not get the free upgrade were as he would on his old machine and can then install win 10 again using the new key code/ID

Does that sound right?

Regards
 
My understanding is that the free windows 10 upgrade is tied to the computer's hardware. If you have a key for windows 8 I'd suggest getting the new build setup with windows 8 before doing the free win 10 upgrade. That way you'd avoid licensing issues thereafter.

Also, I have taken images of computers and restored them onto different hardware and had it work. It's not really recommended practice but I've done it many times. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. There is also cloning programs that are designed to help this but they aren't free. (Paid versions of Macrium Reflect and Paragon have this, for example.)

Keep in mind that if you do try it and it works, you'll still need to install all of the drivers for the new hardware and probably reactivate windows.

And there really is no reliable way to transfer installed programs from one system to another. Short of doing the cloning process mentioned above, you'll just have to reinstall the programs on the new windows install. And this is actually the recommended way of doing things.
 
My understanding is that the free windows 10 upgrade is tied to the computer's hardware. If you have a key for windows 8 I'd suggest getting the new build setup with windows 8 before doing the free win 10 upgrade. That way you'd avoid licensing issues thereafter.

Also, I have taken images of computers and restored them onto different hardware and had it work. It's not really recommended practice but I've done it many times. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. There is also cloning programs that are designed to help this but they aren't free. (Paid versions of Macrium Reflect and Paragon have this, for example.)

Keep in mind that if you do try it and it works, you'll still need to install all of the drivers for the new hardware and probably reactivate windows.

And there really is no reliable way to transfer installed programs from one system to another. Short of doing the cloning process mentioned above, you'll just have to reinstall the programs on the new windows install. And this is actually the recommended way of doing things.

This is the problem my son does not have the key for windows 8 as it was already installed on a second machine he brought off ebay and did not think to ask for it when he collected it

He has the windows 10 install notification on task bar however so best to upgrade first with a clean install after backing up personal files

Thank you
 
Odds are that's an OEM key so he can't transfer it anyways, which means he'll need to buy a new license.
 
Mine was OEM with an ID rather than a key on a Lenovo G50-30 and it upgraded to Win 10 without a hitch?
 
Mine was OEM with an ID rather than a key on a Lenovo G50-30 and it upgraded to Win 10 without a hitch?

With newer computers that come with Windows 8/8.1/10 Microsoft decided not issue COA's and put them on the machine. Instead the key is embedded in the bios which cannot be found for security and piracy reasons..

Someone else might be able to explain it better.
 
I don't think you're understanding what I said. You can upgrade windows no problem, but taking the license from one pc to anther (which is what you'd be doing based on your first post) is illegal.
 
This might be helpful Licensing FAQ

Q. Can my customers transfer or sell their OEM software licenses?
A. After an OEM software license has been installed on a PC, the license may not be installed on or transferred to another PC. However, the entire PC may be transferred to another end user along with the software license rights. When transferring the PC to the new end user, the software media, manuals (if applicable), and Certificate of Authenticity label must be included. It is also advisable to include the original purchase invoice or receipt. The original end user cannot keep any copies of the software.

Q. My customer bought a new PC and wants to move the OEM software from the old PC to the new one. Can't users do whatever they want with their software?
A. No, the OEM software is licensed with the computer system on which it was originally installed and is tied to that original machine. OEM licenses are single-use licenses that cannot be installed on more than one computer system, even if the original machine is no longer in use. The Microsoft Software License Terms, which the end user must accept before using the software, state that the license may not be shared, transferred to, or used concurrently on different computers. System builders must provide end-user support for the Windows license on computers they build, but cannot support licenses on computers they didn't build. This is a fundamental reason why an OEM System Builder License can't be transferred.
 
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