Windows 10: Can I image machine a to a new drive machine b?

Ok, this 'brilliant' idea I just had to save time and aggravation can't be possible--but I have to ask.

I have OEM Win10 + apps/data on my recent Lenovo P50.

I've installed a third party BIOS on my old Lenovo T61 (to run SATA II), replaced the cooling fan and will install a replacement SSD.

The P50 is twice the drive size as the T61's pending SSD 'but' the installed data on the P50 is less than the physical size of the T61.

If I restore (Reflect free current version) an image of the P50 to a clean T61 SSD would I get a properly functional Win10 identical to the information on the P50?

:)

 

How can I move Windows 10 to a new machine? (I upgraded from Windows 7 retail boxed licence)

I have a boxed retail copy of Windows 7. The retail license allows me to use it on one computer at a time but I can also wipe a computer and install it on another as long as its only ever used on 1 at a time. I paid the extra for a retail copy rather than
an OEM copy which is locked to one PC.

I was told before I upgraded by Microsoft support that a Windows 7 retail copy would upgrade to a Windows 10 retail copy. (i.e a copy with the ability to move from machine to machine)

However, I have just upgraded my PC. I then contacted Microsoft Support. I asked them how I can get the Windows 10 licence key for my new copy for when I move to a new machine. They seem to have changed their mind and basically said I can't and that the
copy is locked to the current machine (although the answers were very vague). That is not how a retail licence works. They never warned of the upgrade being locked to one PC like an OEM licence.

I will only be using this machine for 7 more days before I wipe and move to a new machine. I asked if I could install the Windows 7 on the new machine and upgrade again using the USB stick I made via the Microsoft Windows 10 installer tool. The support
operator said "I can not guarantee it, you may have activation issues." He said I can buy a new copy of Windows 10 for the machine.

Can anyone help? Will I be able to activate Windows 10 by installing Windows 7 and upgrading on my new machine?

I really don't want to be forced to buy a retail copy of Windows 10 when I was told I would get one free.

 

How can I move Windows 10 to a new machine? (I upgraded from Windows 7 retail boxed licence)

Hi John,



Aw Windows 10 is a free upgrade, it will be locked to only one computer. If you buy a retail copy of Windows 10, you can use it as you were using for Windows 7. You may try to install Windows 7 on the other computer, activate it and then perform an
upgrade to Windows 10.



Hope this information helps.

 

Yes, the T61 has Win7 activated long ago that was an update from the longer ago OEM Vista.

Not activating kills my idea.

I'll just go ahead and do the previously downloaded Win10 iso and forget the bright idea.

Mark

 

Main problem is T61 is BIOS and P50 is UEFI so no it wouldn't work. The T61 would not boot.

What Windows (if any) is or was on the T61?

 

You should be able to activate 10 with your 7 key still. The free upgrade has finished but it still seems to be working - at least it worked for me on Lenovo X201 I bought a couple of months ago.

Just make sure you install 10 Pro if you had 7 Pro or Ultimate, else install 10 Home.

 

Yes, it can be done. The adjustment from UEFI to BIOS (or BIOS to UEFI) is relatively easy. To get activation you would first upgrade the existing Windows 7 to Windows 10 to gain a digital license for Windows 10 saved on Microsoft Activation Servers. (Assuming all the OS's are the same version, IE: Home, Pro, Single Language or "N").

A mismatched SATA controller mode is more of a problem then UEFI vs. BIOS. SATA controller modes are basically IDE, AHCI, and RAID. But that is also fairly easily fixed, you just have to boot into safe mode and uninstall the old SATA controller entry, then reboot normally to load the new SATA controller driver for the new mode.

 

Thanks for the heads up on matching the version--I had forgotten about that. The T61 unfortunately has home premium (which I just checked) so I will not be able to match the professional version of the P50 (just to keep things tidy).

I'm currently doing the media creation tool upgrade and will choose a clean install. I had first attempted to flash the Middleton BIOS but it failed due to remnants of Bitlocker somewhere. After the clean upgrade to 10 I'll have accomplished two goals: getting my 10 validated so I can then install the new SSD and getting rid of Bitlocker so the new BIOS (that supports SATA II and better supports the dual core chipset of this machine) will flash.

You are over my head discussing a mismatched SATA controller. Can you tell from what I've described here if that applies to me?

 

If you are doing a clean install you don't need to worry about it.

If you were copying P50 to T61 (which you definitely can't now as one is home and one is pro) then it may have applied if the disk modes were different between the two machines.

Best of luck *Smile

 

Hopefully you mean you are currently doing an upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and then you will follow that with a clean install. You have to do the upgrade first to get the digital license, then you can do a separate clean install after that. Before the clean install, you want the SATA controller mode in BIOS set to AHCI. If it is not AHCI now, just leave it through the upgrade and change it before the clean install.

 

You can just enter the 7 key can you not?

That worked for me a couple of months ago and is what tutorial says

Activate Windows 10 Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials

 

I misstated. Yes, I'm doing the upgrade from 7 to 10 on the existing mechanical drive before I do the clean install to SSD.

Thanks for the heads up. I will confirm the mode setting after the upgrade and before the clean install.

 

After the upgrade from Windows 7 Home to Windows 10 Home, and you get that digital license establish. You could try upgrading it to Windows 10 Pro by changing the product key to the Windows 10 Pro generic product key:
VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T

It won't activate, but then you could try moving (which actually copies) the Windows 10 Pro digital license from the old computer to the new computer using this method:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/20530

None of that will affect the digital license for Windows 10 Home established on the Microsoft Activation Servers - lots of us have digital licenses for both Home and Pro for our computers and we can install and activate either one.

 

Given that the T61 is a dog (drive), the media tool setup as been 'checking for updates' for the past 4 hours. The program is running. Can this part of the process take such a long time?

 

I think it's safe to say that regardless of how slow the mechanical drive is, given that 'Checking for Updates' is still checking after starting yesterday late morning until now (6:15 am mt), despite Task Manager saying the app is running, the Media Tool seems to have lost its way?

Questions--

1. Since Back and Next are greyed out, do I 'x' out of the app/close with Task Manager, then reboot and start over?

2. Due to the age of the machine I had burned the Win10 iso I had on the machine desktop to CD R instead of USB and ran Medial Tool from the desktop. The app seemed to ignore my iso since its first task seemed to indicate it was downloading 10?

3. On the re-try maybe I should copy the iso and the tool to the USB and run the tool from the USB and ditch the idea of using the CD drive?

(EDIT): Please disregard the above. Instead of selecting upgrade this pc from the MCT options I followed Brink's instruction (as I had done previously for the Dell) and opted to create USB. If I get an option once 10 downloads to not get updates I will not. If I do not get that option I'll just keep my fingers crossed.