Windows 10: One backup to restore on 2 computers

Op wants to restore same image to two devices. It will probably work but not 100% guaranteed unless both devices were 100% identical (even nominally identical devices can have different internal components depending on production run).

 

Yes, I know what the OP wants to do. I was in on this from the beginning. Was addressing his latest concern about what would happen, which is, of course, an unknown.

 

Guys, I understand what you are saying.

Before I came here I checked with Dell tech support. They said that they cannot guarantee that the restore will work.
So we're talking some risk.

Which suggests to me that I should take it only if the system I want to restore to fails. Then I have nothing to lose.
Until then I can live with doing 2 separate backups and restores.

 

My answer to you is definitely YES. You can backup on one then restore in the other. MS Server will check your Machine ID and re-activate your license accordingly. By doing this, your SID will be the same on both machines (ie. if you have one user John Doe in one machine and create the same user John Doe in the other machine, the user names are identical but each will have separate SID which Windows will look at and check permission) so you don't have to worry about permission problem. For personal use, this is better. Not recommend in Business environment.

NOTE: When you restore to other PC. Make sure you also change the COMPUTER NAME so they are unique to each machine.

 

Thanx.

I will probably do it at some point.

If I understand it correctly, I will be the same user on both systems, but I will have diff SID on each system.

 

No, If you use the same image file for both PC's then you'll get the same use and SID.
If you install Windows separately for each PC then even you use the same user name, the SID will be unique for each user.

Make sure that you change the Computer Name for the second PC so that it will be unique then you won't have problem with networking.