Upgrade PC & Include Applications

Hi,

I am in the process of upgrading my PC and I would like to know if there is
a way of taking an image of my current PC and applying it to the new PC. I
am trying to avoid re-installing several dozen applications.

My current PC and the new PC will both have XP Pro so there will be no
licensing issues.

My main concerns are that the new PC will have a completely different
hardware configuration.

As a final point, I will be connecting both PC's over a home wireless
network - will this cause problems if one PC is a clone of the other and
will, therefore, have some settings that are identical.

Suggestions appreciated.

Thanks,

Stoggers.

Mike Stogden wrote:

Hi,

I am in the process of upgrading my PC and I would like to know if there is
a way of taking an image of my current PC and applying it to the new PC. I
am trying to avoid re-installing several dozen applications.

My current PC and the new PC will both have XP Pro so there will be no
licensing issues.

My main concerns are that the new PC will have a completely different
hardware configuration.

As a final point, I will be connecting both PC's over a home wireless
network - will this cause problems if one PC is a clone of the other and
will, therefore, have some settings that are identical.

Suggestions appreciated.

Thanks,

Stoggers.


Well you are half right, in order to do an image properly, you will need
to sysprep the machine first.this will strip the SID from the machine
taking care of the issue of identical settings. The problem is that you
can not dump an image to the new machine unless it has indetical
hardware congurations. Image will crap out if they are not the same
machines and hardware

Hi

You could try Drive Image:

http://www.powerquest.com/driveimage/

--

Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups
"Mike Stogden" wrote in message news:uU3=
...
Hi,

I am in the process of upgrading my PC and I would like to know if the=
re is
a way of taking an image of my current PC and applying it to the new P=
C. I
am trying to avoid re-installing several dozen applications.

My current PC and the new PC will both have XP Pro so there will be no
licensing issues.

My main concerns are that the new PC will have a completely different
hardware configuration.

As a final point, I will be connecting both PC's over a home wireless
network - will this cause problems if one PC is a clone of the other a=
nd
will, therefore, have some settings that are identical.

Suggestions appreciated.

Thanks,

Stoggers.

On Wed, 21 Jul 2004 19:29:14 +0100, "Mike Stogden"
wrote:

Hi,

I am in the process of upgrading my PC and I would like to know if there is
a way of taking an image of my current PC and applying it to the new PC. I
am trying to avoid re-installing several dozen applications.


It is highly adviseable to do a complete reinstall if doing a major
upgrade (ie new motherboard). New processor, sound, graphics should
not be a problem.

For imaging, I find Ghost invaluable, and use it as a regular backup
tool. However, if you are changing your hard drive, and take an image,
you should make sure that the windows partition is the same size on
the new drive as the old one, or it might not start. Search on google
for 'unable to find hal.dll' in this case.

D.

The short answer is no.

If you image your old setup to the new system, you are correct, it will
restore all drivers, settings and anything else related to the hard ware on
that setup. Also, the version of XP on the old PC was activated on that
system hence it would be similar to trying to move a version of XP activated
on one PC to another, you might not even be able to boot the system. If the
version of XP that was on the old system was an OEM version, either one you
purchased or was included with that system, it is tied to that hardware and
cannot be moved.

If it was a retail version of XP, not OEM, it can be installed on another
computer if removed from the previous computer on which it was installed.

There are additional considerations, applications were different with
different hardware. The applications on the old setup were installed with
different hardware and may not recognize or even function with hard ware
that has changed, the drivers are different or updated and were designed for
the new system, the BIOS is different, the motherboard is different.

You are asking for trouble and more work than it would be to install the
applications fresh on the new machine.

--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

"Mike Stogden" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I am in the process of upgrading my PC and I would like to know if there
is
a way of taking an image of my current PC and applying it to the new PC. I
am trying to avoid re-installing several dozen applications.

My current PC and the new PC will both have XP Pro so there will be no
licensing issues.

My main concerns are that the new PC will have a completely different
hardware configuration.

As a final point, I will be connecting both PC's over a home wireless
network - will this cause problems if one PC is a clone of the other and
will, therefore, have some settings that are identical.

Suggestions appreciated.

Thanks,

Stoggers.