Have a Windows 7 HP, want to add another computer. Is there a way to mirror over the complete drive, including icons so it's the same as the computer I have now. Thanks
The quick & simple answer is - NO.
Yes. Windows 7 has a facility to transfer settings from one installation to another (Windows Easy Transfer). But you can't transfer installed programs and, obviously, each computer needs its own copy of Windows.
Might be possible to use backup and restore. It used to work on older ntbackup and should work now but I haven't tried it. The mirror part is why ijack says you need a license for each. Depending on how you bought it, the entire system might be moved. Usually preinstalled OS's can not be moved.
Hang up and live.
Use windows backup and restore to backup your whole computer. Boot your new computer off of a Windows 7 install disc and go to repair my computer. Choose restore from backup and select the drive that you saved the image backup to. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/...
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Andrew Leonard
BL Technical Services
IT Support Maryland
Am I misunderstanding something? It sounds to me like the OP wants to clone the contents of one HDD to another, then install the 2nd HDD into a different PC & use it. Seems to me that's "illegal", am I wrong?
If he has two licenses then it wouldn't be illegal but I doubt he does. He will have to purchase the second one.
I have a Windows 7 HP and will be buying another Windows 7 HP. I just have so many programs/files that I wanted to transfer asap. We are a small business (really small) and downtime is a problem. Also the screen icons linking to programs we wanted to transfer. No license problems. Each machine has a Windows license.
Then #2 above is the correct response. Cloning the drive would only work if the two computers had the same hardware including the chip set and processor. Then you could possibly clone to the new computer.
I assume the original HP is an older model or else why would you be replacing it.
Agree. If you purchased one computer and spent the time setting it up exactly like you need it and then wanted to have two or more identical computers, you would purchase the exact same model and version and clone the drive from one to the others, then change the keys back to the original ones. HP corporate might even be able to cooperate in the process in this case. You have to be a little bit crazy to keep you from going insane.
If it's HP to HP, it will work fine. Large vendors put a generic key on all of their computers, ie. all Dell computers with 7 Home Premium have the same entered key. My point is, after the clone, there's no reason to change the key. --
Andrew Leonard
BL Technical Services
IT Support Maryland
hollowman512 You are not reading #8 & #9 fully.
You are dealing with SLP licenses here. SLP licenses are dedicated to the computer they came with. That means two things. First, you would violate the EULA. Second, the computer may not boot to Windows.
As stated above, the computers must be very close in hardware specs in order for that to work.
Anyway, a clean install is always better.
spstax
Be sure to create the restore disk set BEFORE doing anything else.
After that you can remove HP bloatware if you want to then you could image again. Then install your programs and image again.
As was stated in #2 above, you can transfer settings and preferences using Windows tools.
If you don't have disks for some programs they may have been bundled with the original computer and you are probably out of luck.
If you post the full model numbers or the service tags for both machines we may be able to clarify this issue.
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