Worms: Unlike other computer viruses that are spread when a user runs a file or transfer one file to another computer, worms have the ability to spread automatically without any human interference. Worms can spread on there own creating multiple versions of themselves.
Windows 7 System Preparation Tool is a powerful, native Windows tool. When for instance used in so called Audit Mode, it let's you to freely configure Windows 7 to be then deployed to other computers as hardware independent image.In this tutorial we use System Preparation Tool (sysprep) to prepare your Windows 7 installation to be moved to a new computer, keeping all your installed applications, program settings and user profiles.
You can use this method for instance when you have bought a new PC and want to transfer your existing setup completely, without need to reinstall everything, or when you want to make major hardware changes like change the motherboard or GPU, which would usually cause Windows to stop booting normally. Using this method causes Windows 7 to lose all activation information, and it needs to be reactivated afterwards. If your Windows 7 is an OEM version, you might not be able to reactivate it, at least not without phone activation option.I do not recommend to use this method on RAID systems. All experiments on RAID I know have failed.With the speed of today's hardware evolution, most of us geeks are upgrading the hardware more often than operating system. Upgrading hardware can be painfully slow process if we need to reinstall the operating system and all our installed applications, plus transfer program settings and user profiles.Using sysprep makes this easy. Changing the motherboard, or for instance an old ATI GPU to a new nVidia GPU quite often causes Windows 7 not to be able to boot anymore.
This fact is usually accepted by the user, who then reinstalls the OS and all applications and transfers user profiles from a backup location.Same thing when buying a new computer with completely different hardware setup compared to the old one, or trying to restore a system image to different hardware setup. Normally this would include a complete reinstallation of Windows 7 and all applications.Why not use sysprep to avoid reinstalling? Here are the different scenarios where you can use it. An upgraded Windows cannot be sysprepped.
As this method is based in sysprepping, this tutorial is valid only for Windows setups which have not been upgraded.This means that if you have for instance in-place upgraded Vista to Seven, or using upgraded for instance a Home Premium to Ultimate, you cannot sysprep and this tutorial cannot be used in your case.Notice that a repair install is also an upgrade install, so if you have ever done a repair install (= in-place upgrade to same edition), you cannot sysprep. Changing hardware components but keeping old hard disk(s)Use this method if you:- Change other hardware components but keep your old HD containing Windows 7- Move the HD containing Windows 7 to another computer. Before installing new hardware, boot Windows 7 normally.
Disconnect all external hardware except mouse, keyboard and main display. If your system folders are located only on C: drive, disconnect all other hard disks except that containing the C. In case of relocated system folders, for instance the profile folder Users located in another drive and other system folders on C:, first move the relocated system folders back to C: then disconnect all other drives.
Reboot after this. Run Command Prompt as administrator. Type to Command Prompt:%windir%System32SysprepSysprep.exe, and hit Enter. In sysprep dialog that opens, choose System Cleanup Action as Enter System Out-of-Box-Experience (OOBE), select Generalize, select Shutdown Options Shutdown. Click OK. Sysprep generalizes now your Windows 7 setup and shuts down your computer. Do not run any other programs during this phase!.
Switch the main power of your PC off and install the new hardware OR dismount the hard disk(s) and mount it (them) to a new computer. Boot the PC from sysprep generalized hard disk. You will notice Windows booting as if it was the first boot after installation, installing default drivers and updating registry. One or two reboots are needed, depending on your system specifications. When Windows finally boots up, you will need to enter all information as if this really was a new, fresh installation. Because your old user profiles already exist, Windows does not accept your normal username, but instead you have to create a new temporary user.
I use username Test for this purpose. When login screen appears, choose your old user account to login.
Windows boots now to default OOBE first boot desktop, with default 800.600 resolution and default theme. All your installed applications are there, as well as your old user profiles and folders. Windows has installed the default drivers for your setup, you can update them if needed. Go to Control Panel User Accounts and delete the temporary user account (in this case Test) that you just created.
Change the hard disk(s) or move Windows 7 setup to a new computer using third party imaging softwareUse this method if you:- Replace the HD containing Windows 7 on your old computer- Move Windows 7 to a new HD on another computer. Follow steps 1 through 5 above (method 1). Boot PC with an imaging CD/DVD (Paragon, Macrium etc.). See Macrium Reflect Free:at our sister site TenForums.com:. Also see for a practical tip to create a Macrium system image.
Create an image of your system. Turn PC off, change the hard disk(s) and reboot with imaging application, restoring the image OR boot the new computer with imaging software and restore the image. Continue from step 7 above (method 1)This procedure is failsafe, and works every time. There is nothing to worry, but of course it is recommended to make a backup before trying this. I have even used this method when some serious driver issues caused the PC to constantly crash (BSOD), to reset all drivers to Windows defaults and then reinstalling them one by one to find the culprit.
Kari, just a suggestion.You might note in the tutorial that if on first booting Windows can't finish configuring, a reboot into safe mode, then a normal reboot will allow it to finish successfully.This has happened to me both times I used a sysprepped system drive in a new computer. I found the answer to this problem the first time I ran into it, and the same thing happened yesterday on a different computer.It's a seemingly very silly solution, but it works. I do believe many people have abandoned their sysprep work when they encounter the problem.I think the solution deserves more visibility. Keyboard Logitech Wireless Keyboard K520Mouse Logitech Wireless Mouse M310PSU SeaSonic X 650W 80 Plus GoldCase Corsair Obsidian 750DCooling Corsair H60, Three 140mm case fansHard Drives 250GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD1TB WD Blue1TB HitachiInternet Speed Wave Broadband 100 dn 5 upAntivirus Windows Defender, Malwarebytes PremiumBrowser Edge, IE11, ChromeOther Info Laptop specs: HP g7-1365dx /CPU: AMD A6-3420M APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics /RAM: Crucial 8Gb (2x4Gb) /SSD: Crucial M4-CT128M4SSD2 ATA Device/ FW 000F /GFX: AMD Radeon HD 6520G /OS: Windows 10 Pro x64. Keyboard Logitech Wireless Keyboard K520Mouse Logitech Wireless Mouse M310PSU SeaSonic X 650W 80 Plus GoldCase Corsair Obsidian 750DCooling Corsair H60, Three 140mm case fansHard Drives 250GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD1TB WD Blue1TB HitachiInternet Speed Wave Broadband 100 dn 5 upAntivirus Windows Defender, Malwarebytes PremiumBrowser Edge, IE11, ChromeOther Info Laptop specs: HP g7-1365dx /CPU: AMD A6-3420M APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics /RAM: Crucial 8Gb (2x4Gb) /SSD: Crucial M4-CT128M4SSD2 ATA Device/ FW 000F /GFX: AMD Radeon HD 6520G /OS: Windows 10 Pro x64. Computer type PC/DesktopSystem Manufacturer/Model Number Built them myself, Science Experiments!OS Win7 Enterprise, Win7 x86 (Ult 7600), Win7 x64 Ult 7600, TechNet RTM on AMD x64 (2.8Ghz)CPU AMD fx8350 4ghz, AMD-32 2400mhz, AMD-64 3200mhz, AMDx64 2.8GMotherboard SIS 755, ECS-K8M890M-M (Ult 7600), GigaByte & othersMemory 2gb, 4gb on the Ult 7600, 4gb on Technet RTM, 32gb on FX8350Graphics Card Draw my own Graphics, several nVidia cardsSound Card on motherboardMonitor(s) Displays 19' flat scr, 28' I-Inc widescr,22' Emprex Widescr, 23' AcerScreen Resolution 1280 x 1024, 1440 x 900, 1920 x 1080.
Great work Kari!Please note as Kari has stated:All personalization is removed (taskbar, toolbars, folder options, start orb etc.)This is one of the major problems with sysprep that computer techs have complained about for years. In major deployments we NEED the personalization to stay in the image.Another note: If you have the Built-In Administrator account Enabled it will Disable it. If you have any custom settings for the Built-In Administrator account those are wiped out too as it is part of the personalization removal process. Very annoying. WS, thanks for pointing out I forgot to mention that about sysprep generalizing disabling built-in administrator account. I add that piece of information to tutorial.I agree with you, including personalization should be possible.
Using this method to transfer a single user's existing Windows setup to new hardware setup or computer, even deploying a Windows setup to a few computers as I have done transferring an existing setup from an older computer to a new desktop and new laptop, then activating them with two codes, this is not a big deal. But deploying tens, maybe hundreds of images in a corporate network should have the option to fine tune it as wanted and needed.It's a bit funny that as much as I want to think that Microsoft listens users and their needs, this issue still remains although it has been discussed on every major pro forum and board.Kari. Keyboard Logitech WaveMouse CM SentinelPSU Corsair HX650WCase Cooler Master Storm ScoutCooling Corsair H80 2x12cm Noctua NF P12, 2x14cm case fansHard Drives Samsung 840Pro 128GB SSD,Seagate Barracuda 500GB SATA2 7200rpm 32MB cache, Seagate Barracuda 1TB SATA2 7200rpm 32MB cache,Internet Speed DismalAntivirus AvastBrowser Opera NextOther Info Haswell laptop: HP Envy 17t-j, i7-4700MQ, GeForce 740M 2GB DDR3, 17.3' Full HD 1920x1080, 16GB RAM, Samsung 840 Pro 128GB, 1TB Hitachi 7200 HDD,Desktop: eSATA ports,External eSATA Seagate 500GB SATA2 7200rpm,External WD USB 500GB.
Similar help and support threadsThreadForumI recently purchased a WD Passport external Harddrive, and have attempted to use it with transferring files from a laptop running Windows 7 32-bit to a desktop running Windows 7 64-bit.
Windows 7 System Preparation Tool is a powerful, native Windows tool. When for instance used in so called Audit Mode, it let's you to freely configure Windows 7 to be then deployed to other computers as hardware independent image.In this tutorial we use System Preparation Tool (sysprep) to prepare your Windows 7 installation to be moved to a new computer, keeping all your installed applications, program settings and user profiles.
You can use this method for instance when you have bought a new PC and want to transfer your existing setup completely, without need to reinstall everything, or when you want to make major hardware changes like change the motherboard or GPU, which would usually cause Windows to stop booting normally. Using this method causes Windows 7 to lose all activation information, and it needs to be reactivated afterwards. If your Windows 7 is an OEM version, you might not be able to reactivate it, at least not without phone activation option.I do not recommend to use this method on RAID systems. All experiments on RAID I know have failed.With the speed of today's hardware evolution, most of us geeks are upgrading the hardware more often than operating system. Upgrading hardware can be painfully slow process if we need to reinstall the operating system and all our installed applications, plus transfer program settings and user profiles.Using sysprep makes this easy. Changing the motherboard, or for instance an old ATI GPU to a new nVidia GPU quite often causes Windows 7 not to be able to boot anymore. This fact is usually accepted by the user, who then reinstalls the OS and all applications and transfers user profiles from a backup location.Same thing when buying a new computer with completely different hardware setup compared to the old one, or trying to restore a system image to different hardware setup.
Normally this would include a complete reinstallation of Windows 7 and all applications.Why not use sysprep to avoid reinstalling? Here are the different scenarios where you can use it. An upgraded Windows cannot be sysprepped. As this method is based in sysprepping, this tutorial is valid only for Windows setups which have not been upgraded.This means that if you have for instance in-place upgraded Vista to Seven, or using upgraded for instance a Home Premium to Ultimate, you cannot sysprep and this tutorial cannot be used in your case.Notice that a repair install is also an upgrade install, so if you have ever done a repair install (= in-place upgrade to same edition), you cannot sysprep. Changing hardware components but keeping old hard disk(s)Use this method if you:- Change other hardware components but keep your old HD containing Windows 7- Move the HD containing Windows 7 to another computer. Before installing new hardware, boot Windows 7 normally. Disconnect all external hardware except mouse, keyboard and main display.
If your system folders are located only on C: drive, disconnect all other hard disks except that containing the C. In case of relocated system folders, for instance the profile folder Users located in another drive and other system folders on C:, first move the relocated system folders back to C: then disconnect all other drives. Reboot after this. Run Command Prompt as administrator. Type to Command Prompt:%windir%System32SysprepSysprep.exe, and hit Enter. In sysprep dialog that opens, choose System Cleanup Action as Enter System Out-of-Box-Experience (OOBE), select Generalize, select Shutdown Options Shutdown.
Click OK. Sysprep generalizes now your Windows 7 setup and shuts down your computer. Do not run any other programs during this phase!. Switch the main power of your PC off and install the new hardware OR dismount the hard disk(s) and mount it (them) to a new computer.
Boot the PC from sysprep generalized hard disk. You will notice Windows booting as if it was the first boot after installation, installing default drivers and updating registry. One or two reboots are needed, depending on your system specifications. When Windows finally boots up, you will need to enter all information as if this really was a new, fresh installation. Because your old user profiles already exist, Windows does not accept your normal username, but instead you have to create a new temporary user. I use username Test for this purpose. When login screen appears, choose your old user account to login.
Windows boots now to default OOBE first boot desktop, with default 800.600 resolution and default theme. All your installed applications are there, as well as your old user profiles and folders.
Windows has installed the default drivers for your setup, you can update them if needed. Go to Control Panel User Accounts and delete the temporary user account (in this case Test) that you just created. Change the hard disk(s) or move Windows 7 setup to a new computer using third party imaging softwareUse this method if you:- Replace the HD containing Windows 7 on your old computer- Move Windows 7 to a new HD on another computer. Follow steps 1 through 5 above (method 1).
Boot PC with an imaging CD/DVD (Paragon, Macrium etc.). See Macrium Reflect Free:at our sister site TenForums.com:. Also see for a practical tip to create a Macrium system image. Create an image of your system. Turn PC off, change the hard disk(s) and reboot with imaging application, restoring the image OR boot the new computer with imaging software and restore the image. Continue from step 7 above (method 1)This procedure is failsafe, and works every time. There is nothing to worry, but of course it is recommended to make a backup before trying this.
I have even used this method when some serious driver issues caused the PC to constantly crash (BSOD), to reset all drivers to Windows defaults and then reinstalling them one by one to find the culprit. Kari, just a suggestion.You might note in the tutorial that if on first booting Windows can't finish configuring, a reboot into safe mode, then a normal reboot will allow it to finish successfully.This has happened to me both times I used a sysprepped system drive in a new computer.
I found the answer to this problem the first time I ran into it, and the same thing happened yesterday on a different computer.It's a seemingly very silly solution, but it works. I do believe many people have abandoned their sysprep work when they encounter the problem.I think the solution deserves more visibility.
Keyboard Logitech Wireless Keyboard K520Mouse Logitech Wireless Mouse M310PSU SeaSonic X 650W 80 Plus GoldCase Corsair Obsidian 750DCooling Corsair H60, Three 140mm case fansHard Drives 250GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD1TB WD Blue1TB HitachiInternet Speed Wave Broadband 100 dn 5 upAntivirus Windows Defender, Malwarebytes PremiumBrowser Edge, IE11, ChromeOther Info Laptop specs: HP g7-1365dx /CPU: AMD A6-3420M APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics /RAM: Crucial 8Gb (2x4Gb) /SSD: Crucial M4-CT128M4SSD2 ATA Device/ FW 000F /GFX: AMD Radeon HD 6520G /OS: Windows 10 Pro x64. Keyboard Logitech Wireless Keyboard K520Mouse Logitech Wireless Mouse M310PSU SeaSonic X 650W 80 Plus GoldCase Corsair Obsidian 750DCooling Corsair H60, Three 140mm case fansHard Drives 250GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD1TB WD Blue1TB HitachiInternet Speed Wave Broadband 100 dn 5 upAntivirus Windows Defender, Malwarebytes PremiumBrowser Edge, IE11, ChromeOther Info Laptop specs: HP g7-1365dx /CPU: AMD A6-3420M APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics /RAM: Crucial 8Gb (2x4Gb) /SSD: Crucial M4-CT128M4SSD2 ATA Device/ FW 000F /GFX: AMD Radeon HD 6520G /OS: Windows 10 Pro x64. Computer type PC/DesktopSystem Manufacturer/Model Number Built them myself, Science Experiments!OS Win7 Enterprise, Win7 x86 (Ult 7600), Win7 x64 Ult 7600, TechNet RTM on AMD x64 (2.8Ghz)CPU AMD fx8350 4ghz, AMD-32 2400mhz, AMD-64 3200mhz, AMDx64 2.8GMotherboard SIS 755, ECS-K8M890M-M (Ult 7600), GigaByte & othersMemory 2gb, 4gb on the Ult 7600, 4gb on Technet RTM, 32gb on FX8350Graphics Card Draw my own Graphics, several nVidia cardsSound Card on motherboardMonitor(s) Displays 19' flat scr, 28' I-Inc widescr,22' Emprex Widescr, 23' AcerScreen Resolution 1280 x 1024, 1440 x 900, 1920 x 1080. Great work Kari!Please note as Kari has stated:All personalization is removed (taskbar, toolbars, folder options, start orb etc.)This is one of the major problems with sysprep that computer techs have complained about for years.
In major deployments we NEED the personalization to stay in the image.Another note: If you have the Built-In Administrator account Enabled it will Disable it. If you have any custom settings for the Built-In Administrator account those are wiped out too as it is part of the personalization removal process.
Very annoying. WS, thanks for pointing out I forgot to mention that about sysprep generalizing disabling built-in administrator account. I add that piece of information to tutorial.I agree with you, including personalization should be possible. Using this method to transfer a single user's existing Windows setup to new hardware setup or computer, even deploying a Windows setup to a few computers as I have done transferring an existing setup from an older computer to a new desktop and new laptop, then activating them with two codes, this is not a big deal.
But deploying tens, maybe hundreds of images in a corporate network should have the option to fine tune it as wanted and needed.It's a bit funny that as much as I want to think that Microsoft listens users and their needs, this issue still remains although it has been discussed on every major pro forum and board.Kari. Keyboard Logitech WaveMouse CM SentinelPSU Corsair HX650WCase Cooler Master Storm ScoutCooling Corsair H80 2x12cm Noctua NF P12, 2x14cm case fansHard Drives Samsung 840Pro 128GB SSD,Seagate Barracuda 500GB SATA2 7200rpm 32MB cache, Seagate Barracuda 1TB SATA2 7200rpm 32MB cache,Internet Speed DismalAntivirus AvastBrowser Opera NextOther Info Haswell laptop: HP Envy 17t-j, i7-4700MQ, GeForce 740M 2GB DDR3, 17.3' Full HD 1920x1080, 16GB RAM, Samsung 840 Pro 128GB, 1TB Hitachi 7200 HDD,Desktop: eSATA ports,External eSATA Seagate 500GB SATA2 7200rpm,External WD USB 500GB. Similar help and support threadsThreadForumI recently purchased a WD Passport external Harddrive, and have attempted to use it with transferring files from a laptop running Windows 7 32-bit to a desktop running Windows 7 64-bit.