Easy Transfer makes the Windows 7 migration easier
If you installed the Windows 7 RC on half a dozen of your computers, as I did, you may be wondering now about how you’re going to migrate them to the RTM or retail version without undue hassle. I admit I had the Win7 installation process down to something of an art: install the OS, reconfigure the OS, install the programs, spend the next couple of days getting all the settings back the way I wanted them. There had to be an easier way, and there was: the Easy Transfer Wizard.
After some bad experiences with those types of tools years ago, I had generally avoided them. But I decided to give it a try this time, as I took my Core i7 from Windows 7 RC to RTM. Since I always make sure I have plenty of hard drives and partitions, I didn’t have to “nuke and pave” – I just installed the RTM on a different partition. That allows me to keep the RC intact so I have a backup in case of problems with the new installation. Of course, this is a test machine and I’m using MSDN licenses, so software cost isn’t an issue. Otherwise, you’d need to buy copies of the OS and applications for each installation.
First step was to run the Easy Transfer utility on the RC. Initially, I foolishly told it to copy both my user account information and shared information, but when I saw that the latter was 152 GB, I unchecked that box. The info from my user profile was over 16 GB. Wow. That’s more than the amount of disk space required for the whole Windows 7 operating system.
Windows Easy Transfer is found in All Programs | Accessories | System Tools, or just type Easy Transfer in the Start/Search box. You can use it to copy files from an old computer to a new one, or as I did, from one installation to another on the same computer. If you are going to wipe the drive and start over, you can use Easy Transfer to save the files and settings to a partition you aren’t wiping or an external drive or a location on the network. You can also use a cable to connect two computers for the transfer. It saves user account information, documents, music, pictures, e-mail, IE favorites, videos and more.
The wizard will scan all user accounts on the computer, as well as shared items. You can set a password on the file it creates if you’re worried about security. The file is saved in the .MIG format.
Once you’ve saved the .MIG file, now boot into the new Windows 7 installation (in my case, the RTM) and run the Easy Transfer tool there. This time you tell it that this is your new computer and you’ll be asked to provide the location of the .MIG file. Navigate to it and click the Open button. You can customize which of the saved items you want to transfer. Thus, if you saved that 152 GB of shared items and now you decide that maybe you don’t need to transfer them, you can uncheck that box and just transfer the items from your user account. Best of all, you can customize what specific items to transfer, by clicking the Customize button.
This shows you at a glance how much of each type of item there is to transfer (for example, 37.4 MB of documents). If you click the Advanced button, you get a more detailed accounting. You can uncheck any of these items. For example, by default Easy Transfer saves your virtual machines, but if you don’t want to migrate those, just uncheck that box. This gives you a lot of flexibility and control over what to transfer.
When the transfer is complete, you can see a list of what was transferred. Another really handy feature is that Easy Transfer will show you a list of the programs that were on your old computer, which you may want to install on the new one.
Now your old OS settings should all be working on your new computer. Your wallpaper and desktop icons are there, and any changes you’ve made to Explorer settings (such as showing file extensions or unhiding system files) will be there, as will your favorites in Internet Explorer. Even my Quick Launch toolbar (which you have to go out of your way to get back in Windows 7) was there.
Here’s what impressed me most: settings for applications that weren’t even installed at the time were also transferred. So even though I ran the Easy Transfer tool before installing Office, after I did install the applications, my old settings were there. I opened up Word the first time, and my customized quick access toolbar was there. I opened Outlook, and didn’t have to set up my Exchange account; it was already configured. And my autocomplete items were still there, too. Very cool.
Vista also has Easy Transfer, so you can use it if you’re migrating from a Vista machine to Windows 7. And if you’re migrating from XP, you can download Windows Easy Transfer for XP from the Microsoft Download center here:
Sure, you still have to install your applications, but Easy Transfer cuts a large amount of time off doing a clean OS installation, and it works far better than I expected.
- Debra Littlejohn Shinder, MVP (Enterprise Security)
deb@shinder.net www.debshinder.com
Samuel Morales-cars in india on August 14, 2009 at 12:35 AM
thanks for this migration process of the windows 7 recently i have turned myself to the windows 7 i know that it is so old that everyone knows about it but for me it is the new one so i will say everything related to it is very useful for me!
Francesco on August 26, 2009 at 10:45 AM
Just one thing: Windows Easy Transfer for XP does not work with Windows 7
Saad Awad on December 08, 2009 at 11:54 AM
I have windows Easy transfer for XP but I don't have extension for it (mig) can you send it to me?
Bill on January 05, 2010 at 11:12 AM
Well, when I tried transfering from RC 64-bit to retail 64-bit it failed twice. First, it said there was a server error. The second try created the user folders (RC and Retail are on separate partitions of the same 55gb drive) but then the transfer again failed. I will try once more, now that all programs installed in RC are now also in place in retail version.
The install was a clean one, upgrade from Windows XP Pro Enterprise.
Bill on January 05, 2010 at 11:14 AM
Typo in last message. That's a 500 GB drive, not a 55 GB one.
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