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transfer win 7 one PC to virtual machine on other pc running win 10

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Hi,

I've been a long time Acronis user, but as these things go, I use it too infrequently to really get to grips with it. However I am sure that I succesfully did the following in an earlier version:

transfer my entire old Windows system from old hardware (PC) to new hardware (PC) which runs a newer Windows version, by making the older windows version run in a virtual machine on the newer hardware (running under newer windows).

For the past weeks I have desperately been trying to repeat this process with Windows 7 (from old hardware) to a virtual machine under Windows 10 (on new hardware). My Win 7 has been tweaked so extensively that I need to have it handy in order to eventually leave it behind and only use the newer Windows version.

I have a series of *.TIB files (backing up the WIN 7 system) that used to be convertible right from Acronis into a virtual machine, but not anymore it seems.

Surely someone has tried this before, and....hopefully... succeeded.

 

Thanks!

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It's possible, but may not license correctly as Windows will detect the hardware change.  If you have an OEM install of Windows (came with the PC say from Dell, HP, etc, this is where activating the license will be an issue).  If you have a retail box license, it is transferable and won't be an issue. 

OS licensing aside...

01J) you take a full disk image of the phyiscal disk and save it to an external USB drive or network share.  

02) You create a new VM, but don't install an OS.  

03J) In the VM settings you should be able to mount a .iso in the virtual CD rom or possibly connect to the physical CD rom.  

04) In the VM, power on the system and press F2 or whatever you need to get to the bios boot order and tell it to boot to the .iso or CDROM that has your Acronis bootable recovery media.  

05) Once booted up into the Acronis recovery media in the VM, restore the image on your external USB drive or network share to the blank VM hard drive. 

06)  AFter the restore, go back into the VM bios and change the boot order back to the virtual VM hard drive  and try to boot.  It may boot automatically. If you get a BSOD, then you need to mount the Acronis media again and boot to it again.  Then run universal restore to generalize the drivers of the deployed image.  

07) After that then boot to the VM made hard drive and it should boot.  

08) You would then need to install drivers and check if the OS is licensed or not.  If not licensed and you have a retail license, then enter the code an activate it.  If it is an OEM license, you're probably out of luck, but could call Microsoft and try the over the phone activation.  In many cases, they will do it, but really depends on the Microsoft tech you talk to and what kind of mood they're in. 

Thank You for this swift reply.

The procedure you describe however is not what I'm looking for, as

- I have no way of finding/transferring all the drivers that are used on my current system
- I do not want a new/re-install as so many tweaks for all sorts of very different hard- and softwares have to remasin in place and fully functional

Of course you are quite right in pointing out the possible licensing hick-ups but frankly those are the least of my concern at this time. My old hardware is dying and I realy need to move.

By the way, I forgot which VM-software I used last time, but I think it may have been VM-ware. Not sure whether this makes any difference.

Hope you or someone else can help.

 

JMtB, this is a Windows limitation.  Unless your hardware is exactly the same, chances of moving an OS from one piece of hardware to another and it booting are very slim - especially with older Windows OS's.  Windows 10 is much better at this.  Even then, if major components like CPU or graphics are different, chances are you'll get a BSOD when booting - even if this on a VM on different hardware.

To get around this Windows limitation, you will have to generalize the drivers for the new VM to match the new hardware that the VM will be running on.  That is the purpose behind univesal restore which allows you to move an image from one hardware system to another. No way around this that I'm aware of.  Generalizing the drivers is what makes the OS bootable on new hardware.  Once booted, you then apply the correct drivers.  Using universal restore will not change your settings, applications, etc - it only generalizes the drivers so that Windows can detect the new hardware properly and boot up without getting a BSOD.

If you want to grab the drivers of the existing machine, doubledriver is tool for just that purpose.  However, the drivers for the old hardware won't apply to the new hardware (or VM on new hardware) so don't think this will help you in this case. 

Most of the drivers that you'll need to apply to the new VM install of the existing OS will come directly from Windows - just run Windows update.  Additionally, most manufacturers also have drivers to download from their website.  Some, like Dell, HP and MS Surface Pro's usually have complete driver packs that can be downloaded at one time to make the process of installing drives in one swoop a little easier. 

The instructions  I listed above are exactly for VMWare (desktop or workstation).  It will work for vitual box too.