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Restoring Windows to dissimilar hardware.

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Hello folks,

I know that there is a software tool with Acronis Home that I can use to restore Windows to dissimilar hardware. What I am thinking of is in the future I will be getting a new computer, and would like to make it dual boot, in other words installing an additional  copy of Windows from my existing computer that I have taken many months to build up to how I want it. As regards the licence I think I can transfer that, though I probably wouldn't be able to use it then on old computer.

Has anyone done this, and how has it worked, or is it a hit and miss affair to try and do?

Do I just use a .tib made by my Acronis from my existing computer in addition to a dvd boot media with new drivers for new computer?

I would appreciate any view from others who have successfully done the above.

Many Thanks,

Joe

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Joe, the Acronis Universal Restore tool can be used to help migrate a backup of your Windows computer to new / different hardware though this is not a trivial action to perform.

AUR is not designed to work with a dual-boot situation and does not support this scenario.

When considering getting a new computer, you may want to consider one that would support booting from a Virtual Hard Disk (.VHDX) as an alternative to going the dual-boot path.

See KB 60209: Acronis True Image 2018: configuring Windows native boot from VHD/VHDX files created by "Convert to VHD" feature

See also KB 59986: Acronis True Image 2018: how to create a virtual machine with an existing virtual hard disk

Thanks a lot Steve for your reply. What I meant by dual booting is, whenever I got new computer to keep the windows that came with that computer (or else make a backup of it which I could restore later) Use AUR to try to install the backup from this computer on a different drive or partition of new computer.

If AUR  worked ok, then to use use a tool like EasyBCD to point to to the other windows in new computer.

If its really a hit or miss affair if AUR works, as you say its not a trivial action to perform, then maybe it would just be easier to reinstall all my programs again, though that can take many many hours, and weeks.

Thanks again Steve.

What I meant by dual booting is, whenever I got new computer to keep the windows that came with that computer (or else make a backup of it which I could restore later) Use AUR to try to install the backup from this computer on a different drive or partition of new computer.

Joe, making a backup of the Windows OS on the new computer is the easy part and would be recommended regardless of the further actions being planned.

AUR is not used to install the backup from your old computer, that is not its purpose.  The process would be to boot the new computer using the Acronis Rescue Media in the same BIOS mode as used by the old one, then to restore the backup of the old Windows OS to the new computer, where you would be restoring multiple partitions or a whole disk drive.  This would be better to do with a second drive in the new computer, which requires that the new computer supports having multiple installed drives.

If your Windows OS on both computers is Windows 10 for the same edition (i.e. Home, Pro etc) then the task becomes a little easier (assuming that the new computer was already activated for the same edition of Windows 10), as Windows 10 is a lot more tolerant of hardware changes than earlier versions were, and as such, may not need to use AUR.

The key purpose of AUR is to prepare the restored Windows OS to work with the new hardware found in the new computer, where it will try to use generic device drivers already present in the Windows OS, or else will request other device drivers be provided. 

All of the above really applies to a single boot scenario - as soon as you start considering dual-boot then matters become more complex depending on how these will be installed & organised.  It would be better to try to get the migrated / restored Windows OS working on the new computer before thinking further about dual-boot.

If your old installation of Windows is 'old' i.e. has been upgraded from earlier versions of Windows, has had various applications installed and later removed etc.  Then you would see a greater benefit with going for a clean install of Windows and new clean install of your current applications, even if this would mean keeping both the old and new computers going during the transition period.

Thanks a lot Steve for the detailed reply. Holding off buying a new computer as long as I can, though this one is going on for nine years old, so hopefully I don't have to try anything for a while yet.

Thanks again for all your help.

Joe