Moving Windows from one system to another

[tin.roof.rabbit]

If they are going to simply create an image to move between the two devices the dynamic storage switch in their setup or sysprep files and they need to ensure that the HAL types are similar between the machines.

I would either use the wizard to transfer files or USMT after preping the second laptop with a fresh installation and ensuring all of the correct drivers have been installed.

[Moira]

Will it? I'm currently looking for something like that .... I have acronis but made separate images for all the different computers as I didn't think it would work unless the drive being copied to was exactly the same configuration in terms of hardware, partition size etc.

Do you know of any products that work in Vista? I tried the complete PC backup in my Ultimate copy, but it's pretty useless - it needs far too much space and doesn't seem to compress very much at all. My current copy of acronis won't work in the Vista partitions.

[morganlefay]

AFAIK....you cannot image an XP install on different hardware....

Gone are the NT4 days where you just disabled the drivers...

MLF

[tin.roof.rabbit]

The way we have our Sysprep configure now are only HAL and i386 dependant in our images. The i386 dependancy is for our tablet edition machines. For supporting almost 10,000 machine we have at the most 4 images.

Below is our Sysprep.inf file, well the bsic outline for it. I omitted company information and our product key. Most of this can be built in the Setup Manager for XP, with a few exceptions.

Unattended]
    OemSkipEula = Yes
    OemPnPDriversPath =sysprep\drivers\IntelINF

DriverSigningPolicy = Ignore
    
[GuiUnattended]
    AdminPassword = *
    EncryptedAdminPassword = NO
    TimeZone = 35
    OemSkipWelcome = 1
    OEMSkipRegional = 1

[UserData]
    ProductKey =XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX
    FullName = ""
    OrgName = ""
    ComputerName = *
[TapiLocation]
    CountryCode = 1
    Dialing = Tone
    AreaCode = 407

[Sysprep]
    BuildMassStorageSection=yes

[SysprepMassStorage]

[Identification]
    JoinWorkgroup = WORKGROUP

[Networking]
    InstallDefaultComponents = Yes

[Branding]
    BrandIEUsingUnattended = Yes

[Proxy]
    Proxy_Enable = 0
    Use_Same_Proxy = 0

[GuiRunOnce]
    Command0=

[RegionalSettings]
    LanguageGroup = 1
    Language = 00000409

[sysprepcleanup]

The section under [SYSPREP] for the setupmassstorage=yes has to be defined for dynamic storage to work.

I am sure that you could still use Symantec Ghost or Altiris Deployment Solution to image Vista. You could also use the free tools availble from Microsoft if you have the Long Horn beta.

[Moira]

AFAIK....you cannot image an XP install on different hardware....

Gone are the NT4 days where you just disabled the drivers...

MLF

That was what I thought too ... which is why I'm having to make separate boot disks and new images now that I've installed Vista on all my PCs as a dual boot. I'd still like to find a backup tool for Vista though.

[morganlefay]

I think thats what XP system restore is for...run a restore point and copy the restore file to removable media....the use the xp backup to backup data...agian moving to removable media...

Not sure about Vista...are you saying there is no native backup app in Vista???

MLF

[tin.roof.rabbit]

Vista has a few functions that allow you to retore data and system status. The System Restore functionality, which is just snapshots of the OS prior to an installation other major change. Backup status and Configuration will allow you to backup files and restore files or create a WIM of the entire PC. I think that was the huge file Moira mentioned.

[Moira]

What I was after was a drive imaging piece of software that functioned in Vista. Although system restore does exist in XP (and no doubt Vista too) personally I always found this let me down just when I needed it the most. And it isn't much good if you can't get into Windows.

Vista Ultimate does have the drive image facility - but the copies I have legitimately are the Home Premium versions which don't. Even then, the backup facility to image an entire drive in Ultimate wanted to create such a massive copy it wasn't reasonable unless you had about a spare terrabyte of space! The was partly because it saw the XP dual boot as a system partition to be included in the backup and the option to untick it was greyed out.

I have a feeling my Maxtor hard drive that has Vista on it on my main PC could be failing, so I'd really like to find some imaging software soon! It's started checking various sectors and marking them as bad whenever I've booted into that partition.