need advice on transferring software from old laptop to new laptop | Talk it up | Forums

A A A

Please consider registering
guest

Log In Register

Register | Lost password?
Search
Advanced Search
Advanced Search:

— Forum Scope —



— Match —



— Forum Options —




Wildcard usage:
*  matches any number of characters    %  matches exactly one character

Minimum search word length is 4 characters - maximum search word length is 84 characters

Topic RSS
need advice on transferring software from old laptop to new laptop
Topic Rating: 0 (0 votes) 
August 20, 2010
9:07 AM
novice
Novice
Forum Posts: 4
Member Since:
August 20, 2010
Offline
1
0

Being a novice (somewhat) I just bought a new Windows 7 laptop and would like to transfer several programs (some I've downloaded from this extremely value site) from my old XP laptop. Now I know there are several programs that will do file transfer, but I need to find a reliable program/method that will transfer the software programs as well since in many cases I do not have the original disk or registration numbers. Can someone help me in simple to understand jargon? Thanks to all responders!

August 20, 2010
11:33 AM
Pwnana
Geek
Forum Posts: 238
Member Since:
November 15, 2009
Offline
2
0

Thats tough.  I had a similar question a while ago and Ashraf had a suggestion, but I don't remember what it was… 

 

For some of those licenses you don't remember, the free (and portable) version of SIW can find some product keys for you. 

 

And for those free programs you can use Ninite and Freenew (IObit) to easily re-install them. 

You got Pwnd
August 20, 2010
2:08 PM
karen
Washington, DC Metro Area
dotTechie
Forum Posts: 878
Member Since:
November 1, 2009
Offline
3
0

In most cases, even if you can get the keys, you still need the installers.  Many you may be able to find online and just download again.

If you use gmail (or probably others) and you get software keys sent there, you should be able to search all your mail and find some keys that way (unless you are over-zealous about deleting and emptying your deleted emails).

There is no way that I know of to transfer an installed program without re-installing it.

August 20, 2010
3:04 PM
novice
Novice
Forum Posts: 4
Member Since:
August 20, 2010
Offline
4
0

Thanks to Geek and Admin for their response. Has anybody any experience with Laplink PC Mover Pro or Softrescue Pro?

August 20, 2010
7:23 PM
Pwnana
Geek
Forum Posts: 238
Member Since:
November 15, 2009
Offline
5
0

I was just about to say, if you are willing to spend some money there are commercial programs for this purpose.  I have no experience with any of these, though…

You got Pwnd
August 20, 2010
7:28 PM
Locutus
Guru
Forum Posts: 1886
Member Since:
February 19, 2009
Offline
6
0

Ashraf reviewed one of these pieces of software:

http://dottech.org/tipsntricks/2015

It was one of his earlier software reviews.

It guides you through using the program.  He had a 66% sucess rate, so it's worth a try.

Oh, the site that was :(
August 21, 2010
4:35 AM
karen
Washington, DC Metro Area
dotTechie
Forum Posts: 878
Member Since:
November 1, 2009
Offline
7
0

I think those programs are mainly for moving data though, not programs.

And if you are just moving data, I Win7 has something built-in (or you might have to download it for free from Microsoft).  See http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/windows-easy-transfer

August 21, 2010
6:22 AM
summersa
Novice
Forum Posts: 3
Member Since:
May 28, 2010
Offline
8
0

Hi, Perhaps another way of doing it would be to use a program like xxclone which would clone your XP to the W7 machine.  Once done you can reload W7 and uninstall those programs you do not want to keep. It seems longer but may very well be quicker than other alternatives.

August 21, 2010
7:32 AM
kcs3295
Novice
Forum Posts: 2
Member Since:
August 20, 2010
Offline
9
0

I realise were are posting for Win7 but if it is built on the NT system it could work. I'm not interested at all in buying Win7 after 3 new pc's with Vista Home & Premium. If Win7 has the "run as" option being a version of virtual machine and allow XP as a choice, the following should work. M$ would be foolish to not do so as their OS's are out-running the software developers.


I have had almost 100% success by copy & paste in XP meaning M$ Volumn Shadow Copy service with both pc's running as administrator. First create a new folder on the new pc exactly as the name & location of the old pc – meaning, click My Computer > drive C:Programs or where you installed the software and then create & name the new folder. Then on the old pc, right mouse click on the application master folder & copy, then paste the file to a USB drive. Place the USB drive in the new pc, then copy & paste to the new folder. This moves registry files as well which contain multiple entries in the various hives pointing to an unbeliveable amount of registry entries. So exporting the registry to import to the new pc even for the same OS is not a good idea as the exact same M$ app's have a different license codes and many more codes as well.

Another good idea would be to open the registry on Win7 to see if the hives are named the same. If not – this method will most likely not work.

Be sure to first name the user accounts the same on the new pc as the old pc. If the software runs on administrator and limited accounts – log in on both but copy & paste using the administrator account.

Many if not most third party copy app's use this M$ service anyway. Experienced users can set permissions to use applications which is burried deep inside Windows.


You could install a virtualization program and copy your XP OS to that partition as stated by summersa.


Ken


 


 

August 29, 2010
11:42 AM
novice
Novice
Forum Posts: 4
Member Since:
August 20, 2010
Offline
10
0

Just wanted to thank everyone who responded to this post  for their great insight as well as thank the people who viewed this post. Hopefully it will inspire some enterprising software company to take advantage of this wide open market.

All RSS
Forum Timezone: America/Los_Angeles

Most Users Ever Online: 253

Currently Online:
24 Guest(s)

Currently Browsing this Page:
1 Guest(s)

Top Posters:

phoenix_rising: 899

karen: 878

Wheezer: 786

yourpalal: 647

PCbasics: 612

ebony: 548

Member Stats:

Guest Posters: 9

Members: 7523

Moderators: 0

Admins: 3

Forum Stats:

Groups: 3

Forums: 17

Topics: 2192

Posts: 15804

Newest Members: kirubaharan, nazo1500, Mr.dee, arvey, drreemy, alilina

Administrators: Ashraf (1741), Locutus (1886), amnesia (270)