Best way to migrate files from old W10 system to new W11 system?

[pete6032]

I have a Win 10 PC that I am replacing with a new Win 11 PC I just bought for a family member. Is it possible to transfer over all of the programs, files, and settings that are installed on the Win 10 system?

I know everyone will say "start from ground up" because that's cleaner, but I can almost guarantee that I will set up this Win 11 system and install everything I think they need and then 3 months down the road I will be getting a phone call asking where some obscure document is or why this or that program is not installed and I will have to connect the Win 10 system HDD to a USB enclosure and go digging for files or have to come over and install a program etc.

 

[crashtech]

Hmm, I suppose the first thing to do is to clone the old Win 10 install. Then put the clone in the new PC. Get the clone of the old install working on the new PC, then do an upgrade install of Win 11. I am willing to bet that it will nuke a lot of the apps, but it's probably the closest you can get to the place you want to be. Once you have the new OS with the old apps working and stable, clone it to the drive that the new PC came with. It's a lot of cloning, but that way you won't lose anything important while messing around.

 

[pete6032]

Hmm, I suppose the first thing to do is to clone the old Win 10 install. Then put the clone in the new PC. Get the clone of the old install working on the new PC, then do an upgrade install of Win 11. I am willing to bet that it will nuke a lot of the apps, but it's probably the closest you can get to the place you want to be. Once you have the new OS with the old apps working and stable, clone it to the drive that the new PC came with. It's a lot of cloning, but that way you won't lose anything important while messing around.

Wouldn't cloning bring over all the drivers from the old Win 10 system?

 

[OlyAR15]

Yes, but that would be the best way to preserve all settings. Honestly, the pain of installing a fresh OS is offset by the benefits. Also, it would be a chance to create a separate partition for the data. This is exactly why I do that, as it makes backing up the data so much easier. If you are having issues transferring the data to the new computer, that would indicate that it is also not being backed up.

Apps and programs are not a real issue, since they can be installed at any time. It also allows you to install the newest version right away, or give you the opportunity to choose a better app for a given task. At the least, you can simply record the already installed apps, then reinstall them after a fresh OS install.

 

[crashtech]

Wouldn't cloning bring over all the drivers from the old Win 10 system?

It would, but most of those will be replaced on first boot in the new machine by hardware detection routines in Windows 10 or 11. Hardware detection in Windows is actually very good these days.

Personally, I would not try to move an install the way you want to do it, but I think what I propose or a variation of it is one of the only ways to get close.

 

[JackMDS]

It would, but most of those will be replaced on first boot in the new machine by hardware detection routines in Windows 10 or 11. Hardware detection in Windows is actually very good these days.

Personally, I would not try to move an install the way you want to do it, but I think what I propose or a variation of it is one of the only ways to get close.

I agree with crashtech. I used this process many times (even switching from Intel chipset to AMD} and rarely had any problem.

 

[mxnerd]

Totallly agree with @crashtech. That's exactly how you shoud do it.

 

[ElFenix]

Hmm, I suppose the first thing to do is to clone the old Win 10 install. Then put the clone in the new PC. Get the clone of the old install working on the new PC, then do an upgrade install of Win 11. I am willing to bet that it will nuke a lot of the apps, but it's probably the closest you can get to the place you want to be. Once you have the new OS with the old apps working and stable, clone it to the drive that the new PC came with. It's a lot of cloning, but that way you won't lose anything important while messing around.

i have had to do similar to get from old computer to new computer before. hardest thing was getting the new computer's UEFI to figure out where windows was. that required some youtubing obscure fixboot stuff, like this:

 

[crashtech]

Somewhere I have a notebook full of that stuff, luckily I do not need it too often!

 

[Shmee]

Yeah, the clone and upgrade makes sense. Or, possibly just stick with Windows 10, depending on if there is a license for it for the new PC, though you may want Windows 11 if the new PC is Alder Lake based. Just be sure to check that drivers are all present and there are no unknown devices when you set up the old OS on the new PC.

 

[QuietDad]

I have used EaseUS Todo PCTrans many times to transfer a user from one system to another. They have a free version that is limited but you can get most of it easy. You install it on the old PC, and then pick a user to back up and it gets everything it needs to restore to a new system.