Cloning Windows 8 to another PC (identical model)

[jrichrds]

I bought a few identical Lenovo Windows 8 machines, and want to just set one up, and clone the Windows partition to the other machines so I don't have to repeat the work on each one.

I'm not too clear on how UEFI works though, and I see there are multiple small partitions now (like SYSTEM_DRV) before the main Windows partition. Do I need to include any of these partitions when cloning Windows to the other machines? I thought I had read the Win8 OEM licensing info was in the BIOS now, but maybe it's in one of those partitions.

 

[DrGreen2007]

Cant you jut make an image of the disk, then use that image on the other machines?

(disk would contain all the partitions, why mess with trying to do a single partition)

 

[Matt1970]

Most cloning software I have used by default will clone all partitions, which is what you want. The licensing info is in the bios, however that is just the CD key and as soon as you clone a drive and stick it in another machine it will no longer match. I think what you will want to do is deactivate windows after you set up the first one but before you make your clones, then when you clone them and put them in the new machines and go to activate them they should check the bios and activate with the correct info. Then go back and reactivate the machine you cloned from. Someone correct me if that is wrong. I don't think you can activate a Windows 8 without deactivating the existing install and you want to avoid deactivating an install too many times.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Most cloning software I have used by default will clone all partitions, which is what you want. The licensing info is in the bios, however that is just the CD key and as soon as you clone a drive and stick it in another machine it will no longer match. I think what you will want to do is deactivate windows after you set up the first one but before you make your clones, then when you clone them and put them in the new machines and go to activate them they should check the bios and activate with the correct info. Then go back and reactivate the machine you cloned from. Someone correct me if that is wrong. I don't think you can activate a Windows 8 without deactivating the existing install and you want to avoid deactivating an install too many times.

Clue us all in on how you "de-activate" Windows. At least through 7, this was not possible.

 

[Underclocked]

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7759642/reset-windows-activation-remove-license-key

 

[Ketchup]

Could you just clone and switch the key afterwards?

 

[denis280]

Could you just clone and switch the key afterwards?

Did it once with acer with no problems.but lenovo i don't know
Wont hurt to try

 

[saratoga172]

We use Acronis for this. Can't speak for the license of Windows since we use an EA and have a single key. But you should be able to just change the key from within Windows as soon as you boot. Right-click My Computer -> Properties and select the Change product key from the bottom of the system properties window.

 

[jrichrds]

I wasn't sure if the extra partitions (SYSTEM_DRV in particular) contained additional info specific to the machine (like the licensing key), so thought maybe I could prevent a mismatch and having to reactivate by just copying the single C: Windows partition.

I can report that it does work to copy the single Windows partition over, but I still have to reactivate Windows (but didn't have to deactivate before cloning). And didn't need to change product key....I assume it picked up the new key from the BIOS or the SYSTEM_DRV partition, but I have to check if the key did change or not.

Now I'm curious if those extra partitions at the front even contain information unique to the computer and/or installation of Windows, or whether they're all just generic and the same?

 

[ViRGE]

I can report that it does work to copy the single Windows partition over, but I still have to reactivate Windows (but didn't have to deactivate before cloning). And didn't need to change product key....I assume it picked up the new key from the BIOS or the SYSTEM_DRV partition, but I have to check if the key did change or not.

Assuming the machines originally shipped with Windows 8 OEM, then the key is baked into the BIOS.

Now I'm curious if those extra partitions at the front even contain information unique to the computer and/or installation of Windows, or whether they're all just generic and the same?

They're all generic and the same. You'll have the boot partition, the EFI protection partition, and then (finally) the data partition.

On a side note, you should look into SysPrep. What you're doing right now is fine, but SysPrep is the technically the intended solution for deploying pre-made system configurations.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc721940(v=ws.10).aspx

 

[jrichrds]

Assuming the machines originally shipped with Windows 8 OEM, then the key is baked into the BIOS.

They're all generic and the same. You'll have the boot partition, the EFI protection partition, and then (finally) the data partition.

On a side note, you should look into SysPrep. What you're doing right now is fine, but SysPrep is the technically the intended solution for deploying pre-made system configurations.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc721940(v=ws.10).aspx

Thanks.

SysPrep looks interesting. Will play with that in the future.