I need to put a cloned windows 7 installation into a Ryzen computer. Any ideas?

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
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I've installed Win7 64-bit Pro onto a Ryzen AM4 rig. It has a Gigabyte AX370-Gaming ATX mobo, and a 1st-Gen Ryzen R5 1600 CPU. I heard using 2nd-gen for either CPU or chipset was more iffy. I used a Win7 ISO I had squirreled away for safekeeping, and Gigabyte's Win7 patching tool. Supply it a drive letter with either a DVD or mounted ISO, of the source image, and plug in a USB flash drive for the destination image. Works OK making the USB on Win10. (Recommended.)
 
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mxnerd

Diamond Member
Jul 6, 2007
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Run Windows 7 in a virtual machine.

Windows 10 Pro comes with Hyper-V

VMware Player & VirtualBox are free.
 
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chemwiz

Senior member
Mar 8, 2000
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I've installed Win7 64-bit Pro onto a Ryzen AM4 rig. It has a Gigabyte AX370-Gaming ATX mobo, and a 1st-Gen Ryzen R5 1600 CPU. I heard using 2nd-gen for either CPU or chipset was more iffy. I used a Win7 ISO I had squirreled away for safekeeping, and Gigabyte's Win7 patching tool. Supply it a drive letter with either a DVD or mounted ISO, of the source image, and plug in a USB flash drive for the destination image. Works OK making the USB on Win10. (Recommended.)
Would that work on a cloned drive? I need to be able to put the disk in and either run it or install the drivers. It's got a ton of software installed that it would take me days to do on a fresh copy.
 

chemwiz

Senior member
Mar 8, 2000
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Run Windows 7 in a virtual machine.

Windows 10 Pro comes with Hyper-V

VMware Player & VirtualBox are free.
How much would that slow it down? One of the programs is a CAD type, that's why I put in the new hardware. I might try it out, I can just put a terabyte SSD in.
 

mxnerd

Diamond Member
Jul 6, 2007
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How much would that slow it down? One of the programs is a CAD type, that's why I put in the new hardware. I might try it out, I can just put a terabyte SSD in.
If you have fast SSD and fast CPU, you won't feel much slow down. The only problem probably is the 3D drawing part. I never used any 3D software so can't tell how good/bad 3D support are in VM.
 
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chemwiz

Senior member
Mar 8, 2000
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If you have fast SSD and fast CPU, you won't feel much slow down. The only problem probably is the 3D drawing part. I never used any 3D software so can't tell how good/bad 3D support are in VM.
I'll give it a shot tomorrow and let you know how it works out, thanks!
 

TheELF

Diamond Member
Dec 22, 2012
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A lot of cloning tools come with an "dissimilar" option/version
For example acronis
https://kb.acronis.com/ati2018/aur
they remove all drivers from the image before restoring it and windows "just" (I hope you made sure that all the new hardware has win7 drivers) searches for new drivers on boot up.
 
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ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
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windows is much more resilient than most people give it credit for. likely you didn't need to go through the hassle of uninstalling drivers. windows would have just figured it out.
 

chemwiz

Senior member
Mar 8, 2000
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windows is much more resilient than most people give it credit for. likely you didn't need to go through the hassle of uninstalling drivers. windows would have just figured it out.
I tried just putting the clone in, it would just reboot. I ended up using Acronis and a ps2 keyboard to do the install.
 

vailr

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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If the Windows Device Manager "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers" category was updated beyond the initial Microsoft driver to a brand-specific driver, then that particular driver should be "rolled back" to the initial Microsoft driver. Afterwards, the system boot drive can (most of the time) be safely swapped over to a new motherboard. The first boot will take longer to recognize new hardware, but at least it will be able to safely boot to the Windows desktop.
 
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PingSpike

Lifer
Feb 25, 2004
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Yeah, Windows is a big pain when switching hardware. Its the disk controller drivers that kill the process dead, the other stuff can usually be sorted out once you get the thing to boot.. Like vailr said, if you prepare for it it can work but that's not exactly useful information if you motherboard suddenly dies and preparing is out of the question.

Maybe its better on Windows 10 but that's how its always been to me. No idea why it can't easily be rolled to a generic driver on boot instead of bluescreen on inaccessible boot device and throwing up its hands.