Is there anyway to migrate all your installed apps to a new system without having to manually reinstall them all?

[Hajpoj]

I was trying to look into it myself, but it looks like I would have to make a backup of my registry and copy my programs folder.

Is that all I would have to do?

EDIT: CRAP WRONG FORUM, Sorry can a Mod please move this to tech support?

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

You could ghost or image your current setup, but I wouldn't recommend that, because of the fact that you are going to be putting it on another computer with different hardware.
You can do this with a program such as Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image.

 

[Roguestar]

But all your drivers would be different...

Long story short, no, there is no hassle-free way. And a clean install is better for you.

 

[jameswhite1979]

Always a clean install you can dump the HDD in a new box but what if after a month is crashes better to be in control up front.

 

[jackschmittusa]

Hajpoj

I was trying to look into it myself, but it looks like I would have to make a backup of my registry and copy my programs folder.

No, it would not work like that because it would still miss all of the DLLS and such the apps have scattered throughout Windows.

A clean install is always best, but if you want to try, remove all of the devices requiring drivers first from Device Manager (ide last), then shut down without restarting. After assembling the new parts, boot from the Windows cd (if you try to boot from the hd, you'll likely screw Windows up too bad to fix) and do a repair install. Remove all of your old drivers and install the new ones. I have made this work several times for people, but not always.

 

[Hajpoj]

Should I uninstall windows updates as well?

That way the repair install wont cause any conflicts.

 

[imported_scoobydoo]

The only way to achieve what you want is to make an automated install disc that installs Windows and then after it 'silently' installs the drivers and applications. You still have to make the disc the first time though, which can be time consuming.

 

[Brazen]

There is a program out there that will move your applications. I believe it will even work between different versions of Windows. I can't remember what it was called now, I haven't used it in probably 3 years. At the time, I found it at Best Buy. Basically you start the program from the CD on your source and destination computer, tell it which computer is the source and which is the destination and make sure they are connected by ethernet, or it has a usb-to-usb cable you can use. It then presents a list of all the apps on the source computer and you check which ones to move. It worked like a charm the couple of times I used it.