The Complete Guide to Windows Easy Transfer

Posted By: Nic Fillingham | Aug 6th, 2009 @ 8:38 AM | 54,927 Views | 10 Comments
For the majority of geeks the most nerve racking part of installing a new OS is ensuring that you've successfully backed up all your files and settings before hand.
Trying to remember all the little nooks and crannies on your seven hard drives and 19 partitions where you squirreled away data can take hours if not days, let alone making a list of all the software you have installed so that you have a reference point of what to install once your new OS is up and running.
Enter Windows Easy Transfer.
I managed to track down three of the gentlemen behind this amazing tool: Terry Dolan, Rahul Prasad and Dhaval Joshi.
In this video we cover virtually everything you would ever want to know about Windows Easy Transfer and demonstrate the application in action on a Windows XP machine (creating a *.MIG file and backing up to USB key) and transferring files and settings from Windows Vista to Windows 7 via an Easy Transfer cable.
If you have any questions or comments about Windows Easy Transfer please let us know in the comments section.
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#Aug 6th, 2009 @ 2:32 PM
PerfectPhase
PerfectPhase
"This is not war, this is pest control!" - Dalek to Cyberman

 

How does this relate to the USMT?

#Aug 6th, 2009 @ 6:12 PM
dhavalj
dhavalj

USMT is migration tool for enterprise while Windows Easy Transfer is for retail customers. Both tools share same migration engine.

#Aug 6th, 2009 @ 8:29 PM
ChrisStepaniuk
ChrisStepaniuk

Thanks, you've saved me tons of time!

 

p.s. Very informative.  Perhaps this video or a video similar should be made more public on microsoft.com, I'm sure that many users would find this info very useful.

#Aug 10th, 2009 @ 4:16 AM
markheath
markheath

I've always avoided the easy transfer wizard because I assumed it would move all kinds of junk I wanted to leave behind, so its nice to see it is fully customisable. I couldn't find the updated edition on MS download center though. Could someone post a link to it?

#Aug 10th, 2009 @ 9:40 AM
nic
nic
Easily Distracted

@markheath Just checked in with the EasyTransfer team - the Windows 7 specific EasyTransfer wizard wont be available to download until closer to GA but it's already included on the Windows 7 installation disc under drive:\support\migwiz

#Sep 25th, 2009 @ 4:20 AM
lynmar
lynmar

nic:

When do you think the download will be available?

I would like to prepare  before I receive the discs.

Thanks

Marv

#Oct 1st, 2009 @ 11:40 AM
chapc
chapc

Just a note -- I recently used the easy transfer wizard and was very disappointed with it -- After following the directions to "backup" my old computer - I found that when I "restored" my profile on the newly upgraded system, it missed a large amount of programs and almost nothing was back to the way it was before. I had several programs installed that it didn't migrate back in, even though they were included in the backup. ITunes, MS OFfice, some thrid party software I used for testing, etc. It did backup my email pst file, but not MS Office itself. It saved off my music but not ITunes or Quicktime so I lost all my playlists, etc. I had to find the disks and re-install Office, Itunes, and several others. Desktop wallpaper wasn't done, etc, etc.

 

All in all I found it less than I expected. Especially Since Windows 7 has proved to be so far ahead of what I expected.

#Oct 14th, 2009 @ 3:10 PM
dhavalj
dhavalj

Windows Easy Transfer only migrates data and settings to Windows 7. It doesn't migrate programs installed on your old machine.

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