Migrating windows 10

pks1414 · 20 Feb 2024

Hello everyone, this is my first post. I am currently waiting on delivery of a new pc which is coming with Windows 11 pre installed. I would like to have a dual boot set up with 11 being the default and 10 being the secondary os.

I have my current pc set up as dual boot with windows 7 pro and windows 10 pro and this is where I’m looking for some guidance please. The version of windows 10 is the upgrade version from 7 which was available some time back.

My original plan was to simply clone the windows 10 os then install as the secondary system on a dedicated partition on the new pc however I am not sure whether this will work as it is the upgrade version?

I still have my copy of windows 7 and the key if that helps

Thanks in anticipation

Pentagon · 20 Feb 2024

Download the last Media Creation Tool (MCT) from MS.
Just create a free partition (appr. 100 GB) or add a 2nd disk
Reboot to MCT and run setup and select the free partition or the disk.
That's it

dalchina · 20 Feb 2024

Hi, could you please clarify:

Is your existing configuration UEFI/GPT, or not?

Will Win 11 be Home or Pro?

What are the old and new PCs? Desktop? Laptop?
Sometimes laptops need specific drivers from the manufacturer's site.

As to the activation of your transferred Win 10, this will be acquired based on that of the Win 11 PC.

I'm sure others will contribute soon.

pks1414 · 20 Feb 2024

It’s Windows 11 home

Both are PC’s

So I should be able to simply clone the version of windows 10 on to a suitable USB and then reinstall from that on to the new partition on the new PC. Will it be activated or will I end to use the key from my windows 7 packaging?

Pentagon · 20 Feb 2024

Neither nore
When using the MCT you run a clean installation what would be the best solution.
The other way would be a backup of your "old" WIN10 installation (C:) and recover it to the new created partition of the new PC. A simple bcdboot command adds the new WIN10 to the BCD.
No WIN Key is required.
Make sure that you have all the drivers before you boot into the "new" WIN10

dalchina · 20 Feb 2024

I end to use the key from my windows 7 packaging?

That is now completely irrelevant anyway as no free upgrades should now be possible (although someone was fortunate to manage that with Win 8.1 recently- a measure of unpredictability).

Expect to 'downgrade' to Home.

NavyLCDR · 20 Feb 2024

Yes, you absolutely can clone the old Windows 10 installation to a partition on the new PC and set up dual booting. As long as it is Windows 10 Home, it will activate using the Windows 11 license on the new computer.

Megahertz · 21 Feb 2024

Yes, you can have the current Win 10 and the new Win 11. To have Win 10 activated on the new computer, Win 10 and Win 11 must be same type (home or Pro)

- There are two types of installation and respective drive mode : Legacy - MBR and EFI - GPT.
- As the Win 10 is from a win 7 upgrade, the Win 10 drive is probably Legacy - MBR and the new Win 11 is for sure EFI - GPT.
- The boot sequence are different on Legacy - MBR and EFI - GPT.
- On BIOS you select what type is your drive: Legacy - MBR or EFI - GPT. Some BIOS allow you to boot from both. Even if you install the current Win 10 on the new computer it may be problematic to boot one or the other without changing BIOS settings.
If I understood well, you want to keep the current drive on the current computer.
- The best option is to make space on the Win 11 drive and clone the Win 10 C: partition to it. You can't just clone a C: Win 10 Legacy - MBR partition on a GPT drive. It won't boot. You have to manually add a boot option to the boot manager on the EFI partition. Easy task.

To clone the partition you can temporary install the Win 10 drive on the new computer to have access to the Win 10 partition.
To make space and clone the Win 10 partition on the new drive you can use Diskgenius . It's good, powerful and free.
To clone, on top menu select tools - Clone partition