[ale] Partially OT: moving apps from old to new PC's (non-Linux)

[Jonathan Glass IBB]

One small addition:  You can use the Sysprep tool from the Win2K/XP
cdrom to remove the hardware information.  On the next boot it will
rerun the hardware detection routines.  Of course, I highly/strongly
recommend that you pre-load the drivers (even if you just download them)
for the NIC and video card, so you can continue using the network after
the restore.

Jonathan

On Wed, 2004-03-31 at 18:02, James P. Kinney III wrote:
> On Wed, 2004-03-31 at 17:05, griffisb at bellsouth.net wrote:
> > If you were migrating a small office, would the first list of actions be the best bet? Can Ghost backup a running PC and transfer to a different PC and give you a working system?
> 
> 1. Inform them that nothing but the files they generated (word docs,
> spread sheets, etc) and their browser bookmarks will be able to be
> transfered.
> 
> 2. Install Openoffice and instruct in how to use it to open all their
> old word files.
> 
> 3. Set up their new system to use Mozilla or Firefox as their default
> browser. Set up their email to use Mozilla or Thunderbird as their
> default. Merge in their old address book.
> 
> 4. Park their old machine(s) near a network line so that when they
> remember the file they put in that weird folder that they didn't move
> over, it's easy to get at.
> 
> 5. If the new machine has a big hard drive and the old machine is a
> small one, copy the old drive into  a folder on the new machine. Or
> better, partition the new drive to include just enough space for the old
> stuff and make the partition read only.
> 
> The windows registry can (and will) cause loads of problems if a ghost
> image is dropped onto a new pile of hardware. The drivers won't work,
> etc. and the new drivers will need to be installed. Adding new things to
> a windows machine is bad enough from a stability standpoint. Removing
> things is courting disaster. Most old software had really bad uninstall
> tools and left all of the registry crap (best case) intact or (worst
> case) half removed.