How do I transfer programs from my old computer to my new Windows 7 computer?

Question

I know about the Easy Transfer tool included in Windows 7 that will transfer all my files but I want to transfer my programs. Also, I don't want to buy any gimmicky program if I don't have to.

Answer 1

Many programs cannot be directly transferred from one machine to another. There are a number of reasons for this:

• Registry entries mean some necessary parts of your program are records in the registry database. In other words, they share part of the same file with many other programs. The records themselves won't copy directly to the registry on the new system because they often have guid keys that are not determined until install time, and so there's no way to know which records you will need.
• Licensing restrictions sometime will compile a "signature" based on the hardware isntalled on a pc. Just transferring the program directly means the license check would fail because the new signature is wrong.
• Some installers will use hardware specific files. It's less common than it used to be, but video games are especially likely to do this — the installer might copy a different set of code to your system under the same file name depending on whether you have an nVidia or ATi-based card.
• Program Data might live in folder underneath different user's folders, making correct re-assembly difficult at best. Additionally, technologies like isolated storage might mean important program data is encrypted and not easily readable.

You can find software that attempts to track through the maze of registry guids and licensing problems, but as you say: it's gimmicky at best.

Answer 2

There is no program, and plus I wouldn't want a program to transfer everything for me. Just reinstall the programs you need and keep it like that, stops other problems from happening.

Answer 3

If you don't have the media to reinstall, you could do it with virtualization e.g. install vmware on your new pc and create a virtual copy of the old pc (p2v). It's not a means of transferring the programs as requested in the question, but it's a way to make them available.