How to Manually transfer settings to new computer?

djh · #1 08-31-2006, 01:20 PM

My old computer died (fried motherboard and CPU), but the hard disk survived. I bought a new computer with an OEM version of XP loaded, and temporarily installed the hard drive from my old computer as the second (slave) drive labeled F:\. Due to possible virus/worm issues with the old computer, and the lack of a working second computer, I could not dual boot or link up in order to use the File and Settings Transfer Wizard to move the settings and files from the old drive to the new one, but wanted to do it manually.

I have already manually moved all the documents I want off that drive, and was able to move some of the settings through my computer, by moving selected files from programs I still want on the new computer from the F:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data and the F:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data folders to the same location on the new computer's C:\ drive. (There are 5 user profiles on both systems)

It seems that I missed some of the desktop display and other settings that don't show up in the new computer, so I need help as to where else to look to manually transfer settings to the new computer, or what else I should think about transferring. Also some other glitches, like the bookmarks in Firefox showed up, but those for Internet Explorer did not!

I do not plan to leave the old drive in the new computer, as I have a larger one I want to install and partition to accept mirror backups and data overflow (the new box only supports 2 internal drives).

snowmonkey · #2 08-31-2006, 02:37 PM

Your are on the right track......First you need to create the same account on the new computer....for example if you have account named "Cindy", you should create one on the new computer and MAKE SURE you log into that account at least once before manually transferring files over......Make sure you transfer EVERYTHING from F:\Document and Setting\Cindy to C:\Document and Setting\Cindy....Please note that book mark or favorites will be within the user profile folder so you will get your book marks back.

Cheers

djh · #3 08-31-2006, 02:59 PM

Thanks. Yeah I discovered the log in first rule already, after I manually created folders for each user when I couldn't find them on the C:\ drive, then had to back up, delete, and start over again. Good lesson for anyone else trying to do this.

I did not copy everything originally because I was worried about viruses lurking in the files on the old drive, more so when my TrendMicro popped up a trojan warning when I was copying the entire local settings folder for one of the users. That's why I started doing it manually. I'm guessing those were in the temporary internet files, tho, so if I just copy entire favorites and cookies folders I should be OK.

tones_ie · #4 08-31-2006, 05:24 PM

Great advice about logging in first snomonkey..didnt know that one

@ djh.....do as suggested above...but before u move anything..update ure antivirus and scan F for nasties..C too

...then suggest u do an ONLINE scan to make sure... before scanning turn off system restore untill u know that ALL drives are clean....when ure happy...u can then move over the data..