need to migrate installed software to new system

[cascades]

I have a win98 machine that I have used for the last two years. I am thinking of buying a new system and would like to know what most users would use to migrate all of the installed software to the new machine without having to reinstall all of the packages individually

 

[Comtech]

Just use Explorer.
Instructions are at

http://www.pcmech.com/showdoc/118/

With extended tips and tricks at

http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9254

Cheers,
Jim

http://members.cnx.net/reboot/

 

[cascades]

Thanks for the info.. But what I was really looking for is a way to do this over a network connection, from the old machine to the new one, if possible. Is there a software package (free or not, doesn't matter) that I can use to replicate old system to new?

 

[movesteel]

try software called ghost

 

[basweek]

I agree with movesteel. Ghost 2001 is probably your best bet.

 

[mmcgurty]

Ghost will not work if you want to be able to run the machine after you ghost the new PC. Changes in motherboards, video cards, networks cards, etc. will cause lots of problems. And if you reinstall Windows after you Ghost, you'll have to do the same thing to the other programs because of the registry crap.

What exactly are you looking to migrate to the new PC. The things I usually migrate is e-mail, favorites, My Documents, and a drive always filled to the brim with software. Games and thing like that I usually just reinstall when I want to play them again.

 

[cascades]

I have about 4 gig of installed software packages that I didn't want to have to reinstall (MSOffice, Games, utilities, internet, etc.) Just thought there might be something available to assist with this process. Thanks

 

[BillytheKydd]

I myself use Ghost all the time to do this, but as stated in other tips you will then have to change a few things, but it will save re-loading all the other software. Things like the video card,, modems, etc will have to re installed because your new system obviously won't have the same hardware as the old one.

 

[RedOpsWolverine]

You could use ghost and then if you are careful enough and know what you are doing you can go into REGEDIT and delete out the ENUM files found in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG, and the HKEY_DYN_DATA, config manager. These files contain the list and reg. strings for all of your hardware windows will identify. Deleting these and rebooting causes Windows to reinstall all hardware. Just make sure you go into safe mode after and in the system config. make sure you don't have new devices found or installed 3 or 4 times.