CANNOT BOOT TO WIN 7 64-BIT GPT PARTITION WITH UEFI SUPPORT-INSPIRON 7537

There is no way you're going to clone a WIndows installation from an old AMD-based system to a new Intel one -- getting a clone of any GPT drive to work with UEFI and Secure Boot is tricky enough with a straightforward drive replacement - getting it to work with hardware that's as different as the 1721 is from the new system is not going to be possible.

ok, is there anyway to to get an old image of win 7 onto a newer machine that already has win 7 installed ? 

I believe this is possible regardless of hardware changes, I know drivers may be issue, please help.

Success or failure generally depends on how close the hardware set is - the closer, the better.  There's not much in the way of new hardware that's close to an old Inspiron 1721, though.

The native  System Preparation Tool (sysprep) in Windows 7 will achieve what you seek. An excellent tutorial is available at

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/135077-windows-7-installation-transfer-new-computer.html

How to Transfer your Complete Windows 7 Installation to New
Computer Published by Kari  02 Jan 2011

NOTE: If your Windows 7 install on the old computer is OEM that license can not be used to activate W7 on your new W8 machine. OEM license is locked to that one machine and is non-transferable. You'll need a new OEM or retail license to activate on the new W8 machine. If the old machine has a retail license it is transferable to the new W8 machine.

Re: transfer to another W7 machine. The W7 retail or OEM license on another W7 machine should activate it after sysprep and transfer.  

thx lawrence, I'll try tonight with kari's post, hopefully this will work in an efi environment.

Be aware that W7 is incompatible with Secure Boot. It must be disabled in F2 bios setup. You will need to enable Legacy Compatibility Mode. W7 will boot in Bios mode, not UEFI, but it will work for your purpose.

In the alternative, and more complicated: Install Windows 7 from an ISO image in UEFI Mode. Image the old C: W7 System partition you generalized with sysprep over the C: New W7 you just installed. Use a free cloning utility like Partition Wizard 8.1 

How: Download a W7 ISO. Make a bootable UEFI mode installation USB with Rufus freeware. This will create the necessary GPT format and EFI partitions that will allow W7 to boot in UEFI Mode.

I followed this excellent tutorial below and the method above to successfully install W7 in UEFI Mode in a dual boot with W8 and copied C: of a setup and activated W7 installation mistakenly installed in Bios Mode. They each boot in UEFI mode with Legacy mode disabled but Secure Boot must still be disabled for W7 to boot. I use F12 to choose which system.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/15458-uefi-bootable-usb-flash-drive-create-windows.html

UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows

Published by Brink 12 Dec 2012

thx lawrence & Brink,  I just saw your last post after I tried to image my old  WIN 7 64bit  to the new 1TB SSD Drive, thought i was successful until I saw the win 7 startup logo freeze then blue screen of death (corrupt acl error) ,  I even at some point in time try to rebuild bcd via command prompt with the BCD.0001 issue  but still NO JOY, i think my problem was that i did not generalized (sysprep) the old WIN 7 image, I have to get this done, I will follow your last post along with Brinx note today, hope i see some success...

QUESTION: When I sysprep the old HD win 7 and create a system image do I image both system reserved and C:  or just the C: partition?   the partition type is: MBR for the old drive and I will be going GPT on the drive.. thx

No, you don't need the old system reserved partition. (If you do want to retain the functions for some reason, see tutorial http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/71363-system-reserved-partition-delete.html )

1. In BIOS mode: if you image the generalized sysprep'd old W7 to the SSD on the new machine you would just have to run Startup Repair to fix the boot file.

2. In UEFI mode: If you do the fresh UEFI install via Rufus on your SDD in the new machine you simply delete the just installed C: partition and only copy the old generalized C: System partition in it's place.

ok, so I as of now I am in this state:

1. Old WIN 764-BIT HD (MBR type) has been syspreped (generalized) on an external 500GB LACIE DRIVE

2. WIN 7 64-BIT installation for UEFI (GPT) is ready for a clean install via USB STICK

3. New 1Tb internal SSD drive(converted to GPT) is awaiting install with new laptop in UEFI  mode, legacy DISABLED, Secure Boot  DISABLED

ok, so I will attempt everything tonight, before doing so, is there anything I should consider at this point?

2 important question I have:

--------------------------------------

1. is there a difference from using backup and restore vs. create a system image on the old win 7 partition I'm trying to move over?  

btw, I use backup and restore to make the image and made sure to select my personal files and folders as well as the C: partition, NO SYSTEM RESERVED (MSR) !!!

2. If my old image is on a MBR disk, when I move the old C: win 7 partition to the new 1Tb HD GPT disk partition will  the OS partition on the new Drive still remain GPT or will it revert to MBR?

THX FOR THE HELP SO FAR !!!:emotion-2:

"1. Old WIN 764-BIT HD (MBR type) has been syspreped (generalized) on an external 500GB LACIE DRIVE"

You booted into the old W7 and ran sysprep from within old W7, right? Unsure if sysprep will generalize an external drive.

"3. New 1Tb internal SSD drive(converted to GPT) is awaiting install with new laptop in UEFI  mode, legacy DISABLED, Secure Boot  DISABLED"

Those settings will probably work. Depending on your bios version and capability you may have to enable legacy compatibility mode in order to boot old W7 after copy C: to SSD . You may have to run startup repair from the install USB after copy.

"1. is there a difference from using backup and restore vs. create a system image on the old win 7 partition I'm trying to move over? "

You can try using the W7 native backup and restore feature to restore your old sysprep W7 C: image, but  if it's from an OEM W7 install they're often crippled and not fully functional. It might convert your disk back to MBR, Don't know.

I used Partition Wizard 8.1.1 to successfully copy an old W7 C: over a new W7 C: Uefi install.

Recommended procedure:

- Install Uefi W7 on SSD on new machine (no need to activate or update)

- Make a Partition Wizard bootable CD. DL from PW site  or create from your already installed PW

- Attach your external drive with old W7 C:

- Insert PW bootable CD

- Shut down, restart and Boot to PW CD. You may need to use F12 to select CD as boot device or you may need to change boot order to CD first in F2 setup, boot tab, depending on your bios.

- When PW loads, check disk properties and ensure SSD disk is GPT

- Delete ONLY new W7 C: partition on SSD

- Copy old W7 C: to unallocated space on SSD just created by deleting new W7 C:

- Shut down. Disconnect ext drive. Remove bootable CD

- Restart and it should boot into the copied W7.

If it doesn't boot into the copied W7 check your boot priority (F12) and reorder in setup if needed or/and run startup repair from your Uefi installation USB. Good luck

you were correct lawrence, followed the above instructions and was successful installing win 7 64 bit via UEFI  on my new SSD (GPT of course)

as far as imaging, i did not use partition wizard and ended up using MACRIUM REFLECT (not the free version) to image my old W7 drive (I ONLY IMAGED THE C: Partition and did not include MBR Information)

MY RESULTS:

so when I turn my new laptop on I see the windows 7 logo forming then a pause in the logo, then quick blue screen image then a reboot,  this happens like a loop until I shut the laptop down, I even try to boot into a windows PE environment and fix my MBR, but, still no LUCK 

Do have any suggestions as to what could be going on? I'm so close !!!:emotion-40:

"Do have any suggestions as to what could be going on?"

- You did copy the old W7 C: partition which you generalized by booting into the old W7 and running Sysprep? And you copied the generalized C: partition directly from that drive not an image?

- Enable Legacy Compatibility Mode in bios setup, boot tab. Ensure Secure Boot is Disabled. Reboot. 

-  If no joy try booting into Safe Mode to see if it's a driver issue.

-  If no joy run startup repair from your UEFI installation USB

- If that doesn't work check if the old W7 machine bios are set to SATA or AHCI? If your old W7 was installed in SATA mode it may not be compatible with AHCI / UEFI even after generalization.

Report results

Oh, and check to make sure you have the latest bios version on the new machine.