# Moving programs (not documents) to a new computer



## NRA_guy (Jun 9, 2015)

My laptop running Windows 7 has "bricked" (will not power up). 

The green "power" light lights up and some of the other LEDs flicker and go off. 

It makes no beeps.

The CD/DVD player mostly does not turn.

It is not a bad hard drive. (I removed it and hooked it up via a USB cord and it turns and still has all my files. I also ran a virus check and it does not have a virus.)

It is not bad RAM. (I swapped it to a different PC and it worked fine.)

It is not a bad power supply.

It does not seem to be the display. (I connected it to an external display via a VGA connector.)

I think it may be the mother board or the CPU gone bad.

So I ordered another (very similar, refurbished) laptop that will come with Windows 7.

I know how to copy my files (such as My Documents) to the new laptop. No problem.

And I know how I could clone the entire old hard drive to completely replace the new one---but I don't want to do that.

*QUESTION: Is there any way to copy my programs (like the retail versions of MS Office and Adobe Pro) from my old hard drive to my new laptop without cloning the Windows operating system?*

I prefer not to reinstall them from the original discs. Some of the programs that I use probably would not let me install them again---assuming that I could find the installation discs. And some were downloaded and I have no installation disc. I don't even know where some of the programs came from.

I want to keep the new version of Windows 7 that comes on the refurbished laptop, and import all my other programs (not just My Documents) to the refurbished laptop.

Thanks.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

You can't copy programs from one PC to another, because Windows applications need to be installed to work properly.

You could transplant the hard drive into the new computer, but Windows probably will stop working. When you boot, Windows looks around its environment to see what's changed since the last boot. Windows will tolerate minor hardware changes, but if too much has changed it concludes that it's in a new computer. Since using Windows in more than one machine is a licensing violation, Windows will stop working after a short while.

You're probably best off with a fresh Windows install and reinstalling applications, but if you don't have the install media it puts you in a bind. You could just break down and call Microsoft, but they may want a licensing fee.


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## Bellyman (Jul 6, 2013)

I don't know if this works or not, haven't tried it, but, could you run your old hard drive in an external hard drive enclosure connected through a USB port and run the programs on it on your new computer? Or would you have to be running the OS on the old hard drive in order to run the programs on it?


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## NRA_guy (Jun 9, 2015)

Yep, thanks.

I meant to mention that I cannot even get to the BIOS on the bricked laptop.

It has been my experience that software folks blame your hardware, and hardware folks blame your software.

Truth is that PCs have become so complicated that everybody has trouble nailing down and fixing some problems.

I dread my eventual, inevitable transition to Windows 10 or whatever comes after 10.

I have heard good things about Linux but I just hate to go that route.

Personally, I liked DOS just fine before Bill Gates bought rights to it. 

I still use DOS commands sometimes. 

Thanks again for the quick reply.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

There are some "portable" apps for windows that are just an exe file that you click on to run. They are indeed portable since they have no registry entries. But when program writes to the registry when installed, it will only work on the windows to which it was installed. Now if you can boot windows from that hard drive, then any program installed on that windows will work in the new computer. But only if the windows on that hard drive will boot on new computer.

I have found win10 is lot more portable than older windows. I have put it on external usb drive and got that drive to boot on more than one computer. It does have to change drivers so doesnt necessarily work. And if you installed it from a UEFI computer, it wont boot on a legacy computer, and vice versa. I did see mention of way to make it work on both, but wasnt worth it to me to find out.


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## Declan (Jan 18, 2015)

I think you are pretty out of luck. I am not sure turning your hard drive into a slave drive on your new computer will do that. It is one of the reasons I do not like to buy software that does not come with a physical CD.


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## NRA_guy (Jun 9, 2015)

Bellyman said:


> I don't know if this works or not, haven't tried it, but, could you run your old hard drive in an external hard drive enclosure connected through a USB port and run the programs on it on your new computer? Or would you have to be running the OS on the old hard drive in order to run the programs on it?


Maybe. I hate to lug an external drive around with my laptop, though.

The main reason for the laptop is its portability.

But I may have to go that route.

Thanks.


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## NRA_guy (Jun 9, 2015)

Declan said:


> I think you are pretty out of luck. I am not sure turning your hard drive into a slave drive on your new computer will do that. It is one of the reasons I do not like to buy software that does not come with a physical CD.


Yep. I agree.

I liked the old days when I could just copy the .exe file to the new PC and it would run.

That was before programs were "installed".

Thanks.


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## NRA_guy (Jun 9, 2015)

HermitJohn said:


> There are some "portable" apps for windows that are just an exe file that you click on to run. They are indeed portable since they have no registry entries. But when program writes to the registry when installed, it will only work on the windows to which it was installed. Now if you can boot windows from that hard drive, then any program installed on that windows will work in the new computer. But only if the windows on that hard drive will boot on new computer.
> 
> I have found win10 is lot more portable than older windows. I have put it on external usb drive and got that drive to boot on more than one computer. It does have to change drivers so doesnt necessarily work. And if you installed it from a UEFI computer, it wont boot on a legacy computer, and vice versa. I did see mention of way to make it work on both, but wasnt worth it to me to find out.


Thanks.

What I would like to do (but know I can't) is clone everything from my old hard drive---except Windows---to my new hard drive.

I'll probably just try putting my old hard drive physically in my new (refurbished) laptop and see what happens.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Bellyman said:


> I don't know if this works or not, haven't tried it, but, could you run your old hard drive in an external hard drive enclosure connected through a USB port and run the programs on it on your new computer? Or would you have to be running the OS on the old hard drive in order to run the programs on it?


The program files can be located anyplace that's always accessible, but large applications still have to be installed properly and registered through the Windows installation on the C drive.



HermitJohn said:


> There are some "portable" apps for windows that are just an exe file that you click on to run.


That's true. Some small applications can run without installing. They're just stand-alone executable files. But large applications like MS Office need to be installed.


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## Declan (Jan 18, 2015)

NRA_guy said:


> Yep. I agree.
> 
> I liked the old days when I could just copy the .exe file to the new PC and it would run.
> 
> ...


Come on now. Every now and then they would make it a .com file just to mix things up before that was hijacked for the interwebz url's.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

Nevada said:


> The program files can be located anyplace that's always accessible, but large applications still have to be installed properly and registered through the Windows installation on the C drive.
> 
> 
> 
> That's true. Some small applications can run without installing. They're just stand-alone executable files. But large applications like MS Office need to be installed.


There is a portable version of Firefox. Small program? Seriously the registry thing is to protect commercial interests and keep people from easy doing what original poster wants to do. Thats it. Large programs could be run as an executable file or more likely a self contained directory of files and libraries, without registry, if the creators so wished.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

HermitJohn said:


> There is a portable version of Firefox.


Firefox isn't a problem, since it can be downloaded and installed easily for free.



HermitJohn said:


> Seriously the registry thing is to protect commercial interests and keep people from easy doing what original poster wants to do.


There are several reasons why Windows maintains a registry. The primary function of the registry is to store application settings in a central location. In contrast, Linux doesn't have a central registry. In Linux, application settings are stored in flat text files which are generally either kept in the individual application directories, or in the /etc directory. Neither method is necessarily right or wrong, it's just a different way of doing the same thing.

I suspect that Windows uses a registry because it's a proprietary operating system. The registry also keeps track of licensing information (probably the "commercial interests" you mentioned) for Microsoft and other products. Linux is open source, as are most Linux applications, so Linux doesn't need to track licensing the way Windows has to.

But regardless of the reasons for the registry's existence, Windows users are pretty much stuck with it.


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## NRA_guy (Jun 9, 2015)

^ Thanks for the feedback.

Yeah. But go into regedit on a Windows machine and search for something like "itunes" and you get a bazillion hits hanging around in the registry---even after you uninstall all of the Apple junk.

(Yes, there is freeware that will enable you to find it all and delete it. But that comes with some dangers.)

And what really annoys me is installing something like MS Office or Adobe Pro and choosing "English" and later stumbling across files for 150 or 160 other language capabilities in their program directory/folder. I will never need Uzbek. It just takes up space in my opinion.


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## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

Sure glad I have a Apple so I don't have to worry about all this crud. Love it. And my iPad is great match up with my iMac as well. And Apple TV is also a great thing to have around. LOL


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

arabian knight said:


> Sure glad I have a Apple so I don't have to worry about all this crud. Love it. And my iPad is great match up with my iMac as well. And Apple TV is also a great thing to have around. LOL


The Windows blue screen is a condition caused by dividing by zero, usually from either a programming error or a memory fault. It can also happen when you run out of memory and it does a read or write error with the hard drive. It happens sometimes, and there's really no way to avoid it totally. Memory quality and programming has gotten a lot better in recent years so it doesn't happen is much as it used to, but it still happens. Some Windows machines can go for years of use without a single blue screen.

Mac & Linux machines don't show a blue screen, but the same problems can occur. Instead they call it a kernel panic. The result is the same. The system is halted and you have to do a hard boot.


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## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

Well at least the kernel for Macs is UNIX. Cool


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## popscott (Oct 6, 2004)

Pull out the Battery and disconnect the AC adapter... Press and hold the power button for 30 seconds. Put the battery back in and try powering up the laptop


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## TroyT (Jun 24, 2008)

The issue with moving software from one computer to another is a complex one, but not an impossible one. Most software can be moved, other software can not be moved. Some issues that effect the ability to move software, are things like, hardware drivers, general incompatibility with the new system's OS, how the application is licensed/activated and differences in the bitness of the OS (32bit vs 64bit). For example, if you have an application that is bitness aware, the installer for the application may install files X,Y and Z for a 32 bit OS and files A, B and C for a 64bit OS. When you attempt to move such an application from the 32 bit system to the 64 bit system, the required files are not there to move. After you move the application, and you attempt to launch the application, the main EXE does a check and says, "I'm on the 64 bit system so I need to load files A, B and C rather than X, Y and Z." the required files are not there so the application fails to launch. 

During the Microsoft Window 10 upgrade push, Microsoft partnered with Laplink Software who makes a product called PCmover. The version that Microsoft gave away only moved, user files, but I know that Laplink makes a version that will move applications as well.


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## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

I guess the question would be why not re-installl the apps. If there legit apps you should have the software on hand. While some tools can move programs I have found down the road this often causes issue with dll being outdated. Reinstall and you get a fresh copy, You can also apply any updates/patches at the same time. Start with a fresh new machines and software loads.


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