Once the Zinstall Migration Suite is installed on the source system, the application will immediately display the Scenario selection screen ( Figure A). The system had a host of data files on it as well, including audio, video, documents, and internet shortcuts.
The sourceĪs I mentioned in the introduction, the source computer for my test is an existing Windows 7 system with Microsoft Office and several other applications, such as Adobe Reader, iTunes, and Mozilla Firefox installed. Once you've performed the installation and activation procedure, you're ready to begin the migration. Installation is pretty straightforward and involves working through a Windows UAC and then a Zinstall activation procedure. Of course, Zinstall Migration Suite must be installed on both the source and target systems. If you have older applications that are not compatible with the new operating system, you should consider the transfer from a physical machine to a virtual machine type of migration. You'll then need to login as the same user on both systems.įor the machine-to-machine migration to be a successful venture, all the installed applications must be compatible with both operating systems.
There must be at least 1 GB free space on each system's hard drive.įurthermore, when migrating between two computers in a domain environment, the target system must be joined to the domain prior to the migration in order to allow it to authenticate the transferred profiles. In addition, you should close all running applications. So, you should disable the package or add Zinstall to the white list.
First, some anti-virus and internet security software mistakenly consider Zinstall software to be a threat. Considerationsīefore I get started, I want to point out a couple of things that you should take into consideration. For specific pricing details, contact the Zinstall sales department ( for a quote. The Zinstall Migration Suite is an enterprise-level product and, as such, pricing varies. I was able to connect to two systems simultaneously in TeamViewer's tabbed user interface and run the entire migration procedure remotely. To connect to the systems in the Zinstall test lab, I used TeamViewer, a free software package for remote control, desktop sharing, online meetings, web conferencing, and file transfer between computers. In this way, not only could I test their enterprise-level product, but I could also test one of the ways in which techs in a large organization might choose to migrate a large number of PCs - via a remote connection. As the discussion progressed, they offered to provide me with access to their test lab using a VPN connection and explained that I could run the entire migration procedure remotely.
Thus, I contacted my friends at Zinstall and asked about their Zinstall Migration Suite product. Zinstall XP7, the single-user product that I used in those articles, worked great in those situations, but I've been wondering about large-scale migrations - the type that the companies hanging onto Windows XP are (or will be) facing.
Now, as you may know, I've previously written other articles about Zinstall products and shown you how to move Windows XP from a physical machine to a virtual machine in Windows 7 and how to rescue Windows XP installation from a hard disk that was removed from a dead computer.
As I do, I'll use the package to migrate an existing Windows 7 system over to a new Windows 8.1 installation. In this article, I'll show you how the Zinstall Migration Suite works. There are several other migration scenarios that the Zinstall Migration Suite can perform, but these are probably the most common. For example, you can migrate from one computer to another, transfer from a physical machine to a virtual machine, perform an in-place upgrade, or simply transfer profiles, settings, and data. This tool will allow you to quickly and easily transfer an entire user workspace - including applications, settings, personalization, documents, domain settings, security policies, and data files - from one system to another in a multitude of scenarios. But then again, maybe it won't be.įortunately, the folks at Zinstall had you in mind when they developed their Zinstall Migration Suite. Regardless of the scenario, as the tech responsible for making such a transition a reality, you know that you are facing a monumental task. Is your organization planning on replacing Windows XP boxes with new systems running Windows 7? Or maybe you're planning on upgrading Windows 7 systems to Windows 8.1.