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Windows Easy Transfer no longer on 8.1 -- anyone recommend a great alternative program

Hello,


I have read and asked about a very good feature (at least I thought so) for moving from one computer to another or an OS to another version, WET.  I bleive it kept your settings and moved the proper things around so you did not have to start from scratch positioning the Ribbon, etc.


Now that MS has decided to deprecate WET for 8.1, would anyone know of a third part product that does the same thing.


A Bing search provides both too much and too little information...


Many thanks!

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Updating from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 will preserve your files and settings. There is no need for Easy Transfer. 

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Thank you for your response.


My question is about moving one computer to another.  Or to the next version of Windows.


Since WET is gone, I am simply looking for an alternative product that does the same thing.


Thank you again.

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I had a brand new 8.1 machine fail today and I was responsible for migrating the account to a new unit also running 8.1. I *very much* needed Easy Transfer for that, and it wasn't there so I had to physically pull the drive and manually copy the user profile. This is unacceptable.  Machine to machine migrations still happen, and Microsoft never should have removed WET.

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I face exactly the same problem, I need to move a user profile to a new machine that also running Windows 8.1, but there is no facility to achieve this other than copy the data files. It used to only take a few clicks & there user didn't know the difference, now it's not possible, talk about a backwards step.

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Why do you think Easy Transfer is missing in 8.1?

Even if it does say it has been depreciated, it will still work.
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ASUS Z790 Intel i9 13900K
Fully Win 11 Qualified
Intel Wireless BE200 network adapter

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Respectfully, it does not. Attach two Windows 8.1 machines together with an Easy Transfer cable and try to migrate a profile, or even try to get the old PC to make an Easy transfer file the new one can read-- it won't do it. Did it in 8.0, but not 8.1. And before you say it, no, not every user has the skydrive  cloud sync that supposedly obsoletes this tool.

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Respectfully, it does not. Attach two Windows 8.1 machines together with an Easy Transfer cable and try to migrate a profile, or even try to get the old PC to make an Easy transfer file the new one can read-- it won't do it. Did it in 8.0, but not 8.1. And before you say it, no, not every user has the skydrive  cloud sync that supposedly obsoletes this tool.


I don't use SkyDrive, so even though it appears to be active anyway, except for storing any files, it should not be relevant.  But I have no idea how it and a Easy Transferred system might interact.

Windows 8.1 seems to be a little different regarding profiles than earlier versions.  It might be related to the Windows Store and the configuration of some of the Apps, but not really sure.  The Sysprep tool does not seem to be able to prepare and upgraded 8.1 system, which might also be related.

All I am saying is, the utility still appears to be available...   Is it not functional and from what OSes are you using it?

If you use the utility, I can see why you would want it continued.
_____________________________________
ASUS Z790 Intel i9 13900K
Fully Win 11 Qualified
Intel Wireless BE200 network adapter

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I am a computer technician at retail, so I use WET on a variety of different machines, especially when a customer retires an old XP or Vista unit and needs to get a new Windows 8 machine with data migration.  But in this case my scenario was this: A windows 8.1 machine that had customer data on it was returned due to a manufacturer defect. We had to swap in a new 8.1 machine to replace it, and migrate the data. WET would no longer work with the cable to go from one 8.1 machine to another. Nor could I get the old machine to make an easy transfer file to open on the new one. It cost me a lot of time opening the machine and copying the profile, which doesn't cleanly integrate with the new machine when copied by hand. There is no reason that two modern machines shouldn't be able to be connected and a profile easily transferred.

WET wasn't broken in 8 and below and should not have been broken in 8.1 just because someone thought the cloud was the only way forward. WET is very, very useful still and needs to be brought back, even if as a hidden power tool. As it is I have to work around it by using a copied version of WET from a Windows 8 machine, but this is suboptimal.

Edit: To clarify, yes *a* version of WET is in 8.1, but it is crippled compared to the one it replaced from 8.0.

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Thanks Microsoft. 

So what are we in the Enterprise supposed to do? I'm running Win8.1 Enterprise, I'm not going to ask my users to set up a Microsoft account so they can use SkyDrive to migrate from one computer to another, in addition to their enterprise e-mail account. That's absurd.

What were you guys thinking? Seriously. This is remarkably lame. It's like Microsoft wants to go out of business.

Removing WET functionality so we can't move accounts from one machine to another (over the network, using the easy transfer cable, etc.) cuts us off at the knees. Now we have to scramble to find an alternative, necessarily non-Microsoft.

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I found a way to get Easy Transfer back in Windows 8.1!!!!

Take out your Windows 8.0 DVD Browse to the SUPPORT Folder then Browse to the MIGWIZ folder and double click MIGWIZ.EXE!

I tried it and shazzam The old Windows 8 East Transfer Wizard ran!!!!! YEA!!!

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Last updated May 4, 2024 Views 5,049 Applies to: