Manually transfer Windows program to another computer
This method should work for most Windows stand-alone programs.
This example shows how to transfer a legacy program called ACT! v5.0
- On the target PC use Windows to Create a Restore Point to backup the target Registry
- Connect drive to target PC to access backup of source machine for the purposes of this example we will call it drive g:
- On the target PC using Windows Explorer set View Hidden Files and System Protected files.
- On the Desktop (target machine) create a folder called “ACT” to save the ACT! registry hives
- Copy Program Files from backup to target machine
- Copy g:\Program Files (86)\ACT to c:\Program Files (86)\ACT
- Copy g:\ProgramData\ACT to c:\ProgramData\ACT
- Copy g:\Users\[name]\AppData\Local\ACT to c:\Users\[name]\AppData\Local\ACT
- Copy g:\Users\[name]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start\Menu\Programs\ACT to c:\Users\[name]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start\Menu\Programs\ACT
- Copy registry Hives from backup to target machine
- On target machine run Regedit
- Select HKEY_USERS
- Select File > Load Hive and navigate to source machine g:\users\NTUSER.DAT
- When prompted for a node name call it HKCU
- Open the new node and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Symantec
- Export this hive to Desktop\ACT as HKCU.reg
- Select the new node and select File > “Unload Hive”
- Select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
- Select File > Load Hive and navigate to source machine g:\Windows\System32\config\SOFTWARE
- When prompted for a node name call it HKLM
- Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Symantec
- Export this hive to Desktop\ACT as HKLM.reg
- Select the new node and select File > “Unload Hive”
- Close Regedit
- Prepare hives saved in Desktop\ACT
- Edit HKCU.reg with Notepad and replace HKEY_USERS\HKCU\SOFTWARE\ with HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\
- Edit HKLM.reg and replace HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HKLM\ with HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\
- Using Windows Explorer open each saved .reg file to populate the Registry with the ACT program settings.
The program should now be successfully installed in the new machine. To try it got to Start > “Program Files” and look for the ACT program entry.