Refresh Computer

This section describes how to use Windows Easy Transfer in the Refresh Computer scenario. Recall that in this scenario, you are not replacing the computer. Instead, you are formatting the hard drive and then installing Windows 7 on it. As a result, you must save user documents and settings in a temporary location. To do this, follow these steps:

1. On the user's computer, run Windows Easy Transfer. To start Windows Easy Transfer, open the path that contains the Windows Easy Transfer files (on a UFD, removable USB drive, or network share) and then double-click the Windows Easy Transfer shortcut.
2. On the Welcome To Windows Easy Transfer screen, click Next.
3. Connect the portable USB drive or network share to the computer and then click An External Hard Disk Or USB Flash Drive.
4. Click This Is My Old Computer.
5. On the Choose What To Transfer From This Computer screen, choose each user account that you want to transfer to Windows 7. Selecting Shared Items, migrates public documents, music, pictures, and settings. You can customize what to transfer from each folder by clicking Customize under each one.
6. On the Save Your Files And Settings For Transfer screen, type and confirm a password with which you want to protect the migration data and then click Save. Microsoft recommends that you create a password to protect the information, but if you want, you also can click Save without typing and confirming a password.
7. In the Save Your Easy Transfer File dialog box, type the path of the file in which you want to store the migration data. This is not a folder path; it's the path and name of the file you want Windows Easy Transfer to create. The location can be on a network share or it can be on a portable drive. Click Save.
8. After Windows Easy Transfer finishes saving your migration data, click Next.
9. Confirm the location where Windows Easy Transfer saved your migration data and then click Next.
10. Click Close.
11. With the computer's user documents and settings safely in temporary storage, you can now install Windows 7 on the computer. Continue with the remainder of these steps after successfully installing Windows 7.
12. After installing Windows 7, connect the computer to the portable drive or network share on which you stored the migration data. In Windows Explorer, open the folder containing the migration data and then double-click the migration (.mig) file that you created before installing Windows 7. This starts Windows Easy Transfer.
13. On the Choose What To Transfer To This Computer screen, choose the accounts that you want to transfer to Windows 7 and then click Next. You can select which types of files and settings to transfer by clicking Customize. Additionally, you can map account names from the old computer to account names in Windows 7 by clicking Advanced Options.
14. Click Transfer to begin transferring the documents and settings from the migration file to the computer.
15. On the Your Transfer Is Complete screen, do either of the following and then click Close:
    • Click See What Was Transferred to see a detailed list of the accounts, documents, and settings transferred from the previous operating system to Windows 7.
    • Click See A List Of Programs You Might Want To Install On Your New Computer to see a list of applications installed on the previous operating system that you might want to reinstall in Windows 7. Install these applications after you finish migrating your documents and settings to Windows 7.
16. Click Restart Now to restart the computer. You must restart the computer for the changes to take effect.