# Windows 7 Cloning - Tools? Issues?



## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

I have a number of new W7 desktops to be setup identically.
Has anyone here done any cloning and if so, what tools did you use?
Any issues with licensing or WGA?


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

I will be attempting to clone them using the built-in disk imaging program in W7.
We'll know something here shortly.


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

That seems to have gone very well.
The imaging utility is straighforward and simple to use. Kudos to MS on that, but I suspect they bought the technology from Acronis or Ghost?

I saved the image to an external USB drive (About 20 GB).
I was then prompted to create a bootable recovery disk, which was easily done as well.
Shut down the parent system and booted the target system with the CD. Chose to restore from image.
Ten minutes or so later, it was done.

I'll just let them both run with the same key and see if there are any problems, but I'm expecting them to be fine, since all hardware was identical.


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

Marlin Guy said:


> That seems to have gone very well.
> The imaging utility is straighforward and simple to use. Kudos to MS on that, but I suspect they bought the technology from Acronis or Ghost?
> 
> I saved the image to an external USB drive (About 20 GB).
> ...


Same key violates the EULA (Unless it is a family license). WGA will eventually catch it.

And also violates the terms of DBStalk...


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

OK, so now that I've cloned the installation, how do I change the key on the second machine to match the sticker?


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

....And what good is an imaging tool if you can't legally clone an installation to save setup and configuration time and money?


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

Marlin Guy said:


> ....And what good is an imaging tool if you can't legally clone an installation to save setup and configuration time and money?


Right click on "Computer"
Click on Properties
And you'll get an option to "Change Product Key".

That will let you enter the other sticker and you're good (both here and with Microsoft.) 

Some tools will let you copy a "Pre-activation" version so the user has to enter that as the initial setup completes.

Others will do what you did, and so long as a valid key is entered in 30 days or so, you won't have any problems. Tho some updates might check.

Cheers,
Tom


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

No such button on these installations.
I read where that was available on the betas, but it doesn't appear to be there on the final versions.
I'll try the command line version tomorrow.
I'm not going back out there (to the office) tonight.
This Noreaster is getting nasty!


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

Marlin Guy said:


> No such button on these installations.
> I read where that was available on the betas, but it doesn't appear to be there on the final versions.
> I'll try the command line version tomorrow.
> I'm not going back out there (to the office) tonight.
> This Noreaster is getting nasty!


It takes a moment to pop up, but it does appear on both my RC and RTM versions.

And definitely play it safe--stay at home, keep warm, and watch some DIRECTV.


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

I'll check again tomorrow.
Thanks.
Survivor tonight was... WOW!


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## wingrider01 (Sep 9, 2005)

Marlin Guy said:


> OK, so now that I've cloned the installation, how do I change the key on the second machine to match the sticker?


sysprep

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/302577


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

wingrider01 said:


> sysprep
> 
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/302577


Not when I can clone the darned thing drop that image in ten minutes. :lol:


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

The change key button never came up.
Using the command line method allowed me to enter the key from the sticker, but validation failed.

I'm going to re-apply the image and see how it goes from there.
I've done it like that for years with XP and some Vista with no problems at all.

BTW, these are Dell PC's.


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## wingrider01 (Sep 9, 2005)

Marlin Guy said:


> Not when I can clone the darned thing drop that image in ten minutes. :lol:


And how much time have you spent trying to get the other work arounds functioning? By the way - it is the only supported method


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

wingrider01 said:


> And how much time have you spent trying to get the other work arounds functioning? By the way - it is the only supported method


I spent about 20 minutes on it and it appears to be working fine.
I visited the MS validation site and it said that the copy was legit.


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## wingrider01 (Sep 9, 2005)

Marlin Guy said:


> I spent about 20 minutes on it and it appears to be working fine.
> I visited the MS validation site and it said that the copy was legit.


validated or not, the only supported method by MS is sysprep. Glad you got it working though. We jsut got done doing the sysprep on a Win 7 configuration took about 30 minutes, but then we have done it for just about every MS OS that is supported under it, when you roll out 300 to 400 PC's at time it comes in handy


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

I'll look at for the next set of systems, but I just didn't have the time for this go 'round.


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## jerry downing (Mar 7, 2004)

Tom Robertson said:


> Right click on "Computer"
> Click on Properties
> And you'll get an option to "Change Product Key".
> 
> ...


Everything here is correct on my version of Win7. You will have to scroll to get the bottom of the screen where the product key is shown. Right next to it is the line "Change Product Key".


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

Being Dells (mass produced OEM), I suspect that feature has been turned off.


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