Cloning Help cloning Windows Bootcamp Partition to New Windows device

[statman7]

Hi Folks,

Could use any insight here. I am trying to clone my bootcamp Windows 10 partition on my Macbook Pro to a new Windows PC.

I've tried Windows cloning programs like Macrium Reflect, without success. The Bootcamp partition is cloned on the new Windows PC, but the boot sequence fails.

Does anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks, AP

 

[chscag]

I've never used Macrium Reflect so can't comment on it, however, WinClone 6 does work and I believe it has been updated to work with the latest version of macOS and Windows.

 

[statman7]

I've never used Macrium Reflect so can't comment on it, however, WinClone 6 does work and I believe it has been updated to work with the latest version of macOS and Windows.

To verify before I purchase: I can take the Windows Bootcamp partition from the Mac side, and install that portion to be a bootable clone on the Windows PC?

 

[chscag]

To verify before I purchase: I can take the Windows Bootcamp partition from the Mac side, and install that portion to be a bootable clone on the Windows PC?

Not sure I completely understand what you're trying to do? WinClone is for cloning the Boot Camp partition on your Mac and copying that partition to another Mac. I don't know if it can be cloned to a Windows PC. You would have to ask their support about that. (If that's what you're trying to do?)

 

[statman7]

Not sure I completely understand what you're trying to do? WinClone is for cloning the Boot Camp partition on your Mac and copying that partition to another Mac. I don't know if it can be cloned to a Windows PC. You would have to ask their support about that. (If that's what you're trying to do?)

Yes, trying to move the content on the Windows partition from the dual boot to a Windows PC.

This must not be very common, as I can not find any topics on how this can be accomplished and WinClone will not answer me directly unless I'm a premium customer.

 

[AndyMacAndMic]

Yes, trying to move the content on the Windows partition from the dual boot to a Windows PC.

This must not be very common, as I can not find any topics on how this can be accomplished and WinClone will not answer me directly unless I'm a premium customer.

Indeed this is not very common because this is most certainly not going to work. Cloning Windows (and most other OS's) only works if you want to put it on another (or the same) machine with exactly the same hardware specifications. Cloning is only useful for backup purposes (if you want to restore your machine in case of a hdd failure etc.). A Mac and another brand PC are guaranteed to not have exactly the same hardware specs. The reason is simple: if Windows installs it scans the hardware and configures itself for that hardware (BIOS, CPU, RAM, GPU, Hdd etc.) and also will install drivers for those components. In your case probably MAC Boot Camp drivers are installed (made by Apple specifically for the Mac hardware). If you put a clone of that configuration on a completely different machine it simply will not work because there is a mismatch between Windows configuration/drivers and hardware. Can you imagine Apple Boot camp drivers working on a Windows PC? Not likely.

If you manage to make a clone it probably is going to crash (or simply not boot) on your new computer.

If you want to put Windows on another Windows PC you simply use a bootable Windows DVD (or flash drive) and do a fresh install on that PC. After that you always can copy files you want to move from your Mac to your PC. (Believe me, I know from experience and it will save you a lot of trouble!).

You can simply download a fresh Windows copy from the Microsoft site (this will also assist you with creating a bootable DVD or flashdrive):

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

If you bought an official version of Windows for your Mac (not an OEM version!) than you can transfer your license key from the Mac to the new PC without problems.

 

[statman7]

Not the answer I was hoping for, but you put this to bed for me. Now the fun task of copying files from one PC to the other!

 

[AndyMacAndMic]

Not the answer I was hoping for, but you put this to bed for me. Now the fun task of copying files from one PC to the other!

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news

 

[Malmin]

Cloning Windows (and most other OS's) only works if you want to put it on another (or the same) machine with exactly the same hardware specifications. Cloning is only useful for backup purposes (if you want to restore your machine in case of a hdd failure etc.). A Mac and another brand PC are guaranteed to not have exactly the same hardware specs. The reason is simple: if Windows installs it scans the hardware and configures itself for that hardware (BIOS, CPU, RAM, GPU, Hdd etc.) and also will install drivers for those components.

Windows 10 not only scans the hardware and configures itself when it is installing, it will scan the hardware and configure itself when it is booting when it detects changes. If drivers are missing, they can be added once boot-up is complete. AFAIK it's called a 'dirty install.'

This wasn't as efficient in earlier versions of Windows, but it was still possible to move clones around to different architectures.

 

[AndyMacAndMic]

Windows 10 not only scans the hardware and configures itself when it is installing, it will scan the hardware and configure itself when it is booting when it detects changes. If drivers are missing, they can be added once boot-up is complete. AFAIK it's called a 'dirty install.'

This wasn't as efficient in earlier versions of Windows, but it was still possible to move clones around to different architectures.

I gave my answer in this thread (post #6) more than a year ago .

I agree with you to a certain point, but it still happens a lot that a 'dirty install' does not work and the computer will not boot or be highly unstable. In that case there are simply to many changes in hardware and drivers that Windows can not 'recover' itself at boot time. In the case of the OP this clearly happened and the only way to install Windows on the new machine is a fresh install.

The problem here can be (educated guess) that the original computer (Mac) uses Apple provided drivers (with bootcamp) and the target PC (a Windows machine with different hardware) does not. From my experience now a year later (and people I know) a 'dirty' Windows install can work, but it is a lottery on a completely different architecture. As said, with the OP it clearly did not work and my answer was based on that.

 

[Malmin]

I gave my answer in this thread (post #6) more than a year ago .

It ranks high in searches on the subject.

I agree with you to a certain point, but it still happens a lot that a 'dirty install' does not work and the computer will not boot or be highly unstable.

I've done a hundred or so over the years, and have yet to find one that wouldn't work.

In that case there are simply to many changes in hardware and drivers that Windows can not 'recover' itself at boot time.

Windows not booting generally means it can't find a boot device. That can be fixed by installing drivers from the Recovery Console.

In the case of the OP this clearly happened and the only way to install Windows on the new machine is a fresh install.

Most likely is that the MacBook's partitioning scheme and boot loaders are incompatible with a PC, not the Windows install itself.

From my experience now a year later (and people I know) a 'dirty' Windows install can work, but it is a lottery on a completely different architecture.

In my experience with dozens of different PCs, homebuilt and name-brand, 32- and 64-bit, there's no lottery. Occasionally, a driver needs to be uninstalled or a registry entry cleaned.

As said, with the OP it clearly did not work and my answer was based on that.

The OP tried copying a Bootcamp partition from a MacBook to a PC and expected it to boot. I'm not surprised it didn't work.

 

[mwasking]

Had the source hdd, the destination hdd, and a third hdd by luck.

Second hdd backs up the source hdd on MacOS by Carbon Copy Cloner.

Step 2: Log on to Bootcamp on source hdd and back up Bootcamp to the third hdd. Used Paragon business trial version.

Step 3: Remove the source hdd from the mac and install the second hdd that now has the MacOS backed up to it and install Windows afresh, partitioning and all that is required by Bootcamp assistant.

Step 4: Log on to the new Bootcamp and restore the backed up bootcamp by Paragon again and enjoy the initial state of your computer.

Note: If you were upgrading to a bigger hdd, the new bootcamp restored to the initial volume size and had unallocated space. Head on to Disk Manager, where you extend C: drive for bootcamp to accommodate the extra space, or just make a new partition with the extra space if you like.

Enjoy!