Use the backup agent to help move to Windows 10

Overview

As Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 have reached their official end of support, consider using the the backup agent to help ensure a safe, secure, and reliable transfer to Windows 10. If your IT organization provides you a new Windows 10 computer (also known as a "device"), you can use the backup agent to transfer all your files from your old Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 device to your new Windows 10 device.

This article provides a high-level overview of the steps. Complete instructions can be found in Migrate Windows user settings to a new device.

Affects

Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 devices that have reached end of support. To determine if your device is impacted, see Microsoft's Windows lifecycle fact sheet.

Benefits

The backup agent provides a replace device wizard to help you move to Windows 10:

Easily select the files to transfer from your old device to your new device.
Keep working while the replace device wizard transfers files in the background. The most recently modified files are transferred first so you can get back to work on your most important files sooner.
Once the file transfer is complete, your backups resume automatically and you don't need to complete a full backup again.
Transfer your old device's Windows settings (such as your desktop background and shortcuts) to your new device using Microsoft's User State Migration Tool (USMT). This saves you time because you don't need to spend time reconfiguring your Windows settings when moving to Windows 10.

Before you begin

This tutorial assumes that:

The backup agent is already installed and backing up files on your Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 device.
You are transferring files from a Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 device to a new device running Windows 10. If you need to transfer files from a Windows device to a device running a different operating system like Linux or Mac OS, see Replace a device with a different operating system or file system.
Your administrator has already set up Microsoft's User State Migration Tool (USMT) on your device so that you can transfer your Windows settings. For instructions, administrators should refer to Migrate Windows user profiles and data.

Steps

Using the following steps, you can transfer files from your Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 device to a new device running Windows 10.

Step 1: Confirm that your old Windows device is backed up

Ensure that all of the files you want to move from your Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 device are completely backed up to at least one destination. You can view your backed up files from the Get Files screen.

Step 2: Install the backup agent on your new device

If your IT organization has given you a new device running Windows 10, it may already have the backup agent installed. If not, perform the following steps.

Install the backup agent on your new device.
Sign in using your existing account.

Step 3: Start the replace device wizard to replace an existing device

The first time you sign in to the backup agent on a new device, it looks for backups of other devices belonging to your account. If it finds any, the backup agent prompts you to add a new device or replace an existing one.

Select Replace Existing.
Click Start.

Step 4: Follow the steps in the replace device wizard

Continue by following the steps in the replace device wizard. For complete instructions, see Migrate Windows user settings to a new device.

If you need extra help, see Migrate Windows user settings — troubleshooting.

External resources

Microsoft: Windows lifecycle fact sheet
Microsoft: Windows 7 support will end on January 14, 2020
Microsoft: Announcing Windows 8.1 support lifecycle policy
Microsoft: Lifecycle Policy

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