"Windows Easy Transfer can't transfer your files and settings." Why?

I saved my files and settings from a previous installation of windows 7 to an external hard drive using windows easy transfer. Now when I try to transfer those files and setting to my new installation I get the following message:
Windows Easy Transfer can't transfer your files and settings.
The message pops up only a few seconds after the transfer begins.
Why is this?! I need those files and windows has screwed me. Everything is basically the same as before I reinstalled. Same computer, same windows 7 installation just recovered to factory settings. Same system language as before. BTW I'm on a Toshiba L505 laptop
running Windows 7 Home Premium.
I have tried all the usual suspects such as a clean boot and uninstalling my antivirus to rule out third party interference. I have more than enough space on both my computer and on the external hard drive. I have tried only transferring a user account a
few MBs large. I have reinstalled the OS twice just in case something went wrong there. I have clicked on the .MIG file directly. All lead to the same error message.The transfer file seems to be intact and not currupt
Is there another software other than WET that can use the same transfer file that WET created to restore my files? Please help me solve this if you can or at least point me in the right direction because right now I'm clueless. I can't emphasize how important
those files are to me. I've searched for solutions on several forums and it seems that this is a problem people have been having for years now and windows hasn't provided an answer yet.
An interesting note, When I reboot the laptop after trying to do the transfer, a new user account appears at startup alongside the one I normally use. This new user account has the same unique name of the user account I am trying to restore but that's where
the similarity ends. All the settings for this account are default settings and empty folders. What does this mean?

Hi Vincent, like I said I tried all of that already and it failed. Thanks a lot for trying to help though. Imperfect1, so sorry I took so long to reply. No that's not the case. I was trying to restore from x86 to x86.
Well, I finally gave up. I've scoured the internet for a solution. You'll probably find duplicates of this post all over. This has been a known software problem with Windows Easy Transfer for years and Microsoft has done nothing to fix it or warn users of
the risks. Shameful!
Anyway, I managed to recover my files with this life saver of a program here>
http://www.visser.com.au/blog/migrecover-for-microsofts-windows-easy-transfer/
MigRecover Utility for Microsoft's Windows Easy Transfer.
I can't express how grateful I am to the developer and the host for the download. You guys are the most awesomest people ever. Cheers.
Here's how you modify the syntax in commmand prompt if you used a password to protect the mig file in WET>
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itproinstall/thread/68910c1a-3c4b-47af-bb22-0e7ec6f2054f/
Just remember to change the source drive letter in "C:\SaveData.MIG" to the actual drive it's stored on if your MIG file is on an external drive like mine was; whether it's E:, F:, G: or whatever.
Good luck to anyone with the same issue who stumbles upon this post. I hope it helps you as it did me.
AsdyAsks

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If you reinstall Mac OSX 10.5, does it erase all your files and settings??

If you reinstall Mac OSX 10.5, does it erase all your files and settings, if it does, how would you install iMovie by itself, because I accidenatlly deleted imovie

jd087 wrote:
If you reinstall Mac OSX 10.5, does it erase all your files and settings,
that depends what reinstall option you choose. an erase and install will erase everything. an archive and install will preserve user data and applications.
However neither one will reinstall imovie which is part of ilife which is separate from the OS itself. you can reinstall ilife only. there is no need to reinstall the whole OS. if you bought ilife separately then use the ilife DVD. if ilife came with your mac then insewrt install disk 1 that came with your computer, open it in finder and double-click on "install bundled software only".

I am trying to transfer my files and settings from a windows 7 Ultimate 32bit machine to a windows Professional 64 bit machine

used easy transfer both machines are on a domain both are the same user yet i get an error message that says
" Windows Easy transfer can't log onto your domain"
Your new computer might not be connected to the domain.
Tried via the network same message yet both machines can see each other.
Tried saving it to a file on my external buffalo drive (Same message)
Downloaded it to the new machines Desktop (Same Message)
Can any one helps given up trying to talk to Support they want a Mortgage just to speak to them Grr

Hi,
Have a try to change the user account from the current user account.
You can do this by pressing the advanced button at the bottom of the screen where you see the transfer button.
Please refer to this thread:
Windows Easy Transfer can't log on to your domain account
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_install/windows-easy-transfer-cant-log-on-to-your-domain/da341b4e-9f10-4334-a7a3-0f743dd08910
Meanwhile as this is a Windows 7 related issue so it is recommanded to post to Windows 7 forum.
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/w7itpro/
TechNet Subscriber Support in forum |If you have any feedback on our support, please contact [email protected]

Windows Easy Transfer, not enough disk space

I am trying to transfer my files and settings from old WinXP to new Win7 PC, using Windows 7 Easy Transfer. I am using the network transfer option on my home network. The wizard is pretty straightforward and all went well until I clicked Transfer. I got
an error message that said not enough disk space. (It did not say which PC.) The transfer size is 32 GB, but I have 550 GB available on Win7. The XP PC has only 10 GB free, but why should that matter?
And yes, the Win7 PC is marked as the "new" computer.
Thanks for any suggestions.

Hi,
May I know how many drives you transferred?
Windows Easy Transfer maps the old computer drives to the new computer drives while transferring data. In other words, information on each drive on your old computer
will be transferred to the respective drives on your new computer. Therefore, if the size on the other partition doesn't have enough disk space then we come across the error: "Not enough hard drive space available"
I recommend the following two suggestions.
1. Click on Advanced when transferring files from the old computer and select the only files and settings that you want to transfer, if other partitions are selected
make sure to uncheck them if it’s not required for you to transfer.
2. Try to transfer one partition data at a time and check.
Once the transfer process is successful or failure, you can anytime view Windows Easy Transfer Reports to know the details about the transfer.
To open Windows Easy Transfer Reports
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/transfer-files-and-settings-from-another-computer
Best Regards,
Niki
Please remember to click "Mark as Answer" on the post that helps you, and to click "Unmark as Answer" if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Windows Easy Transfer (WET) Issues with External Hard Drive - "Can't read from the source file or disk"

I work for Office Depot, in the tech department. Basically, one of our associates was supposed to do a data backup, and re-install Windows 7, then transfer the files back. He used Windows Easy Transfer and compacted everything into a 163 GB file.
Now comes the hard part. When we try to put it back on his computer ((drag-and-drop to the desktop) which has been wiped back to factory settings using the recovery partition), it stops at 79.5 GB remaining (you know how it doesn't give you a % of completion,
it just shows how many GB are remaining) and then says "Can't read from the source file or disk" and gives you an option to try again, or cancel. It gets hung up on the same point each time.
Normally, this wouldn't be a huge issue, but the contents on the drive are his wife's architect blueprints and interior design stuff, along with wedding photos, etc, which are the only copies they have. On top of those, they have court documents and other
important files that we are unable to access now.
I wasn't involved with this transfer, so I'm trying to clean up the mess as best I can. I remembered that the customer's wife was Russian, and had some files typed with a Russian keyboard, so on and so forth. I wonder if that's the issue? If not, I really
have no idea how to manually extract things from a ".mig" file, or how to diagnose what area is potentially corrupted.
In light of this situation, we tried using "Recuva" to recover the files post-wipe, but everything was corrupted or unable to be opened, and it also extracted and recovered all of the "useless" photos, such as the skype logos, up and
down arrows for browsers, etc (it was 160,000+ photos).
Trying to avoid a potential lawsuit, unhappy customer, and costing the company lots of money to see if professionals can get into this external hard drive.
Other relevant information:
We used a Toshiba 500 GB (465 GB) external hard drive.
Customer's computer is an HP Pavilion P6000 Series (Model No. p6520y) running Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Service Pack 1.
Any other information that is needed can be provided, thanks in advance, and hopefully we can find a solution to this issue quickly!
-John

I think there's a lack of understanding somewhere.
"If you even can't start the process, please unplug it from your new PC. Then head back to your new computer and plug
the external drive back in to your new computer. "
Unplug from new, head back to new, plug it back in? That doesn't make much sense! Haha.
I knew what you meant though, somewhat. When I search through the drives after clicking yes (Has windows easy transfer
already saved your files blah blah blah) I click on the transfer file and it says "Windows Easy Transfer could not open the file".
Rather than drag-and-drop the file to the desktop, I now tried to double-click on the file itself while it was plugged
into the computer. It opened, and it started transferring until it was about 70% completed, and then an error popped up saying "WET can't open the easy transfer file, make sure your USB device is plugged in or check your internet connection".
I checked, and the USB hard drive's light wasn't on. Now, I unplug it and plug it back in, and the light comes back on,
so I click Retry, and it resets the bar back to nothing and says "Transfer time: 1 minute".
Rather than continue trying, I clicked "Cancel" instead of Retry, and it says "Your transfer did not complete successfully."
It says to click "view report" for more information, but there's no "view report button".
At the moment, I am scanning the External Drive for bad sectors using the check disk tool in properties. It's frozen
at "0 USN bytes processed".

Windows Easy Transfer can't transfer files from Windows Vista or Windows XP

I'm running a English Windows Vista Ultimate and just bought a
ENGLISH Windows 8.1. I've downloaded the WET for Windows vista and tried to complete the second portion of the transfer by specifying the saved .MIG file WET created. Then I got the error message: "Windows Easy Transfer can't transfer
files from Windows Vista or Windows XP".
The truth is, Microsoft was too busy integrating special effects to it's operating system and claimed it as fully polished instead of making sure built-in tools were worth using.
Another harsh reality is that THERE IS NO WAY TO TRANSFER a file from Windows Vista to Windows 8. That's because engineers didn't even bother to make that possibility happen. Just Google: "Transfer from windows vista to windows 8" and you'll see
there are no relevant Microsoft web page about this.
Worse, Microsoft is giving excuses. To solve this issues, they came with a toolbox of fake scenarios in order to confuse clients even further, while they know damn well the Windows Easy Transfer is NOT EASY and certainly in multiple cases
DOES NOT TRANSFER jack to begin with.

I somewhat agree with you.
Trying to transfer from 7 to 8.1 and although it looks like the "7" side of the equation is working, the "8" side isn't.
"7" is trying to connect to "8" but "8.1" is being just plain stupid.
Not even sure why the MIG file step is even necessary if all I want to do is transfer one file between two machines. Said file is really BIG, or i'd just use my network, and the "8.1" rig doesn't have a dvd reader...
Per the MIG step... my file again, is big... I'd need to "mig" this file just to send it? Can't even get to the step where I'd mig-it and if i did, how long would that take?
So this is what progress is all about... geez... gimmie a NULL MODEM CABLE !!!

Windows easy transfer put my files into the d drive, it's now full!

I have a new HP desktop w/ Windows 7. I transferred my stuff from my old computer with Windows Easy Transfer using 3 dvds (12 gig). I then, using Easy Transfer, downloaded the 3 discs. Partway through the 3rd disc, I get a message saying disc is full! The graph showing my D drive is glowing red. I wonder, why is this stuff going there?? So I eject the 3rd disc, and check my computer, it appears every thing off my old computer is there. So far, so good. Now I get a message all the time saying D drive is full. The graphic shows this as a recovery disc, and it was not full before I did the Windows Easy Transfer. Why would my data go there, and can I get it out of there??

Hello EMERALDMAN,
This HP troubleshooting article addresses the issue you are seeing and shows how to go into the D drive and move the non-recovery files out of the drive.
Error: Low Disk Space. You are running out of disk space on Recovery (D
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The community works together, click Accept as Solution on the post that solves your issue for other members of the community to benefit from the solution.
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I bought a new laptop and used Windows Easy Transfer cable and moved all files from one computer to another. I installed iTunes and found my iTunes music Library. However, when I plug in my iPod it says it is already synced with another iTunes Library.

I bought a new laptop and used Windows Easy Transfer cable and moved all files from one computer to another. I installed iTunes and found my iTunes music Library. However, when I plug in my iPod it says it is already synced with another iTunes Library.
I don't see anything in Help that shows when you already have transfered all the files over. Why would it want to erase and sync when I already have all the music folder copied over? I didn't have an issue when I had another technician copy from one laptop to another. Home sharing is also on but not being recognized.

I suspect you only migrated the media folder instead of the complete working library. Either review the transfer process and copy over the entire iTunes folder from your old profile's music folder or see Recovering your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device.
tt2

Can't send emails after migration from Vista PC to W7 PC. Tried Mozbackup and Windows Easy Transfer. Settings have transferred ok, it just won't send emails.

I recently migrated my Tbird from a Vista PC to a W7 PC using Mozbackup. Transfer was fine with all the settings transferred apparently correctly. But now I can receive emails but not send them. Sent emails show in 'Sent Items' but are not received the other end. Also tried the migration using the Beta 1 version of Mozbackup and also Windows Easy Transfer with the same result. IMAP and POP3 accounts are both affected. Neither can send emails. I get no error messages nor any bounceback.
Found on one forum that AVG can block outgoing emails so altered the AVG settings which seemed to solve the problem. The next morning the problem was back. I uninstalled AVG completely but it made no difference. I do have MicroSoft Sec Essentials but the problem was there before that was installed.
Using the BT Home Hub 5 on BT Infinity broadband. It can't be the router though as the old PC was sending emails fine. Although I did have the suspect AVG settings, removing it has not solved the problem.
The outgoing email settings seem to be fine. Any thoughts?
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Restart the operating system in '''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe_mode safe mode with Networking]'''. This loads only the very basics needed to start your computer while enabling an Internet connection. Click on your operating system for instructions on how to start in safe mode: [http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/windows-startup-settings-including-safe-mode Windows 8], [http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/start-computer-safe-mode#start-computer-safe-mode=windows-7 Windows 7], [http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/start-computer-safe-mode#start-computer-safe-mode=windows-vista Windows Vista], [http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/boot_failsafe.mspx?mfr=true" Windows XP], [http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1564 OSX]

ITunes manually added artwork is missing after Windows Easy Transfer from XP to Windows-7. Please help!

After a Windows Easy Transfer from a Windows XP pc to a new Windows-7 pc, all the iTunes artwork that I had previously manually added is now missing. I estimate 25-30% of my CDs needed manual intervention to add artwork. Some of these were album covers I found on the web but many are photos that I took and cropped but have not retained. I have nearly 20,000 songs. Every one had artwork on my XP machine. Now on Windows-7 it appears to be missing. I spent many patient hours to get artwork in place for all my music and don't want to loose it or have to repeat the process. Please help! Many thanks for any contributions.

Hi Funster58,
Please try the following methods to solve this issue:
Method 1: Perform a clean boot.
A clean boot helps to verify if any third party application services or startup item is causing this issue. For your information, please review this KB article to put the computer in clean boot:
How to perform a clean boot to troubleshoot a problem in Windows 8, Windows 7, or Windows Vista
Note: Make sure you put the computer back to Normal Startup once you are done with the troubleshooting.
Method 2: Run SFC Scan
System File Checker (SFC) scan can troubleshoot missing or corrupted system files on your computer. For your information.
Type cmd in the
Start, and right-click the Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator in the below of screen.
Type sfc /scannow, and press Enter.
Method 3: Run check disk
Type cmd in the
Start, and right-click the Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator in the below of screen.
Type chkdsk /r /f, and press Enter.
For your information, please review the similar issue to get more help:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-windows_install/how-can-i-use-easy-transfer-to-transfer-settings/36b9123a-4b6b-4117-9af6-515e44665188
Regards,
Lany Zhang

Windows Easy Transfer from XP to 8.1 not working

I was too quick with my original answer and edited it. I think the info i provided is wrong.The tool that Chris linked specifically states it will do xp to windows 8.1.http://www.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/xp/transfer-your-data.aspx?ocid=XPEOS_O_WOL_NULL_NULLHere is a microsoft virtual academy link for moving from xp to 8.1https://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/en-us/training-courses/migrating-from-windows-xp-to-windows-...

So after the final working USB port finally dying on me, we've got a new desktop for a client. I discovered and downloaded the Windows Easy Transfer tool for Windows XP and, while it says it's for Windows 7, I found a post by someone at Microsoft saying it would work with Windows 8 as well. I've created the WET file on the XP machine and moved it over to the new machine, but when I attempt to use the WET tool to import the old files, I get an error message saying that WET can't transfer files from Vista or XP. Is this because it's 8.1 instead of 8? Does the .1 really makes that much of a difference?Any ideas on what to do from here? I'm kind of at a loss, and I really need to be able to move these files over.
This topic first appeared in the Spiceworks Community

Windows Easy transfer , ERROR message when trying to copy settings to Win 8 PC

I have a new hp-TouchSmart Envy 23. It has 2TB drive.
I want to use Windows Easy Transfer to move all my settings and data from the Windows 7 machine to the new hp-TouchSmart (my older PC is hp desktop is model # m9177c and has Win 7 OS) .
I have used easy transfer many times and I am reasonably experienced user .
I just cannot transfer my settings and data to my new PC. I have therefore copies all my data to the hp-TouchSmart . However I need to use Windows easy transfer to move all my settings. I have a very large number of settings , macros and much else that would take a very large amount of time to re-type.
I get an ERROR message when I want to transfer my settings. It says I don’t have enough disk space. The file I want to transfer is only 10.5 GB (after I removed all my data). The new machine has 2TB and yet I keep getting this error.
I have tried every possible way of transferring the settings , including : external drive; flash drive; direct wire ; easy transfer cable etc. I keep getting the same ERR message .
I am sure Easy transfer must allow transfer from Win 7 to Win 8. BUT HOW?
PLEASE do help. I would really appreciate very much .
THANK YOU
Adam

This thread may be useful.
Windows Easy Transfer will transfer from one drive to the other to mirror the original drive. What I suspect is happening is that the program is grabbing the D drive (recovery partition on most systems) and trying to transfer it to the new system which should also have a D drive. If that is happening,t hen that error will be thrown.
Try using the advanced options and view the report to see what exactly is happening and triggering the message.
Let me know what happens.
The document in the thread is for a previous version of Windows, but you can search for Easy Transfer Reports from the Start screen in Windows 8.
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Windows Easy Transfer does not connect Windows 8 with Windows 7

A Windows 7 PC and a Windows 8 PC are on a network and working flawlessly. They can access each other either by shared folders or Homegroup. I am trying to transfer files and settings from the Windows 7 PC to the Windows 8 PC using Windows Easy Transfer.
Everything proceeds smoothly until the connection step when process gets stuck. I do not know how to go about to address issue.
Any tip will be greatly appreciated.
Hong

Hi,
Which method do you use to transfer items to Windows 8, via network or via USB drive?
If you stuck at this step, you can try the other methods for a test.
How To Transfer Files, Settings & User Profiles From Windows 7 To Windows 8
http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/transfer-files-settings-from-windows-7-to-windows-8/
Alex Zhao
TechNet Community Support

Restoring bookmarks from Windows Easy Transfer

I need to restore my bookmarks from Windows Easy Tranfer.I saw the same question asked and answered but the answer didn't explain how to transfer the bookmarks manually. I did find a Firefox file and tried to import from the organize libraries drop down. It gave me the message "importing will replace current bookmarks are you sure...?" I told it to proceed but I don't see my bookmarks. What do I need to do to solve this?
== User Agent ==
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 5.1; Trident/4.0; GTB6; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.04506.30; .NET CLR 3.0.04506.648; .NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR 3.5.30729)

It depends if you included the Mozilla directory in your transfer.
See http://www.kombitz.com/2009/04/18/how-to-use-windows-easy-transfer-to-transfer-firefox-and-thunderbird-profiles-on-windows-7/
To avoid confusion, I'll just point you the knowledge base article on how to back up and restore your Firefox info. :-)
See [[Backing up your information]]

How do I transfer my iTunes library to a new pc using windows easy transfer?, How do I transfer my iTunes library to a new pc using windows easy transfer?

How do I transfer my iTunes library to a new windows 7 pc using easy transfer?

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"Windows Easy Transfer can't transfer your files and settings." Why?

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