Transfer everything from old computer to new computer with Windows 11
Transfer programs and files to new computer
Transfer files from one computer to another
Transfer Microsoft Office to new computer
Restore programs and files from a broken or dead computer
Transfer directly from an old hard drive
Transfer to new computer using a USB hard drive
Corporate Windows 11 migration
User Profile Migration to new PC / new domain
How To Migrate Local Profiles to Azure AD
Migration to Server 2019 / 2016
Transfer everything from old computer to new computer with Windows 11
Transfer programs and files to new computer
Transfer files from one computer to another
Transfer Microsoft Office to new computer
Restore programs and files from a broken or dead computer
Transfer directly from an old hard drive
Transfer to new computer using a USB hard drive
Corporate Windows 11 migration
User Profile Migration to new PC / new domain
How To Migrate Local Profiles to Azure AD
Migration to Server 2019 / 2016
Transfer programs and files to new computer
Transfer files from one computer to another
Transfer Microsoft Office to new computer
Restore programs and files from a broken or dead computer
Transfer directly from an old hard drive
Transfer to new computer using a USB hard drive
Move To New PC - Compare Options
Migration Kit Pro - Advanced Transfer
Transfer programs and files to new computer
Transfer files from one computer to another
Transfer Microsoft Office to new computer
Restore programs and files from a broken or dead computer
Transfer directly from an old hard drive
Transfer to new computer using a USB hard drive
How to Transfer From Desktop To Laptop Computer (Files, Programs, Accounts, And Everything Else)
In this article, we will see how to copy everything from a desktop to a laptop. This means keeping your programs, profiles, accounts, passwords, settings, documents, pictures, music, movies, favorites, and all of your files. Even when you are moving to a completely different hardware and different model (such as for example going from an HP desktop to a Dell laptop) – you can still keep all of your stuff and transfer everything to your new laptop.
This even works if your old desktop is a Windows 10 (or older), and the new laptop is a Windows 11.
While you could technically do it all manually (reinstalling programs, reconfiguring accounts, copying files), these days it can all be done with a press of a button – no hassle and no manual work required. The tool for this kind of transfer from desktop to laptop is called Zinstall WinWin, and it can transfer programs, settings and files automatically and completely.
There are 3 parts that are important to the transfer:
- Files, such documents, pictures, music, pictures and emails
- Settings, such as user profiles, emails, accounts, passwords, favorites, bookmarks, wallpaper and other personalization
- Programs, such as transferring Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, Quickbooks, TurboTax, Firefox, Chrome, and other programs to the new computer
Let’s see how it is done.
Video tutorial – how to transfer everything from desktop to laptop
How to transfer from desktop to laptop
- Run Zinstall WinWin on your desktop computer (the one you are transferring from).
Note: You can get Zinstall WinWin here, and its user guide here. - Run Zinstall WinWin on the laptop
- You don’t need to do any configurations for the computers to connect – it’s automatic
- If the computers are already connected to same router, same Internet connection, or same wireless connection, you don’t need anything else
- If there is no way to get both computers online, you can still do the transfer, using Zinstall with USB drive. See here for transfer to new computer using USB external hard drive.
- If you’d like to select which applications and files you want to transfer, press the Advanced menu. If you just want to transfer everything, you don’t need to go to the Advanced menu.
- Press “Go” on the laptop computer to start the transfer
That’s it! Once the transfer is done, you will have all of your files, your profiles, accounts, and of course your programs – on your new laptop. It’s that easy.
Is it OK to transfer from desktop to laptop?
Of course! Desktops are laptops are actually not very different on the inside, laptop just use slightly smaller and more energy efficient hardware. But Windows, and all of your applications are files, work just the same on laptops and on desktops – so there is no problem to transfer from one to another.
You can do this even if your desktop and your laptop are made by different companies, and run different versions of Windows. For example, you can transfer from an HP Windows 10 desktop to a Lenovo Windows 11 laptop, or from a Lenovo Windows 7 desktop to a Dell Windows 11 laptop. Any combination is just fine.