Migration strategy of P3DV4 to a new computer

[pred02 1]

Hi,

I am building a new computer from i4790k to to i9900. Everything is new except the PS and the graphics card (1080GTX) I will also be migrating to Windows 10. 

I suspect the best way to do it is a clean P3DV4  install with a manual install of Prepar3D, all of the airplanes and scenery. Is there anything I can lift and shift (i.e. UT2) to make it a bit easier?

Thanks

[Bob Scott 7,719]

A clean rebuild from the ground up is the best way--many add-ons write registration or config info into the registry, or write to a variety of folders located outside the scenery folder (e.g. elevation corrections), and tracking all that down will take as much time as just reinstalling.

Make sure that any add-ons which require de-registering, including P3D itself, are de-registered before taking down the old machine.  That would include PMDG, FSPS, FSDT add-ons, among others.

Another trick I use is to make a copy of the entire P3D drive and use it for reference and to copy over any changes I may have made to things like acft configs, AFCAD/ADE files, etc after I've installed everything using the full installer.

Last, it pays to keep detailed notes of what you are installing and any changes or road bumps encountered.  You'll thank yourself the next time a rebuild is needed (I seem to end up rebuilding every 12-18 months).

[Jude Bradley 659]

One more thing, if this is a non-oem license for Windows 10, be sure to run slmgr.vbs /upk

as your last action on the old PC. Once you install windows 10 on your new PC it should activate as normal.

I spent about 30 minutes arguing with an MS chat agent who was trying to convince me to pay for a new license.

 

 

[reecemj 146]

7 minutes ago, Jude Bradley said:

One more thing, if this is a non-oem license for Windows 10, be sure to run slmgr.vbs /upk

as your last action on the old PC. Once you install windows 10 on your new PC it should activate as normal.

I spent about 30 minutes arguing with an MS chat agent who was trying to convince me to pay for a new license.

 

 

What is a non-oem license and slmgr.vbs /upk? Thanks.

[Jude Bradley 659]

https://fossbytes.com/what-is-oem-windows-vs-retail-windows/

[Bob Scott 7,719]

7 minutes ago, reecemj said:

What is a non-oem license and slmgr.vbs /upk? Thanks.

slmgr.vbs /upk  --  releases the Win 10 (retail) license on the Microsoft registration servers so that it can be installed on another device (and a new motherboard is considered another device).

In your case, since you are upgrading to a different version of Windows (as I read your post), this would not be necessary.

[richjb2 195]

39 minutes ago, w6kd said:

A clean rebuild from the ground up is the best way--many add-ons write registration or config info into the registry, or write to a variety of folders located outside the scenery folder (e.g. elevation corrections), and tracking all that down will take as much time as just reinstalling.

Make sure that any add-ons which require de-registering, including P3D itself, are de-registered before taking down the old machine.  That would include PMDG, FSPS, FSDT add-ons, among others.

Another trick I use is to make a copy of the entire P3D drive and use it for reference and to copy over any changes I may have made to things like acft configs, AFCAD/ADE files, etc after I've installed everything using the full installer.

Last, it pays to keep detailed notes of what you are installing and any changes or road bumps encountered.  You'll thank yourself the next time a rebuild is needed (I seem to end up rebuilding every 12-18 months).

Roadbumps???  What roadbumps???  

Today, I'm completing my third (1..2...3..) completely Win 10/P3D re-install.  Two because of issues I thought were related to P3D, but actually a failing USB powered hub.  The third because with the 2nd install, my Office 365 Install went bad.  I think I can do this in record time now! 🙂

Hardest part is resetting all the joystick and FSUPIC configurations. ARGH!!  I never trusted porting over my previous config files. 

Hopefully, third time is the charm!

Rich Boll

[vc10man 732]

36 minutes ago, Jude Bradley said:

One more thing, if this is a non-oem license for Windows 10, be sure to run slmgr.vbs /upk

as your last action on the old PC. Once you install windows 10 on your new PC it should activate as normal.

I spent about 30 minutes arguing with an MS chat agent who was trying to convince me to pay for a new license.

 

 

Jude, that's a priceless heads-up as I too am contemplating the same course of moving, when I get around to it, to a new rig.

[Jude Bradley 659]

You're welcome Rick, I've tried on two different machines (I've two different licenses) thanks to the "free" upgrade from Windows 7 some years back.

 

[vc10man 732]

34 minutes ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

recommend you do the install from a USB stick using the latest Win10 1909 build and don't do the Win10 upgrade route ... to my surprise "new" Win10 DVDs and/or USB sticks rarely have the current OS version on them,

Glad I followed this route when building the new rig, as I really was chewing over buying eBay-sold DVDs, keys, etc. Did a clean update route on P3Dv4.4 to v4.5 on current rig, which I will have to transfer the licence from.

[pred02 1]

Thanks. Is there any benefit on having a separate drive for the P3D installation versus on the same drive as the Windows install? I notice that P3D actually does not include everything in the P3D directory but uses the Addons folder and also Program Data directory on the C drive.

The PC is 95% used for P3D. I bought a 2TB SSD but also have the old 1TB drive with FSX that I was going to wipe and sell once I got everything up and running. I could re-purpose it for the system drive.

Also - in the FSX days I used to add all my scenery into Addon Scenery, then group subfolders by continent, however I see by default installers install into different folders (i.e. Aerosoft, P3D Addon Scenery, Simmarket, etc.) 

What is the best strategy around this?
Thanks

Edited January 4, 2020 by pred02