Can I restore a Macrium bacup to a PC with different CPU?

Birk · Dec 28, 2025

In a few weeks I'm going to replace my current mini PC with a new one. Both systems will have the same basic hardware configuration, except for the CPU chip. The current one has an N95 CPU, and the new one will have an i5. Will I be able to use a Macrium full image backup of my current system (Win11 Pro) to restore to the new system and have it work OK?

FreeBooter · Dec 28, 2025

I think the restoring on different CPU may cause BSOD error not sure.

FDretired · Dec 28, 2025

I have restored a Macrium image from my desktop with 11 generation CPU to a Lenovo ThinkPad (t480) with 8 generation CPU and it worked fine. I had to delete many programs. This was done in a hurry as I was going on a vacation. I later did a clean installation of Windows 11 on the laptop

Megahertz · Dec 28, 2025

I don't think you will have any issues.
After the restoration on the new computer boot and check the Device Manager to see if there are any missing drivers

Ghot · Dec 28, 2025

@Birk

You should be fine. You may have to mess with drivers a bit, but otherwise... no problemo.

PerpetualCycle · Dec 28, 2025

Yes, I have done it a few times. You may have to reinstall the chipset drivers. There is a macrium option to restore to different hardware that may help.

I have a retail license for Windows. You might have to reactivate it if it is OEM license, but maybe not.

glasskuter · Dec 28, 2025

Yes, you can, but with a number of considerations so it's not my advise to do it. Before you make your backup be sure to completely uninstall any licensed software on old computer as it can have activation issues on new hardware. Then reinstall it afterwards using its company's re-activation instructions.

Also, you have to consider your window's licensing. The underlying license version must be the same on both systems. (Home/Pro) You might well still have to contact Microsoft to activate (unless you have a retail Windows license which is doubtful). Windows should handle any difference in most drivers, but know there is a chance you will have to deal with some yourself.

I have done this a number of times without issues but that's not to say I haven't also done it WITH issues because a lot of junk is carried over even if it works. You are better off setting up OOBE, reinstalling apps, and moving in your files. That way, you know no junk is moved from the old computer into the new one. Even in this case you must deactivate paid software from the old system first.

It's my belief a new system doesn't need a bunch of junk in it that could jump up and bite you in the butt later, like old unused drivers in Driverstore, old temp files, conflict in user appdata, etc. so I suggest you do it right. I believe starting out clean is important. Don't shortcut it.
As soon as you get the new system up and running, make a new Macrium image.

Topgundcp · Dec 28, 2025

You should not have any problem but does your new Mini PC come with Windows 11 pre-installed ? If yes you could re-install all your Apps using Winget. That would be a lot cleaner and you don't have to mess with Drivers.

From your old PC. Right click on desktop -> Open Terminal Windows then type:
Winget Export -o MyApps.json ===> This will create a list of Apps currently installed.
Copy MyApps.json to the new PC, open Terminal Windows then type:
Winget Import -i MyApps.json

This will re-install all apps in one sweep.

Bree · Dec 28, 2025

Birk said:
The current one has an N95 CPU, and the new one will have an i5. Will I be able to use a Macrium full image backup of my current system (Win11 Pro) to restore to the new system and have it work OK?

Yes, it should work OK.

I used Reflect to successfully migrate Windows 10 from my old 'main' PC to my System One below, in preparation for upgrading it to Windows 11. The old PC was an unsupported device with an Intel Pentium B950, the new PC is a supported device with an AMD Athlon Silver 3050U, so completely different hardware. An added complication was that I also had to convert from a Legacy MBR install to a UEFI GPT install as part of the migration.

On first boot Windows will find that it's running on different hardware. It will first install new drivers, then it will reboot and run Windows with the new drivers. On connecting to the internet Windows Update will probably find and install more drivers.

Doc Fuddled · Dec 28, 2025

Yes, you can. But you would need a paid version. Free versions will not work.
Macrium support is very helpful but sometimes a little slow.

Bree · Dec 28, 2025

Doc Fuddled said:
Yes, you can. But you would need a paid version. Free versions will not work.

There is a premium feature in the paid version of Reflect that's called ReDeploy that can find and download drivers for new hardware.

I've never had any need to use it. Windows itself already contains suitable drivers for most hardware, and is quite capable of sorting out new drivers for itself. I used Reflect Free for my Intel to AMD migration.

garlin · Dec 28, 2025

After you do the restore, DON'T run both systems in parallel on the same network.

The restored image will copy over the original system's SID, and Windows will detect there are two PC's on the same network sharing a duplicate SID. This will prevent any file sharing or remote desktop access from each other, until you fix the duplicate SID.

You can search ElevenForum threads on the duplicate SID problem.

SIW2 · Dec 28, 2025

The Machine SID Duplication Myth (and Why Sysprep Matters)

learn.microsoft.com

garlin · Dec 28, 2025

SIW2 said:
The Machine SID Duplication Myth (and Why Sysprep Matters)

learn.microsoft.com

It stopped being a myth after the September 2025 CU's.

Mark didn't predict a future Windows where they finally enforce SID checks on shared network resources. But don't take my word, ask all the IT admins complaining about it now. If you ask MS support nicely for a KIR, they'll give you a GPO policy to temporarily disable SID checking.

KB5070568 - Kerberos and NTLM authentication failures due to duplicate SIDs

pseymour · Dec 28, 2025

But don't take my word, ask all the IT admins complaining about it now.

The ones who do things incorrectly.

garlin · Dec 28, 2025

If you're not a "special" MS customer, read this thread for a fix:
Found a easy fix for the KB5065426 update that broke WIN 11 network mapping.

Birk · Dec 28, 2025

Thanks for all the feedback - the consensus seems to be that I'll be able to do what I want without any problems providing I do things carefully. Some details I didn't put in my original post:

I have no pay-as you go software
Current C: is only about 58 GB full (I should probably partition is to make the empty space usable)
Macrium backups typically complete in about 2.5 minutes
I know about the SID problem because I dealt with it a while ago
The new system will come with Win 11 Pro fully installed, but not activated.

So my plan is this:
1. Make Macrium image of current N95 system
2. Activate new i5 system with non-Microsoft ID using these steps:

Begin the Windows 11 installation process as usual. <= it is actually Win11 Pro
When prompted to connect to the internet, press Shift + F10 to open the Command Prompt.
Type oobe\bypassnro and press Enter. This will restart your PC and bypass the online account requirement.
Disconnect your PC from the internet by unplugging the Ethernet cable or disabling Wi-Fi.
Continue the setup process, and when prompted to sign in, select I don’t have internet.
Click Continue with limited setup.
Create a local account by entering a username and password (optional), then complete the setup.

3. Install Macrium on new system and make image backup
4. Unplug CAT5 cable from N95 system
5. Restore N95 Macrium backup to new i5 system and boot into the same Win11 Pro I'm used to.
6. Check Device Manager for any problems.

Scott · Dec 28, 2025

Birk said:
the consensus seems to be that I'll be able to do what I want without any problems providing I do things carefully.

As an option, you could restore the N95's C partition to the new computer. Basically just replace the new C partition with the old
one in Macrium. I've done this a couple times and it works perfectly.

Either way you go, after step 2-7, I recommend backing up the drivers of the new system and putting them on an external drive.
Would make any issues in step 6 easy to resolve.

Backup and Restore Device Drivers in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to back up and restore all 3rd party device drivers on your Windows 10 and Windows 11 PC. If you clean install Windows, you will need to install drivers for each device in the system. Some of these device drivers may no longer be available from the manufacturer...

www.elevenforum.com

Birk · Dec 29, 2025

Scott said:
As an option, you could restore the N95's C partition to the new computer.

Interesting idea - thanks. I didn't know Macrium could do that. Will check it out.

Megahertz · Dec 29, 2025

oobe\bypassnro doesnt work on Win 11 25h2

Clean Install Windows 11

This tutorial will show you step by step on how to clean install Windows 11 at boot on your PC with or without an Internet connection and setup with a local account or Microsoft account. Windows 11 has all the power and security of Windows 10 with a redesigned and refreshed look. It also comes...

www.elevenforum.com

"you can still use either step below when you get to them in this tutorial to create a local account instead of a Microsoft account during Windows Setup".

step 15 = This step uses the start ms-cxh:localonly or start ms-cxh://setaddlocalonly command to set up a local account with network.

step 17 = The red warning box under this step uses the reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OOBE /v BypassNRO /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f command to bypass network requirements to then be able to set up a local account.

step 22 = The blue tip box under this step has you use the Domain join instead option that allows you to set up a local account with network.

Can I restore a Macrium bacup to a PC with different CPU?

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