How to Transfer Windows 10 Desktop Settings to New PC?

User case: How do I transfer Windows Settings to a new computer?

"I have a Lenovo running Windows 10 and recently bought a newer model as a replacement. I would like to duplicate my Desktop settings to my new computer. Is there a way to do it? Thank you."

People change computers for various reasons like PC gets slow or the old PC is unable to meet the current work demands. To save time and improve efficiency, those who have changed their PC are eager to transfer Windows settings and files to a new computer.

In order to figure out how to transfer Windows 10 desktop settings to new PC, you should know what will be moved when it comes to desktop settings migration.

a. Desktop contents. The desktop can be seen as a folder containing different programs, files, and even their shortcuts. It's relatively easy to move folders to another PC.
b. Desktop layout. Everyone has a different Desktop layout. If you want all of them to be in the same place, simply copying will not work.
c. Desktop wallpaper/background. Desktop background is set individually, so it's hard to say you can move that along with the folder.

See? If you want to transfer Windows 10 settings to new PC to retain your user experience, you need to consider many aspects.

How to transfer Windows 10 desktop settings to new PC?

After careful and thorough research, we have collected three useful ways about how to transfer Windows settings to a new computer, including using Microsoft OneDrive, Windows backup and restore, and a third-party migration tool.

▶ Way 1. Using Microsoft OneDrive

OneDrive is a cloud data storage. The working principle is letting you sync the specific folder on the old PC and move it onto the new PC.  Below is how to transfer Windows 10 desktop settings to new PC using Microsoft OneDrive.

Step 1. Open OneDrive web or app and log in to your OneDrive account on the old PC. (If you don't have a Microsoft account, go to the official website to sign up for one.) Right-click the blank and select "Upload" > "Folder" to sync the Windows 10 desktop.

Step 2. Wait for the Microsoft OneDrive to complete syncing. After this, log out OneDrive from your old computer.

Step 3. To transfer the Windows desktop settings, simply sign into OneDrive on the new PC using the same login details as on the old computer and restore the Windows desktop settings from OneDrive onto your new PC.

▶ Way 2. Using Windows built-in backup program

How to transfer Windows 10 desktop settings to new PC? Another way is to back it up to an external hard drive and restore it to your new computer. We’ll show you the detailed steps.

Step 1. Connect an external hard drive to your old PC.

Step 2. Press Windows + I to open Settings, and go to Updates & Security > Backup.

Step 3. Toggle the Automatically back up my files to On and select More options.

Step 4. Desktop is chosen by default, if not, click Add a folder to choose, and click the Backup Now button to start.

▶ Way 3. Using a third-party disk cloning tool

However, the above two methods only migrate desktop contents to a new PC. You still need to arrange the layout and set the background after migration. How to transfer Windows 10 desktop settings to new PC without any change? Disk cloning should be a better choice.

Here, we'll recommend you AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, the best disk clone software, to transfer Windows 10 settings to new computer by cloning hard drive. After cloning, not only the desktop settings but also all the programs, files, and drivers on this disk will be migrated to a new PC with ease.

Now let this intelligent software become a good helper on your way to transfer Windows 10 settings to new PC.

Step 1. Take out the disk where you want to store desktop from your new PC and connect it to your old computer. Launch and open AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. Go to "Clone" and "Clone Disk".

Note: It also supports cloning larger hard drive to smaller one, cloning hard drive with bad sectors, cloning hard drive to USB drive, etc.

Step 2. Select a disk clone method as you like.

▶ "Clone Disk Quickly" clones only used space to another disk.
▶ "Sector-by-Sector Clone" clones all sectors, whether use or not, to the target disk.

Step 3. Select your original hard drive that holds your desktop as the source disk and click "Next".

Step 4. Then select your new hard drive as the destination disk and click "Next". Tick "Optimize the performance of SSD" to make SSD 4K alignment if your destination disk is SSD.

Step 5. Then, you are allowed to resize the partitions on the new drive. Select the one you like and click "Next".

Step 6. After reading a note, click "Finish" and then click "Apply" to commit the operation.

Step 7. After finishing the disk clone, reinstall the cloned hard drive back to your new PC.

Conclusion

How to transfer Windows 10 desktop settings to new PC? Hopefully, you have found the most suitable way for yourself from this post. As you can see, disk clone can make you transfer Windows 10 settings to new computer effortlessly.

Most importantly, you can perform many other operations with AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional to boost your computer experience such as wiping hard drive,  migrating OS to SSD, defragging disk, cleaning junk files, moving folders from C drive to D drive, and more.