By Irene / Last Updated May 12, 2023

As technology develops, computers get enhancements in every aspect. People are more likely to visit newly launched devices for a better experience. Thus, since Windows 11 was released, many users have updated to Windows 11 or purchased a Win 11 computer to replace the original one.

But a question arises: reinstalling programs and reconfiguring the system is a time-and energy-consuming event. Is there any method for transferring installed programs from one computer to another? Of course there is! Today, we are going to share 3 approaches to help you effectively transfer programs to new computer.

3 Ways for how to transfer programs from one computer to another

In this part, you can learn to transfer programs to new computer Windows 11 with USB drive or an external hard drive, log in Microsoft account and using a handy software to move the installed programs.

Way 1. Transfer program with USB drive or an external hard drive

Before beginning, please prepare a USB drive or an external hard drive, and ensure it has enough space for operation. Using this method to transfer programs is just applicable to few applications or files, such as videos, photos, or music. If you need to move large programs, you can move on to the next two parts.

Step 1. Insert the USB or external hard drive to the source PC and make sure it is detected by the device.

Step 2. Find target program and Zip all the files and programs. Then Copy and Paste them to the drive.

Step 3. Click “Safely eject the USB drive” from the source device. And connect it to the target computer.

Step 4. Copy and Paste the files again on your the PC. Now, you need to adjust the program settings and reactivate the applications.

transfer installed programs win 11 usb

Way 2. Transfer programs to new computer Windows 11 via logging in Microsoft account

To use this way for transferring installed programs from one computer to another windows 11, you need prepare a removable disk or USB in advance as well.

Step 1. Log in your Microsoft account. You can find all the installed applications in the list of Microsoft Store.

Step 2. Simultaneously press “Win+I” to perform “Settings”.

Step 3. Choose “APPs & Features”. And you can find all the programs in the window.

Step 4. Select the installed programs you want to transfer, and click “Move” button. Then choose a destination drive and hit “Move” button again.

move apps setting

Step5. When you successfully transfer programs to a new computer, they will appear on the USB drive or the removable disk. Then, insert the pen drive into the target computer and copy the applications on the new one.

Note: The unmovable programs will be displayed with the greyed-out button. You can only find the “Modify” button if the programs are traditional desktop files, which means you cannot transfer them either.

Way 3. Easy way for transferring installed programs from one computer to another Windows 11

As we can see, transferring installed programs from one computer to another Windows 11 via the above methods can only partially meet our expectations. On the one hand, it just allows you to move the installation files, which means you still need to spend some time reinstalling the program on the new computer. On the other, for the non-portable applications, the methods will be invalid.

So, the third one is the recommended way for transferring installed programs from one computer to another Windows 11, which permits you to transfer them without any reinstallation.

Using the Disk Clone Wizard feature of AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional can be an effective and quick approach to move programs in bulk easily. This handy software can work for Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/XP/Vista users. All you need is to prepare the old and new drive on your Windows 11 computer and then follow the clear guidance to transfer programs.

By the way, if you replace your HDD with an SSD to enjoy high performance, this Disk Clone feature can also help you clone the sectors to the new drive, even with bad sectors, thus avoiding reinstalling Windows or other applications.

Download Pro Demo Win 11/10/8.1/8/7/XP
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Step 1. Launch the installed software. Click “Clone Disk” in the right menu.

copy wizard

Step 2. A mini window will pop up, and you can choose the suitable method to clone.

Clone Disk Quickly: Only copy the used space of the disk, so you can clone to a smaller disk.
Sector-by-Sector Clone: Copy all sectors of the disk, no matter whether it is used or not. To use this way, the destination disk space should be better larger than the whole original disk space.

methods

Step 3. Select the old drive as the source disk and then choose “Next”.

source disk

Step 4. Select the destination drive and click “Next”.

Note: If the drive is SSD, you can tick to optimize the performance of SSD.

target one

Step 5. In this step, you can resize the partition to fit the new disk with hitting “Next”.

edit

Step 6. Back to the main interface and choose the“Apply” button as the picture shows to commit the operations.

apply

Note: If you only clone the data, you can directly use it after the hard drive is installed completely. But if you clone the system drive, you need to enter the BIOS and boot the computer from the new drive.

Further reading: How to move programs on the same drive

The Disk Clone Wizard is convenient for people to transfer programs between two computers. But if people just have the demand of releasing the drive space on one computer, the ideal consideration can be to move programs or folders to another drive.

The APP Mover function of AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional allows users to transfer all kinds of files, including pictures, videos, programs, folders, etc., without losing data. You can tick and transfer them simultaneously with simple clicks, which only take a few seconds, and if you accidentally transfer some unwanted files, you can also click the “Restore” button to retrieve them.

move adobe installs

Conclusion

The methods of transferring installed programs from one computer to another Windows 11 have been introduced in detail. In short, using AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional to transfer programs is an effective method.

This software also boasts other mighty functions like extending C drive space, converting MBR/GPT, migrating OS to SSD, and so on. In addition, if Windows Server users expect to use this robust software on their devices, the Server Edition supports working for Server 2022/2019/2016/2012(R2)/2008(R2)/2003.