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General discussion

Easy Transfer not working

Jul 15, 2010 8:00PM PDT

Hi all,

I can not get Windows easy transfer to work.

my files are on an external hard drive. when i open WET on the new computer, it asks me to browse for the WET file, then open it. when i do this i get a message saying

"WINDOWS EASY TRANSFER COULDN'T OPEN THE FILE"

The old computer was a Dell inspiron laptop running windows 7 [home premimum i think] [not sure if it was 32 or 64 nit. i have had to return it to my former employer now]. The new one is a dell desktop inspiron running windows 7 home premium 64-bit.

Can anyone help please? I would be really grateful for your advice.

Discussion is locked

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WET doesn't work that way.
Jul 15, 2010 9:15PM PDT

Sorry.

How to use Windows Easy Transfer to migrate files and settings from one Windows-based computer to another Windows Vista-based computer. The same applies for Windows 7.

For WET to work, both computers have to be working and running. You cannot use WET just on a hard drive that has Windows installed but not fully up and running.

Mark

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Windows Easy transfer Solution!
Jul 16, 2010 6:39AM PDT

If when you use Windows Easy Transfer in Windows 7 to restore data from the spanned migration store, you receive the following error message: Windows Easy Transfer couldn?t open the file ?

? then here are a few trouble-shooting steps you may want to try out!

This issue occurs when the spanned migration store files are not in the same location, or the spanned migration store is corrupted.

So first, verify the location of the migration store files

To do so, Open Computer folder and in the Search Computer box, type *.mig* and hit Enter. Note the location of all files that have a *.mig extension such as *.mig, *.mig01, and so on.

Make sure that all files that have a *.mig extension are in the same folder. If they are not in the same folder, follow these steps:
- Select a folder in the migration store.
- Select all the *.mig files that are listed in the Search Results window and that are not in the migration folder and copy-paste them in the selected folder.

Try to run Windows Easy Transfer again.

If it doesnt help, try to copy the migration store files to another location.

To do so, right-click an empty area of your desktop, point to New, and then click Folder. Name the folder Migration Temp, and press Enter.
Now open Computer folder and again search for *.mig* files. Copy-paste all these files into the newly created Migration Temp folder on your desktop.

Now run Windows Easy Transfer, and point to the Migration Temp folder location when you transfer files and settings to the computer.

Source: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/fix-windows-easy-transfer-couldn%E2%80%99t-open-the-file-in-windows-7

I hope this helps!

Brett M,
Windows Outreach Team

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thank you
Aug 8, 2010 12:29AM PDT

thank you very much both.