Transfer your Windows profile to a new PC

Every Windows account has its own folder, C:\Users\<name>, along with its own part of the registry. That folder holds far more than your documents:

• Personal folders: Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos and Downloads, plus the folders pinned to Quick access.
• AppData: a hidden folder where applications store their data. It contains browser profiles, Outlook signatures and AutoComplete, Sticky Notes and Word templates, among others.
• Browsers: bookmarks, history, extensions, settings and profiles for Chrome, Edge, Brave or Firefox.
• Email: for classic Outlook, the PST data files (by default in Documents\Outlook Files), the mail profiles stored in the registry and your signatures; for Thunderbird, the profile folder.
• Work environment: installed printers and the default printer, desktop wallpaper, saved Remote Desktop connections.

Not all Outlook files matter equally. A POP account keeps everything in a PST file, which you must bring along. For a Microsoft 365, Exchange or Outlook.com account, messages stay on the server and Outlook recreates the local OST file, so there is no need to move it.

Some items never follow a profile copy, whatever method you use:

• Installed applications and their licenses: software is installed, not copied. Plan to reinstall each program, then enter its key again or sign back in to its account.
• Chrome, Edge and Brave passwords: they are encrypted for the original Windows account and cannot be read on the new PC, even if the whole browser folder is copied.
• Firefox passwords: do not rely on a plain copy. Check them after the transfer or, more safely, turn on Firefox Sync beforehand.
• Wi-Fi networks and most Windows settings: you set them up again on the new PC.

Deal with passwords before the move, not after: once the old PC is wiped, Chrome, Edge and Brave passwords are gone unless they were synced or exported.

A little preparation prevents most surprises. On the old PC, before copying anything:

1. Sync or export your passwords. In Chrome, sign in to your Google Account to save your passwords there, or export them from Google Password Manager (Settings > Export passwords). In Edge, turn on sync with your Microsoft account. In Firefox, turn on Firefox Sync. An export file stores passwords in plain text: delete it as soon as it has been imported again.
2. List your software and licenses. Go through Settings > Apps > Installed apps (Apps & features on Windows 10), write down the programs to reinstall and find their license keys or the accounts they are tied to.
3. Write down your email accounts (address, account type, server) and locate your PST files.
4. Check disk space. The external drive must hold the whole profile, and the new PC needs at least as much free space.
5. Close your applications (browsers, Outlook) before copying their data: a file that is open may be copied in an inconsistent state.

A manual copy needs no software. It suits a simple profile made up mostly of documents and photos.

1. Plug in an external drive and copy the Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos and Downloads folders from C:\Users\<name>.
2. Export each browser's bookmarks to an HTML file (see our bookmarks guide).
3. Copy your PST files and the Outlook signatures folder, %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Signatures.
4. On the new PC, copy the folders back to the same locations and import the bookmarks into each browser.
5. In classic Outlook, set up your account, then import your PST files: File > Open & Export > Import/Export > Import from another program or file > Outlook Data File (.pst). Details are in our Outlook guide.
6. Reinstall your printers and set the default printer again.

This method has limits worth knowing:

• An HTML export only covers bookmarks: browser extensions, history and multiple profiles stay on the old PC.
• The Outlook profile is not recreated: you have to set up each account again and attach the PST files by hand.
• A PST export does not include message rules or blocked senders lists.
• AutoComplete, Sticky Notes and Office templates live in AppData and are easy to forget.
• You need to show hidden folders and know the right paths, which takes time across several computers.

UserNest backs up the profile to a folder (external drive, USB stick or any location you choose), then restores it on the new PC. There is no direct PC-to-PC transfer, no account to create and no cloud: your data stays on the drive you picked. The app runs on 64-bit Windows 10 and 11.

1. On the old PC, install the Consumer edition from the Microsoft Store (see Download) or run the portable executable of the Pro edition from a USB stick.
2. Plug in the external drive and select it as the backup destination.
3. Click Analyze to get a size estimate before anything is copied.
4. Tick the items to bring along: user folders, browsers (Chrome, Edge, Brave, Firefox), classic Outlook (PST, profiles, signatures, AutoComplete), Thunderbird, printers, Sticky Notes, wallpaper, Remote Desktop connections and, if needed, extra folders. The OST file is unticked by default because Outlook recreates it.
5. Click Back up. Affected applications that are still open are listed, then closed once you confirm, so the copied files are consistent. The backup is stored in a folder named user@PC.
6. On the new PC, sign in with your account, plug in the drive, open the app, go to the Restore tab and select that folder.
7. Read the final report: it shows Done or Completed with errors and gives access to the detailed log.

During the restore, PST files go back to the same relative location in the new profile, or to the same folder if that drive exists on the new PC. The Outlook profile is imported again and its paths to the PST and OST files are updated automatically. Network printers are reconnected and the default printer is restored; local drivers and print queues go through the Windows PrintBrm tool, which requires administrator rights. Restoring an extra folder never deletes files already on the new PC.

On a shared PC, the All profiles option backs up every account (administrator rights required), and several backups can sit side by side on the same drive.

The app does not transfer installed applications or their licenses, Chrome, Edge and Brave passwords, or Wi-Fi networks. The new Outlook (Outlook for Windows) is out of scope because its data lives in the cloud. Editions are described on the Pricing page.

Before wiping or returning the old PC, take a few minutes to check the result on the new one:

• Files: open a few recent documents and photos, and check your Desktop and Downloads.
• Browsers: check bookmarks, extensions and profiles, then sign back in to your Google, Microsoft or Firefox account to get your synced passwords, or import the exported file.
• Outlook: make sure your PST folders appear, your signatures are offered and AutoComplete suggests your usual contacts.
• Printers: print a test page and check the default printer.
• Applications: reinstall your software and reactivate the licenses.
• Final report: if it says Completed with errors, open the detailed log to find what was not copied.

Keep the backup, and if possible the old PC untouched, for a few weeks: a forgotten file often shows up the first time you open a given program.