Is there a way to migrate from Windows 7 x86 to Windows 10 x64?

Question

Windows

There is an old laptop with Windows 7 x82 on board (Home license) and a classic BIOS. The laptop has a tricky bunch of software installed, which is difficult to reinstall at the moment for reasons far from technical.
There was a need to replace this old laptop with a new one - with Windows 10 (also licensed), UEFI (there is no compatibility mode in the settings, there are no new BIOS / UEFI versions either).
If there were troubles with BIOS / UEFI / x86 / x64, then the process would look like this: we clone the contents of the HDD of the old laptop to the SSD of the new one, start the system, update to Windows 10 with a utility from Microsoft, activate it with the key sewn into the BIOS of the new laptop.
BUT! On an old Win7 x86 laptop and MBR disk layout. Converting it to GPT before cloning will not work, because. 32-bit 7 cannot do this (or is there a way?).
If you clone an MBR disk first, you will not be able to start the system on a new laptop - UEFI will not boot Win7 x86 from an MBR disk.

I can't think of an adequate migration algorithm yet. Maybe someone will throw ideas?

Answer 1

It's not a fact that this "bundle of software" will work in Win 10 in principle.
You can try any junk software that is easy to google, such as PCmover.
Well, a hardcore solution: make a VMware vCenter Converter virtual machine and run it in VMware Player.)

Answer 2

It's easier to reinstall.
All the same, half of the software will refuse to work after the update, and the activation will fail for the other half.

Answer 3

On an old Win7 x86 laptop and MBR disk layout. You won't be able to convert it to GPT before cloning

Firstly, it will be quite possible to convert after cloning (and not cloning is required here, but OS migration is an option that is available in many advanced partition managers). Secondly - why??? For me, the good old MBR for a simple user is much better than GPT (more than once stated why this is so), and Win10 works fine for me on a disk marked in MBR.

If you clone an MBR disk first, you will not be able to start the system on a new laptop - UEFI will not boot Win7 x86 from an MBR disk.

This is true, and I overcame it in this way: disabled UEFI and restored the MBR bootloader with BootICE utility or similar (there are many of them). By the way, the presence of a large number of simple and convenient tools for working with MBR is one of the reasons why I tend to MBR and try not to mess with GPT.
So the main difficulty, kmk, is not in the jump from MBR to GPT, but in the transition from x86 to x64 while preserving everything accumulated. I'm afraid that because of this alone, you still have to reinstall.

Answer 4

Migration (without reinstalling the OS) between bit depths x32 and x64 is not possible.
And your problem with Windows 10 x32 is not fully understood.
Windows 10 can boot without UEFI and work on MBR disks, respectively.
If you want to move the disk to a new laptop to keep the software and you do not have Legacy boot mode, I would advise you to remove the image from the disk and use a virtual machine on the new laptop.