Best way to "clone" existing windows 7 partition to MAC

[Lingothedawg]

Hello,

Currently I have the following:

1. Macbook pro with snow leopard
2. One computer at work with windows 7 enterprise

Computer number 2. has a lot of different security settings such as certificates / domain settings. I now want to use computer 1. as my main computer and "get rid" of computer 2. A windows 7 partition can be cloned to another computer because it is not hardware dependant like previous windows versions. My question is what is the best way to get my 2. computer into 1.?

I have a VHD image file of computer 2. but I donno if I can somehow employ it to bootcamp. The 2. computer has a 320 gb where 50 gb or so is used and computer 1. has a 500 gb. I rather not clone the whole 320 gb as I only want the used space.

The VHD image only uses the used space and I am able to boot the VHD file in virtualbox so there should be no problem booting it in a MAC if I can somehow extract it there. So anyone have any idea of the best way to do what I want to achieve?

 

[MacsWork]

Method 1 (I've tried):
Install VMWare converter on the PC. Convert the PC to a VM. Move the VM to the Mac. Install VMWare Fusion and open the VM (might be import). Install the VMWare tools. Fusion creates a sort of VM package that looks a little cleaner. THe VM you move will have multiple files. They all need to come over.

Method 2 (Might work):
Use GImageX (or ImageX cli) on the PC to create a WIM file of itself. Install Win7 Ent on boot camp partition. On the Mac, boot to WinPE disk with ImageX or GImageX on it and restore the WIM to the Win7 partition. Make sure you get it right or the Mac partition might blow up. You may also be able to restore the WIM while booted to the Win& partition, not sure though.

Personally I like the VM or BootCamp option. BootCamp is too much of a pain, and VMWare is pretty usable.

 

[chscag]

Use method 1 as given above. Note that the VM image and the VM have to be NTFS or it won't work. VMWare should do that automatically. Also note that you will have to re-activate Windows 7. I don't know what you mean about it being hardware independent but it will see different hardware on the new machine and will open the activation wizard.

 

[MacsWork]

Isn't Windows 7 only NTFS now?

Unlike retail activations, Enterprise activations, providing the MAK kay is not abused, should be 50 activations versus 3 for retail.

 

[chscag]

Yes, Windows 7 like Vista before it has to be installed on an NTFS partition or it will refuse to install.