Way to migrate apps to a clean reinstallation?

[pcalvert]

I was recently given a Lenovo laptop that's about ten years old. It has Windows 8.1 on it and I am about to upgrade it to Windows 10 22H2. However, soon after I will wipe the partition and perform a clean reinstallation of Windows 10. Is there a way to preserve the non-Windows software that came with this laptop so it can be restored or reinstalled after the clean reinstallation? The laptop came with MS Office 2013 and some other software, and I'd like to keep them if I can.

 

[Roving]

You probably need the key and everything. Here's a Wiki post I found on MS Office:

https://www.wikihow.com/Transfer-Microsoft-Office-to-Another-Computer

It's probably about as relevant as anything for your problem. It's not a simple task at all. (Microsoft wants to sell more Office subscriptions so they don't have any incentive to make it easy.)

[Roving]

I found a discussion of Office 2013, keeping it, here:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/reinstall-windows-10-but-keep-microsoft-office/d73df984-ef71-4bf2-8ee8-46941eb5db2f

It says basically the same thing, you need the original media and key and without that, you can't keep it once it's wiped. The only other option I can think of it to get a hack for the key, but that's not really a good option in my experience as often such hacks either don't work, or they might open you up to other problems. What I recommend is use Open Office instead. It's a very capable program and if you need to, you can open the files in Microsoft Office and save them there a second time in Microsoft's format. Do understand though that MS Office will not keep any fancy features you might use in OO in the transition. It's good enough to get started though, and sometimes that is all you need.

Edited May 14, 2023 by Roving

[pcalvert]

Thanks for the info and suggestions. It does appear that what I would like to do is impossible, or at least nearly so.

 

In case anyone else is looking for similar information, I did find some software that is supposed to be able to facilitate the transfer of software:

Transferring Installed Programs from One Computer to Another Windows 11/10 - Here Is the Best Way

https://www.easeus.com/pc-transfer/copy-installed-software.html

 

Best EaseUS Todo PCTrans Alternatives

https://alternativeto.net/software/easeus-todo-pctrans/

 

Unfortunately, these types of utilities are not universal -- they will only work for some software. And MS Office 2013 is not one of them.