New Build: Can't access applications on old boot drive

[christopherburdick]

Hi Everyone,

I have just finished building a new PC for the first time (yay me!) and it's not working as I had hoped.

I have upgraded the motherboard, processor, video card etc, but have kept my Old SSD with Windows 10 and all of my applications on it. My plan was to install windows on an M.2 drive (installed on the motherboard) and then free up some space on my OldSSD by deleting the old Windows installation, but still have access to the applications on the OldSSD.

So, I have Windows up and running on the M.2 drive on the motherboard, and when I boot with the new Windows installation, I can see all of my applications on my OldSSD, but some won't run at all (Photoshop, Bridge, some games etc).

However, when I change the boot drive from the new M.2 to the OldSSD, it starts right up and I can run all of my programs just like I did before I upgraded everything.

So, here's my question: Is there any way I can use the Windows installation on my M.2 drive, and access the applications on my OldSSD? Thanks for your help.

 

[Scottray]

Unfortunately, Windows just doesn't work like that. You'll need to reinstall all of your software. The basic issue is that the new install of Windows doesn't know where to find various library and configuration files needed to run the program. This is what installation does - it makes Windows aware of where everything is located to run the program.

 

[dshort01]

The installation of software modify s the registry settings and other things. So these days this is almost impossible to do without reinstalling the software. I can guarantee you that Adobe doesn't allow this. And 99.99% of other software will not allow this either.