Find what you see below, by what happens or by the words on the screen. Quoted words are what the program shows, sometimes with a name or a number in the middle.
If nothing here helps, see Getting help at the end.
The Window Could Not Open
What you see. A message box instead of the window:
- from the app: "The window could not open", and "This needs Direct3D 12 to draw its window, which an old graphics driver or a virtual machine may not have."
- from an installer: the same, and "It can still install without one: run this file from an administrator's command prompt with --apply, and --target-root followed by a folder to choose where."
- from an uninstaller: the same, and "It can still uninstall without one, from an administrator's command prompt:" with the exact command.
Why. The windows are drawn with Direct3D 12, and there is nothing else to draw them with.
What to do.
| What you see |
What it means |
What to do |
| The UAC prompt says "Unknown publisher" for the app |
From 0.5.0 on, the app is signed. An unsigned app is not the release file, or is from before 0.5.0. |
Download it again from the latest release, and check it. |
| SmartScreen says "Windows protected your PC" |
SmartScreen has not seen that file often |
Choose More info, check the publisher is Randy Northrup, then Run anyway. |
| The label at the top says Load Failed, and the list says "Could not list applications" |
The list of apps could not be read |
Click the circular arrow to reload. For a connected drive, check it is still connected. |
| The app you want is not in the list |
It is a Microsoft Store app, a hidden part of another app, or it has no entry in Settings at all, such as a portable app |
Store apps cannot be moved. A hidden part may be offered under Might Also Be Part of It when you pick the main app. An app with no entry in Settings cannot be picked. |
| "No Matching Applications" |
The search or filter hides everything |
Clear the search box, and choose All. |
Picking a Drive or a Disk Image
| What you see |
What to do |
| The drive "does not look like a Windows system drive (no \Windows and \Users). Pick the root of the drive from the other PC." |
Pick the top of the drive, such as E:\, not a folder on it. Check it is the drive Windows was installed on. |
| An image "is not a disk image Windows can attach (.vhd or .vhdx)" |
Pick a .vhd or .vhdx. Save a VMware or VirtualBox disk as one of those first. For a Hyper-V checkpoint, .avhdx, export the virtual machine's disk. |
| An image "could not be attached: Windows already has it attached, and whatever attached it may be writing to it." |
It is open somewhere else, for example mounted in File Explorer. Pick its drive under Connected Drive… instead, or detach it, then pick it again. |
| An image "has no volume with Windows on it that could be read. A volume encrypted with BitLocker has to be unlocked first." |
Check it is an image of the drive Windows was installed on. If it is locked with BitLocker, mount it in Windows yourself, unlock it, and pick its drive under Connected Drive…. |
| An image "is a differencing disk, which only holds what changed since the disk it was made from" |
Merge it into the disk it was made from, with Hyper-V's Edit Disk, and pick that. |
| An image "could not be attached:" and another reason |
The reason is Windows' own. Read it, check nothing else is using the image, and try again. |
Reading a PC over the Network
The full list, including what the client says on the old PC, is in Moving from a PC over the network.
| What you see |
What to do |
| The old PC is not listed under 2. Pick the Old PC
|
Check the client is running there and shows a code, and that both PCs are on the same network. Then type its name or address. Across a router, type its address. A firewall other than Windows' own has to let TCP 47732 and UDP 47731 through. |
| A name "was not found on the network" |
Type the old PC's address instead. |
| "the old PC could not be reached:" and a reason |
Check the client is still running, and that the name or address is right. |
| "that is not the code the old PC shows. Check it and try again." |
Type the code the client shows now. After five wrong codes, it makes a new one. After 20, it lets nothing pair until you start it again. |
| On the old PC, Windows says the client's publisher is unknown |
That is expected only on a Windows 7 without Microsoft's 2020 root certificate, which cannot check the client's signature. There, choose Yes only for a client you saved from the app yourself. Anywhere else, the prompt should name Randy Northrup. If it does not, do not run that copy. |
| The app cannot read the old PC any more, after a long pause |
The client ends a link the app has asked nothing of for 30 minutes. Click Disconnect, and pair again. |
| What you see |
What it means |
What to do |
| "This app could not be looked at." and a reason |
The look failed. One common reason is an entry with no program to it at all, such as a driver package. |
Click Try Again. If it fails the same way, the entry may not be an app WinAppMigrator can move. |
| "Stopped. An installer can be built once this app has been looked at." |
You clicked Stop
|
Click Look Again. |
| The look takes a long time |
A large app, a slow or failing drive, or many accounts |
If the drive may be failing, click Stop, make a disk image of it, and pick that instead, since reading a failing drive can finish it off. From 0.6.0, pick it with Disk Image…. With 0.5.0, mount it and pick its drive. Otherwise, wait. You can pick another app meanwhile. |
| A row you want is greyed and ticked |
It holds the main program, or what it needs to start |
It always goes in. See the rows you cannot untick. |
| A row says "Left out too:" |
Something you unticked took it along |
Tick that thing back in, if you want this. |
| "What is left would not make a package" |
What you unticked leaves nothing that can be built |
Tick something back in. |
| "License data in what you left out still goes in" |
Licenses follow the License and Activation Data option only |
Untick that option if you want them out. |
Create Installer Stays Greyed Out
It waits until all of these are true:
- the look at the app has finished, for the options as they are now ("Working out what goes with that…" means it is still working out what your last untick takes along);
- the Output Folder is a full path, such as
D:\Installers ("Enter a full folder path, such as D:\Installers.");
- there is room on that drive.
| What you see |
What to do |
| "There is not enough room." and how much a drive needs and has |
Choose an output folder on another drive, or leave something out. The figure is the most a build could take, before compressing, so it can be more than the installer will be. |
| A drive "would not say how much room it has" |
The build goes ahead without checking that drive. Make sure it has room. |
| A FAT32 drive and a big app |
FAT32 cannot hold a file of 4 GiB. Use an NTFS or exFAT drive. |
| What you see |
What to do |
| "Installer built, but" some files "were gone since the app was looked at" |
Click Look Again, then Create Installer Again, if those files matter. |
| "Installer built, but" some files "could not be captured, usually because they were locked or unreadable." |
Close the app, and anything else using its files, then build again. Warnings lists which files. |
| "Installer built, and it still says something of who it came from." |
Read the amber messages under it. See the last look. |
|
Warnings says "Could not download" a runtime, and "the installer will try winget on the target." |
That runtime is not inside the installer, so the new PC will need internet for it. Build again while online. See Runtimes. |
| "Do not use this installer: it failed its hash check." |
Do not use it. Build again. If it happens again, the drive may be failing. |
| "The installer was written, but its hash check could not run" |
Do not use it. Build again. |
| "Build cancelled. No installer was written." |
You clicked Cancel. |
| "The installer could not be built." and a reason |
Read the reason. Copy Error copies it, and Log shows where the log is. |
| "Could not create the output folder" |
Choose a folder you can write to. |
| "Could not create a protected staging folder, so nothing was built" |
The build could not make its private working folder beside the output folder, or in Windows' temp folder. Choose an output folder on another drive. |
| "The build stopped unexpectedly" |
Something went wrong that nothing expected. "If it left an installer in the output folder, do not use it." Please report it. |
| What you see |
What it means |
What to do |
| "Checking the installer…" for a long time |
It reads the whole package to check its hash |
Wait. A big installer takes a while. |
| "Could not read the installer:" and "this installer is damaged or was changed after it was built, so nothing was read from its package. Copy it again from where it was built." |
The file is cut short or changed |
Copy it again. |
"this installer keeps its package in a file named" a .wamdata file, "in the same folder, and that file is not there" |
A two-file installer is missing its data file |
Copy the .wamdata file into the same folder. See Big apps. |
| the data file "is not this installer's data file, or it is damaged or was changed after it was built" |
The data file does not match |
Copy both files again, from where they were built. |
| "This installer's package cannot be used on this PC:" and "this app cannot run on this PC, so nothing was changed" |
The app's programs are built for another processor, or a program says it needs a newer Windows |
Install on a PC like the old one. Nothing was changed. |
| "This is a WinAppMigrator installer stub, and it carries no application package." |
This is the bare stub, not a built installer |
Build an installer with the app, and run that. |
| "This installer's signature is not valid", with Windows' reason |
It was signed, but Windows does not accept the signature. It may have changed since, or its certificate is not trusted on this PC. |
Do not install it. Check with whoever built it. |
| The UAC prompt says "Unknown publisher" |
The installer is not signed. That is normal for one you built. |
Run it only if you trust where it came from. |
The hint under the box starts "Enter another folder, such as C:\Program Files\App:" and gives the reason. The reasons, and what to do, are in Installing on the new PC. The most common is "it already has files, and no install is on record here, so use an empty folder": pick a new folder.
Before or During the Install
| What you see |
What it means |
What to do |
| "There may not be enough room here" |
The drive looks short of room |
Free up space, or choose a location on another drive. |
| "there is not enough room for this, so nothing was changed" |
A drive it writes to is too full |
Free up space there, or choose an install location on another drive. |
| "What this would do here has changed, so nothing was installed." |
Something on the PC changed since the list was worked out |
Read the list again, and click Install again if it is what you want. |
| "An earlier install of" an app "never finished. Install undoes it first." |
A previous install was cut off |
Click Install. It undoes that first. |
| "another install or uninstall is running. Wait for it to finish, then try again" |
Only one runs at a time |
Wait, then try again. |
| A file "has a name that this version of Windows opens as a device and not as a file" |
The app has a file named like aux.h, which Windows before Windows 11 cannot hold |
Install on Windows 11. |
| "Could not create a staging folder" |
There is nowhere private, with room, to unpack the package |
Free up space on the install location's drive or the system drive. |
A data folder such as %AppData% is said to be a link |
The installer will not write through a link
|
Untick User Data and License, and install without them. |
| "This PC's ProgramData folder could not be found, so the install could not be undone." |
Windows' own record of where ProgramData is could not be read |
The installer will not install without somewhere safe to keep its record. |
| What you see |
What to do |
| "The install failed, and what it changed was put back." |
Read the red messages for why. The PC is as it was, except any runtime it installed. |
| "The install failed, and not all of what it changed could be put back." |
Read what is listed. Close what might be using those files, and run an installer again: it tries again first. |
| "Could not install" a runtime |
The runtime could not be installed, so the install was put back. For the DirectX End-User Runtime, the new PC needs internet. See Runtimes. |
| "A dependency needs a reboot to finish. Restart Windows, then launch the app." |
Restart, then start the app. |
| The service "ran as" an account "on the source. Its password is not in the installer, so the service is set up as LocalService." |
Open Services, and set the service's account and password, if it does not work as it is. |
| Some files "go under" the install folder "instead, in a folder named _external" |
This PC keeps Documents or Saved Games outside your profile. Move those files to that folder yourself. |
| Something is "left out", with a reason |
The rules refused it, or it already belongs to another app here. The rest is installed. If the app needs it, see the reason. |
|
Package Hashes INVALID or Installed Files INVALID
|
Something did not match. Copy the installer again, and try once more. |
| What you see |
What to do |
| The app does not start |
Check Dependencies for a runtime marked Install Manually, and install it. Check the warnings in the result. |
| An app from Windows 7 does not start, and a warning when it was built named a DLL that "Windows 10 and 11 do not come with" |
That DLL was put in the old Windows' own folders by something else, so it did not come along. Install whatever provides it, then start the app again. See Apps from Windows 7, Vista, 8, or 8.1. |
| The app starts as if new |
That is expected with an installer built with User Data off. It also happens when User Data was unticked at install, because the data then goes under the install folder, and when the installer could not tell who was signed in, which it says. |
| The app asks to be activated |
A license tied to the old PC needs activating again. |
| The app's own updater thinks it is not installed |
Windows Installer has no record of it here. See Limitations. |
| A file type or link type does not open with the app |
Another app already owned it here, so it was left alone. Choose the app in Settings, under Default apps. |
A new Path entry is not seen |
Open a new PowerShell or command prompt. Some programs only see a change after you sign out and in again. |
| What you see |
What to do |
| "Part of it is on a drive that is not connected." |
Connect that drive, and uninstall again from Settings. |
| "Not all of it could be undone. Close what is using it, and uninstall again from Settings." |
Close the app and anything using its files. If a service will not stop, restart the PC. Then uninstall again. |
| "this is not an install's id" |
The id given to --uninstall is wrong. Copy it from the entry in Settings. See Command line. |
A file named .before-install appeared |
It is the original of a file the install replaced, which you had changed since. Keep whichever you want. |
| A runtime is still installed |
Runtimes stay, because other programs may use them. Leave it unless you are sure nothing else uses it. |
| What you see |
What to do |
| "The requested operation requires elevation" |
Run PowerShell as administrator. |
Nothing is printed, and $LASTEXITCODE is not set |
Pipe the installer's output, for example to Out-String. See Command line. |
Exit code 2
|
A flag is wrong, or --apply and --dry-run were used together. |
| "this package does not say where its app was, so give a --target-root" |
Add --target-root with a full path. |
| The app "was in" a folder, "and that cannot be used" |
Add --target-root with another folder. |
| A folder "cannot be used: it already has files" "Give --force only if you know it is this app's" |
Choose an empty folder. Use --force only for a folder you know is this app's. |
- Find the log. Its path is shown as Log on a failure, or printed as
Log: from a command line. Logs are in %ProgramData%\WinAppMigrator\logs. They hold paths and key names, and never what a setting, license file, or environment variable holds. They can still hold your folder names, so read one before you share it.
-
Open an issue with the version, what you did, and what the screen said. Copy Error on the app's done screen copies the message.
-
Never attach an installer to an issue. It can hold private data.
- For a security problem, report it privately instead, through GitHub's security advisories.
Last changed 2026-11-11. Describes WinAppMigrator as of its latest release, 0.6.0.
WinAppMigrator