# Easiest way to move IDA from one PC to another **URL:** \ **Category:** IDA General\ **Created:** [February 16, 2025, 6:19am UTC](https://community.hex-rays.com/t/easiest-way-to-move-ida-from-one-pc-to-another/161 "2025-02-16T06:19:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kubik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/74df32/32.png) [@kubik](https://community.hex-rays.com/u/kubik)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2025, 6:19am UTC](https://community.hex-rays.com/t/easiest-way-to-move-ida-from-one-pc-to-another/161/1 "2025-02-16T06:19:59Z")
I have older version of IDA and no longer have an active license, and after building a new PC I would like to move IDA over there. Unfortunately my installed was backed up on a drive that died, so I can not simply install it. And before someone asks price of 3000€ **PER YEAR** , is quite discouraging to even consider for non profit project. I remember I long time ago tried to move IDA installation, and it did not work on new PC, back then it was relatively soon after my license expired, so I asked for new installer. So what files do I need to copy? (Apart from the obvious folder in Program Files) Do I need to modify some files? Thanks in advance for any suggestions. ---
**Author:** ![teresa\_hexrays](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.hex-rays.com/teresa_hexrays/32/11_2.png) [@teresa\_hexrays](https://community.hex-rays.com/u/teresa_hexrays)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2025, 3:41pm UTC](https://community.hex-rays.com/t/easiest-way-to-move-ida-from-one-pc-to-another/161/2 "2025-02-17T15:41:51Z")
Hello @kubik, Generally speaking, you should be able to move your IDA installation folder to another PC without modifying any registry files. Your IDA should work straight away, but you may need to configure IDAPython/run idapyswitch. Let us know how it’s going—I hope you won’t encounter issues this time. ---
**Author:** ![kubik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/74df32/32.png) [@kubik](https://community.hex-rays.com/u/kubik)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 8:40am UTC](https://community.hex-rays.com/t/easiest-way-to-move-ida-from-one-pc-to-another/161/3 "2025-02-20T08:40:25Z")
Oh with this version (7.6) of IDA it seems to work just fine, but `idapyswitch.exe` does not seem to do anything, and plugins using python seems to not load at all. ---
**Author:** ![igor](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.hex-rays.com/igor/32/35_2.png) [@igor](https://community.hex-rays.com/u/igor)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 10:42am UTC](https://community.hex-rays.com/t/easiest-way-to-move-ida-from-one-pc-to-another/161/4 "2025-02-20T10:42:12Z")
what’s the output of `idapywitch -v`? ---
**Author:** ![kubik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/74df32/32.png) [@kubik](https://community.hex-rays.com/u/kubik)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 11:05am UTC](https://community.hex-rays.com/t/easiest-way-to-move-ida-from-one-pc-to-another/161/5 "2025-02-20T11:05:46Z")
```auto C:\Program Files\IDA Pro 7.6>idapyswitch.exe -v V: Searching for subkeys of "HLKM\Software\Python" V: Searching for subkeys of "HKCU\Software\Python" "Software\Hex-Rays\IDA" exists, but no "Python3TargetDLL" value found No Python installations were found ``` 😮 oh it does not contain python installation within the IDA folder? I do not think I ever installed python myself. ---
**Author:** ![igor](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.hex-rays.com/igor/32/35_2.png) [@igor](https://community.hex-rays.com/u/igor)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2025, 12:55pm UTC](https://community.hex-rays.com/t/easiest-way-to-move-ida-from-one-pc-to-another/161/6 "2025-02-21T12:55:36Z")
The IDA installer for Windows includes Python, but it is installed in the default location, not inside IDA folder. So if you copy it manually to another machine, you’ll need to install Python yourself. It seems 7.6 supported up to 3.10, so just download an installer for your preferred version from [python.org](http://python.org) (for Windows 64), install it, then run idapyswitch to select it for IDA. ---
**Author:** ![kubik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/74df32/32.png) [@kubik](https://community.hex-rays.com/u/kubik)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2025, 1:16pm UTC](https://community.hex-rays.com/t/easiest-way-to-move-ida-from-one-pc-to-another/161/7 "2025-02-21T13:16:53Z")
Thank you, it seems to work now.