# Transferring a licensed copy of Ignition from one OS to another?

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/transferring-a-licensed-copy-of-ignition-from-one-os-to-another/31162>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Tags:** ignition79\
**Created:** [January 8, 2020, 8:24pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/transferring-a-licensed-copy-of-ignition-from-one-os-to-another/31162 "2020-01-08T20:24:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bkarabinchak.psi](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/bkarabinchak.psi/32/83567_2.png) [@bkarabinchak.psi](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/bkarabinchak.psi)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2020, 8:24pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/transferring-a-licensed-copy-of-ignition-from-one-os-to-another/31162/1 "2020-01-08T20:24:47Z")

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A customer of ours is using Ignition 7.9.9 on a Windows 08 Server OS. The support for that is about to be up and so they want to upgrade the OS. We want to bring the Ignition gateway over to the new OS which may or may not be on the same computer, but with the same exact version of Ignition.

As far as I understand things, I would just need to make a gateway backup, install the same version of Ignition on the new OS, and restore it.

Is that really all I need to do? Any pitfalls to look for? The license comes with the gateway backup correct?

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**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2020, 8:27pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/transferring-a-licensed-copy-of-ignition-from-one-os-to-another/31162/2 "2020-01-08T20:27:43Z")

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The license probably won’t work on the new server unless it’s the same hardware. You may need to unactivate the old one and re-activate on the new one after restoring.

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**Author:** ![bkarabinchak.psi](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/bkarabinchak.psi/32/83567_2.png) [@bkarabinchak.psi](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/bkarabinchak.psi)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2020, 8:30pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/transferring-a-licensed-copy-of-ignition-from-one-os-to-another/31162/3 "2020-01-08T20:30:06Z")

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1. Make gateway backup
2. Deactivate license on old server
3. Install New OS on same or different server
4. Install Ignition
5. Restore gateway
6. Reactive license

Would be the procedure?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2020, 8:34pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/transferring-a-licensed-copy-of-ignition-from-one-os-to-another/31162/4 "2020-01-08T20:34:37Z")

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Yeah, that should work without any issues.

Worst case is the unactivation fails for some reason and you end up in “emergency” mode on the new server, which gives you 7 days to call in and have us fix it on the back end.

edit: you might swap 1 and 2 so the license isn’t part of the backup.

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**Author:** ![bkarabinchak.psi](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/bkarabinchak.psi/32/83567_2.png) [@bkarabinchak.psi](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/bkarabinchak.psi)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2020, 8:35pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/transferring-a-licensed-copy-of-ignition-from-one-os-to-another/31162/5 "2020-01-08T20:35:48Z")

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Ok great thanks.