Using an SSD with Manjaro installed on a brand new system with different specs

I have a notebook with an old i5 and a dedicated NVIDIA GPU. I’m building a new desktop PC with both AMD CPU and GPU. Is it possible to simply plug the same SSD with the OS installed into the new system? What do I need to do?
I’ve already attempted to do this on the new system, but I can’t get it to boot. Does anyone have any idea what to do?

If you haven’t already, you should remove any proprietary driver (GPU :wink:) before switching.


Have you checked your new BIOS’ settings?

So, basically I only need to remove the proprietary driver and just plug the SSD and it will work?

Bios on the new motherboard is more or less the same from what I can tell. Just to remind you that one is a notebook acer motherboard and the new system is an asrock b450m. I honestly don’t know if that matters

You need to know how to use manjaro-chroot, mkinitcpio, mhwd to switch to free drivers, grub-install and update grub.

It is easier to prepare for the need to do a new install.

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Rather, what matters are the options that are incompatible with Manjaro, such as Secure Boot.

Also, does your drive shows up in your new BIOS?

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Secure boot is disabled in the new mobo

does your drive shows up in your new BIOS?

it does show up, but when I set it as a bootable option and restart it doesn’t boot.

Has Manjaro been installed using the EFI scheme, or the legacy MBR scheme?
I believe there is a BIOS setting to tell it to use EFI or Legacy boot…

You need to build the new initrd.

Please, expand this phrase as maximum as you can: black screen?
If yes, after which screen next is black?
Have an error text? Cite it fully. Mention which was the previous screen.

So, please give community the understanding of what you meet/see in details.

It is also easy to reinstall Manjaro, if the partitioning is setup correctly.

It just shows a black screen with a brief text “no input selected” or something like that, but I think this is just something my monitor shows by itself, unrelated to the bios

So the new PC without SSD inserted boots: showing the POST/Manufacturer’s logo screen and afterwards “no bootable media found” or sort like that.

And if to insert SSD then:

So no any POST/Manufacturer’s logo screen: even BIOS/UEFI does not boot with SSD device inserted?

So no any POST/Manufacturer’s logo screen: even BIOS/UEFI does not boot with SSD device inserted?

Pretty much. No post logo screen

If your system was originally installed with a separate ‘Home’ partition then you can re-install on the new hardware. Just delete everything in ‘Home’ except your personal folders, i.e. delete everything in the .XXXX (hidden) sections/Folders.
Re-install on the new system but dont format the old Home partition,just designate it during set-up.

Pretty sure this will be ok.

Yeah, thanks for all the replies. I’m just gonna do a fresh install when I have the time.