As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly migrate your files to a new business laptop.

What to actually do

1. Hand it to a person

   The route this page recommends

   A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.

2. Use a tool built for this

   Second choice

3. Do it yourself

   The distant third

   A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 1 hour until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open your organisation's IT policy and record the old and new laptop operating systems, available storage, account type, administrator access and any approved use of OneDrive, SharePoint, a file server or an encrypted external drive.
   2. Gather a non-sensitive inventory of the folders, shared drives, cloud locations, applications and business data that must be available on the new laptop, including any folders with unusual permissions or large files.
   3. Paste those details into the prompt and ask the chatbot to identify missing information, the approved transfer route and any steps that need IT approval.
   4. Send the generated approval message to your IT team or manager, and use only the transfer method they approve; do not paste passwords or confidential file contents into the chatbot.
   5. Before copying, create or confirm a separate backup of the source data, record the source folder locations and sizes, and leave the old laptop unchanged.
   6. Carry out the approved copy or synchronisation, then compare the source and destination inventories, open representative documents, test important applications and confirm that shared folders and permissions work with the correct business account.
   7. Ask an IT colleague to check the comparison and sign off the new laptop before you remove access to the old laptop, delete files or return the device.

   Prompt

   Act as a cautious UK business IT helpdesk adviser. Help me plan and carry out a file migration from an old business laptop to a new one, but do not claim to have accessed either device or completed any transfer.
   
   Use only the information I provide:
   - Old laptop operating system and version: [insert]
   - New laptop operating system and version: [insert]
   - Files to move and their locations: [insert, without passwords or unnecessary personal data]
   - Approximate total size and available storage: [insert]
   - Current storage services, such as OneDrive, SharePoint, a file server or an external drive: [insert]
   - Applications and folders that must continue working: [insert]
   - Whether the laptops are managed by an employer and any IT policy or approved migration method: [insert]
   - Whether I have administrator access: [insert]
   
   First identify missing information and any step that requires IT approval. Then give me:
   1. The safest approved transfer route for this setup.
   2. A numbered procedure for preparing, copying and checking the files.
   3. Exact commands only where they are appropriate for the stated operating system, with an explanation of what each command does and a warning before any command that can delete or overwrite data.
   4. A pre-transfer inventory checklist and a post-transfer comparison checklist.
   5. Tests for file contents, folder permissions, cloud synchronisation, important applications and offline access.
   6. A rollback plan that keeps the old laptop unchanged until the new laptop is confirmed.
   7. A short message I can send to IT asking for approval or help.
   
   Do not ask me to paste passwords, recovery keys, private client data or complete confidential documents. Do not recommend wiping, selling or returning the old laptop until IT has confirmed that the migration and retention requirements are complete.

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.