Clone a WS to Another Region

We have members that use multiple workspaces in N.Virginia (us-east-1) region. The base configuration includes Simple AD. Initially, workspaces were created in this region, yet staff can be working from other regions. This leads to performance/lag problems.

I'd like to clone workspaces to other regions (both preserving the installed apps and user profile on D drive). I've followed the best practices to create an image. Image Checker did not report any problems.

Then I used this image, and copied it to another region (Let's say eu-west-1). I created a new bundle with the image. So far no errors. Then, attempting to launch a new WS by using the bundle, I am prompted to create a new directory. If I create a new directory, I'm required to create a new user. (Because directories are different original user is not listed in Show All Users section).

Upon launching the new WS using the settings above, indeed I see an emtpy/fresh Workspace with both installed apps lost and user profile does not retain changes in the image.

Based on the info above, what could be wrong? Do I need to switch to Active Directory setup? Do we have to use external tools to make a true clone? Please kindly share your knowledge. Thank you for reading. If needed I can provide additional information.