Re: Use old XP hard drive with a new Vista machine?
- From: "Tom" <DontSpamMr_tsquare@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 16 May 2009 11:44:18 -0700
Thanks, Bruce. I have bitten the bullet and done the transfer from the XP machine to the new Vista machine on an 8G thumb drive.
Probably easier than swapping the drives.
Tom
"Bruce Chambers" <bchambers@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:efdJs8b1JHA.1196@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Tom wrote:Hi folks;
While it may not be quite copasetic from a licensing perspective, would it work to take the old functioning hard drive out of a Dell machine running XP and substitute it into a new emachine that originally comes with Vista Basic? The machines are quite different - Intel vs AMD, different motherboards, video etc. My wife's game and surfing machine is starting to act strange and I really hate the prospect of doing a transfer and reloading applications between the old and new machines. Will I get blue screens or just need to reactivate XP on the new machine? Will it boot and run properly?
Tom
Normally, and assuming a retail license (many factory-installed OEM installations are BIOS-locked to a specific motherboard chipset and therefore are *not* transferable to a new motherboard - check yours before starting), unless the new motherboard is virtually identical (same chipset, same IDE controllers, same BIOS version, etc.) to the one on which the WinXP installation was originally performed, you'll need to perform a repair (a.k.a. in-place upgrade) installation, at the very least:
How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?ID=KB;EN-US;Q315341
Changing a Motherboard or Moving a Hard Drive with WinXP Installed
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/moving_xp.html
The "why" is quite simple, really, and has nothing to do with licensing issues, per se; it's a purely technical matter, at this point. You've pulled the proverbial hardware rug out from under the OS. (If you don't like -- or get -- the rug analogy, think of it as picking up a Cape Cod style home and then setting it down onto a Ranch style foundation. It just isn't going to fit.) WinXP, like Win2K before it, is not nearly as "promiscuous" as Win9x when it comes to accepting any old hardware configuration you throw at it. On installation it "tailors" itself to the specific hardware found. This is one of the reasons that the entire WinNT/2K/XP OS family is so much more stable than the Win9x group.
As always when undertaking such a significant change, back up any important data before starting.
This will also probably require re-activation, unless you have a Volume Licensed version of WinXP Pro installed. If it's been more than 120 days since you last activated that specific Product Key, you'll most likely be able to activate via the Internet without problem. If it's been less, you might have to make a 5 minute phone call.
--
Bruce Chambers
Help us help you:
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin
Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell
The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot
.
- References:
- Use old XP hard drive with a new Vista machine?
- From: Tom
- Re: Use old XP hard drive with a new Vista machine?
- From: Bruce Chambers
- Use old XP hard drive with a new Vista machine?
- Prev by Date: Re: How to clean the command input from Start > Run?
- Next by Date: Re: Registry Cleaner
- Previous by thread: Re: Use old XP hard drive with a new Vista machine?
- Next by thread: works task launcher freezes up
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
