Salvaged drive now in an enclosure

[Just a citizen . . .]

I have a drive pulled from an older machine (the only drive in that
machine), now in an enclosure with a power supply and connected to a laptop
via a USB. I can connect the enclosure drive to my laptop and it looks like
any other drive - I see everything. I want to run a program that was
installed on the drive when it was in the previous machine - I can find the
proper executable, but I get a message about "The operating system is not
presently configured to run this program" - because the program wasn't
installed originally on this machine, I guess. Any workarounds, besides
re-installing the programs on this machine? THANKS!

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I have a drive pulled from an older machine (the only drive in that
machine), now in an enclosure with a power supply and connected to a laptop
via a USB. I can connect the enclosure drive to my laptop and it looks like
any other drive - I see everything. I want to run a program that was
installed on the drive when it was in the previous machine - I can find the
proper executable, but I get a message about "The operating system is not
presently configured to run this program" - because the program wasn't
installed originally on this machine, I guess. Any workarounds, besides
re-installing the programs on this machine? THANKS!

None, whatsoever. You'll have to reinstall each and every application
and game on the transplanted disk, in order to recreate the hundreds
(possibly thousands) of registry entries and to replace the dozens
(possibly hundreds) of essential system files back into the appropriate
Windows folders and sub-folders.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

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safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

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killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

 

[Ken Blake]

I have a drive pulled from an older machine (the only drive in that
machine), now in an enclosure with a power supply and connected to a laptop
via a USB. I can connect the enclosure drive to my laptop and it looks
like any other drive - I see everything. I want to run a program that was
installed on the drive when it was in the previous machine - I can find the
proper executable, but I get a message about "The operating system is not
presently configured to run this program" - because the program wasn't
installed originally on this machine, I guess.

Right. Except for a very occasional very small program, all programs have
entries and references within the registry and elsewhere in \windows. It
can't be run under Windows unless it was installed in that copy of Windows.

Any workarounds, besides re-installing the programs on this machine?
THANKS!

No, none at all. Can't be done.

 

[Just a citizen . . .]

Thanks for confirming, guys.

Right. Except for a very occasional very small program, all programs have
entries and references within the registry and elsewhere in \windows. It
can't be run under Windows unless it was installed in that copy of
Windows.




No, none at all. Can't be done.

 

[Ken Blake]

Thanks for confirming, guys.

You're welcome. Glad to help.

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was 11/13/2008 6:12 PM, and on a whim, Just a citizen
.. . . pounded out on the keyboard:

I have a drive pulled from an older machine (the only drive in that
machine), now in an enclosure with a power supply and connected to a laptop
via a USB. I can connect the enclosure drive to my laptop and it looks like
any other drive - I see everything. I want to run a program that was
installed on the drive when it was in the previous machine - I can find the
proper executable, but I get a message about "The operating system is not
presently configured to run this program" - because the program wasn't
installed originally on this machine, I guess. Any workarounds, besides
re-installing the programs on this machine? THANKS!

I've gotten various programs to run without reinstalling, but it isn't
easy. First I had to search the registry and export EVERY reference to
the program (it could be folder names, files names, file extensions,
etc), naming them appropriately. I put all the exported files in a
folder so I can import them into the new registry.

Then I check the program dates of the file folder of the program and do
a disk search of all files with the same dates, checking the file
properties to see if they are related to the program and place them in
the same folder names of the new computer.

Then I start launching the program. A lot of times I'd get an error
message that a particular file couldn't be found, so I'd locate the file
on the old computer and move it to the same location on the new
computer. This could be repeated multiple times.

It won't work every time, but I have moved some crazy programs this way
when the client didn't have the installs any longer and had to have the
program.

This is where I LOVED DOS programs. Move the folder to another location
and it worked. Kind of like OS X. MS really blew it in this regard.

Good luck,

--
Terry R.

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[Dave Cohen]

The date and time was 11/13/2008 6:12 PM, and on a whim, Just a citizen
. . . pounded out on the keyboard:


I've gotten various programs to run without reinstalling, but it isn't
easy. First I had to search the registry and export EVERY reference to
the program (it could be folder names, files names, file extensions,
etc), naming them appropriately. I put all the exported files in a
folder so I can import them into the new registry.

Then I check the program dates of the file folder of the program and do
a disk search of all files with the same dates, checking the file
properties to see if they are related to the program and place them in
the same folder names of the new computer.

Then I start launching the program. A lot of times I'd get an error
message that a particular file couldn't be found, so I'd locate the file
on the old computer and move it to the same location on the new
computer. This could be repeated multiple times.

It won't work every time, but I have moved some crazy programs this way
when the client didn't have the installs any longer and had to have the
program.

This is where I LOVED DOS programs. Move the folder to another location
and it worked. Kind of like OS X. MS really blew it in this regard.

Good luck,

I've had programs copied from one machine that seemed to run fine on
another. Which programs will do this can only be found by trial and
error, but other responders stating this can't be done are making too
sweeping a statement.
I've never used it but Sandisk have a utility that is supposed to let
programs run from their flash drive.
Dave Cohen

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was 11/14/2008 9:52 AM, and on a whim, Dave Cohen
pounded out on the keyboard:

I've had programs copied from one machine that seemed to run fine on
another. Which programs will do this can only be found by trial and
error, but other responders stating this can't be done are making too
sweeping a statement.
I've never used it but Sandisk have a utility that is supposed to let
programs run from their flash drive.
Dave Cohen

Hi Dave,

I have a shortcut on my Desktop called, "Programs that don't need
reinstalling" that points to a folder of the same name. I put in it all
the ones that operate within their folder. I currently have 21 there.
A lot are utilities, but about 6 are ones I use daily. It is good to
know which ones can be easily moved around. Zip builds of programs
often times are that way. Firefox & Thunderbird offer zip builds and
have "portable versions" as well that run off of a flash drive.

--
Terry R.

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