How to move disk with Windows XP to different computer

  • Thread starter Thread starter qbacz
  • Start date Start date
Q

qbacz

Hi,

Yes, It's trivial issue when you can boot new computer
from CD, but this comp. can be booted only from HDD
and BIOS is passworded. I only may access new disk
when I connect it by USB to different computer, but I
cannot do something like "sys d:" like in older DOS/
Windows system.

Does anything can help me? (BIOS reset is also undoable)

qba
 
Hi,

Yes, It's trivial issue when you can boot new computer
from CD, but this comp. can be booted only from HDD
and BIOS is passworded. I only may access new disk
when I connect it by USB to different computer, but I
cannot do something like "sys d:" like in older DOS/
Windows system.

Does anything can help me? (BIOS reset is also undoable)
Click to expand...

No. You will need to do a repair install and you will need to boot from
the optical drive. It doesn't make sense that anyone would ask you to
do a hard drive transfer on a machine where you didn't have the ability
to enter the BIOS so you can change the boot order.

If you bought this computer - or somehow acquired it - because it "fell
off a truck", you made a bad decision.

If this is a laptop that you legitimately purchased second-hand (or
thought you legitimately purchased it), contact the laptop mftr.'s tech
support with proof of purchase to bypass the BIOS password.

If this is a work computer and you somehow screwed things up and are
trying to put them right without telling your IT Dept. you screwed up -
you can't. Call your IT Dept. and have them fix the computer.

Malke
 
Hi,

Yes, It's trivial issue when you can boot new computer
from CD, but this comp. can be booted only from HDD
and BIOS is passworded. I only may access new disk
when I connect it by USB to different computer, but I
cannot do something like "sys d:" like in older DOS/
Windows system.

Does anything can help me? (BIOS reset is also undoable)

qba
Click to expand...

I would like to know who sold you a computer where you cannot access the
BIOS! what Manufacturer of motherboard ? model ?

you will probably need to do a "repair installation" and you will need your
XP CD
 
Malke said:
No. You will need to do a repair install and you will need to boot
from the optical drive. It doesn't make sense that anyone would ask
you to do a hard drive transfer on a machine where you didn't have
the ability to enter the BIOS so you can change the boot order.
Click to expand...

One can always(?) clear the BIOS password (and everything else) physically
by replacing the battery or invoking the BIOS-CLEAR switch (usually by
shorting two pins on the motherboard.
 
HeyBub said:
One can always(?) clear the BIOS password (and everything else) physically
by replacing the battery or invoking the BIOS-CLEAR switch (usually by
shorting two pins on the motherboard.
Click to expand...

This is not true for laptops. Most laptop manufacturers have provided
additional safeguards for their computers. BIOS passwords in most laptops
are stored in a special chip on the motherboard and the only way to bypass
this password is to replace this laptop security chip. Laptop BIOS passwords
cannot be bypassed or reset by removing or shorting the CMOS battery.
Further, doing this may cause other system errors and complicate the
recovery or your system.

Harry Ohrn MS MVP [Shell\User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp
 
HeyBub said:
One can always(?) clear the BIOS password (and everything else)
physically by replacing the battery or invoking the BIOS-CLEAR switch
(usually by shorting two pins on the motherboard.
Click to expand...

1. The OP explicitly said in his post that clearing the BIOS was not an
option.

2. Corporate-quality laptops like Lenovo Thinkpads are protected against
that. If you enable certain options, you can't a) take the hard drive
out and boot it in another machine; b) put a different hard drive in
the laptop and have it work; c) disable the security settings in the
BIOS.

I'm not saying that a national security agency or someone with the
equivalent skills couldn't break into a Thinkpad, but a "friend who
knows something about computers who got this great deal on a used
corporate laptop" couldn't.

Malke
 
Hi,

Yes, It's trivial issue when you can boot new computer
from CD, but this comp. can be booted only from HDD
and BIOS is passworded. I only may access new disk
when I connect it by USB to different computer, but I
cannot do something like "sys d:" like in older DOS/
Windows system.

Does anything can help me? (BIOS reset is also undoable)

qba
Click to expand...


Normally, and assuming a retail license (many factory-installed OEM
installations are BIOS-locked to a specific chipset and therefore *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: 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.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin
 
Harry said:
One can always(?) clear the BIOS password (and everything else) physically
by replacing the battery or invoking the BIOS-CLEAR switch (usually by
shorting two pins on the motherboard.
Click to expand...


This is not true for laptops. Most laptop manufacturers have provided
additional safeguards for their computers. BIOS passwords in most laptops
are stored in a special chip on the motherboard and the only way to bypass
this password is to replace this laptop security chip. Laptop BIOS passwords
cannot be bypassed or reset by removing or shorting the CMOS battery.
Further, doing this may cause other system errors and complicate the
recovery or your system.

Harry Ohrn MS MVP [Shell\User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp
Click to expand...

For some laptops you can call the manufacturer and they will give you an
override code after you give them the serial number of the laptop and
verify that you have a right to. Unfortunately we had a case recently
when a stolen HP laptop was recovered, the thief set a password but also
tore off the serial number. HP refused to help us.

Steve N.
 
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