Swapping XP Pro and Home

[Andreww]

Hi - I have 2 PC's, one with home and one with Pro.

I want to swap them around, i.e. home-Pro and Pro-home.

Can this be done?

Can I just swap Hard Disks?

Thanks Andrew

 

[David Webb]

It's possible if they are retail versions. If one or both are OEM
versions...forget about it.

Here's two other procedures you may want to consider:

1) How to move a Windows installation to different hardware
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;Q249694&ID=KB;EN-US;Q249694

2) For a non-MS method, peruse the procedure in this link:

http://www.mostlycreativeworkshop.com/Article11.html

Good luck!

| Hi - I have 2 PC's, one with home and one with Pro.
|
| I want to swap them around, i.e. home-Pro and Pro-home.
|
| Can this be done?
|
| Can I just swap Hard Disks?
|
| Thanks Andrew
|

 

[RoadRunner]

No you can't swap hard drives , Unless both computers are identical , same model/motherboard

HIH...
Hi - I have 2 PC's, one with home and one with Pro.

I want to swap them around, i.e. home-Pro and Pro-home.

Can this be done?

Can I just swap Hard Disks?

Thanks Andrew

 

[kurttrail]

No you can't swap hard drives , Unless both computers are identical ,
same model/motherboard

Yes you can if you have the real installation CDs for both OSs, and know
how to do a repair install.

--
Peace!
Kurt Kirsch
Self-anointed Moderator
http://microscum.com
"It'll soon shake your Windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'."

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Hi - I have 2 PC's, one with home and one with Pro.

I want to swap them around, i.e. home-Pro and Pro-home.

Can this be done?

Assuming a retail license (OEM licenses are not legitimately
transferable), simply remove WinXP from the computer it is currently on
and then install it on the new computer. If it's been more than 120
days since you last activated that specific Product Key, the 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.

Here are the facts pertaining to activation:

Piracy Basics - Microsoft Product Activation
http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/basics/activation/

Windows Product Activation (WPA)
http://www.aumha.org/a/wpa.htm

Can I just swap Hard Disks?

Not easily.

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

 

[RoadRunner]

I believe the poster was referring to just swapping the hard drives , not repairing and if he going to perform a repair options ? He better off just to reformat and reinstall , With a repair option , You will have to enter your license keys again , So in the end a clean installment is better off , Just back up the stuff you need and afterwards reinstall

No you can't swap hard drives , Unless both computers are identical ,
same model/motherboard

Yes you can if you have the real installation CDs for both OSs, and know
how to do a repair install.

--
Peace!
Kurt Kirsch
Self-anointed Moderator
http://microscum.com
"It'll soon shake your Windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'."

 

[vernon]

Hi - I have 2 PC's, one with home and one with Pro.

I want to swap them around, i.e. home-Pro and Pro-home.

Can this be done?

Can I just swap Hard Disks?

Thanks Andrew

No hard answer but I have taken the primary hard drive from one computer to
another several times with no problem.
Both of your computers are apparently Xp compatible.

 

[kurttrail]

I believe the poster was referring to just swapping the hard drives
, not repairing and if he going to perform a repair options ?

The answer still isn't No. I've successfully moved harddrives to other
computers, without having to do a repair install at all.

The correct answer would be Yes, but you need to set yourself up first,
or need to do a repair install.

"No you can't . . . ." Is not even close to being the truth.

He
better off just to reformat and reinstall ,

That is an opinion, not a fact.

With a repair option ,
You will have to enter your license keys again ,

And that is harder than reinstalling all the software and transferring
all the settings?

What drugs are you on? You sound more like Wiley Coyote, than the Road
Runner!

So in the end a
clean installment is better off , Just back up the stuff you need and
afterwards reinstall

You are silly! A completely clean install can take hours, if not more
than a days worth of time, depending on how much software needs to be
reinstalled. A repair install usually takes me under an hour to do.

--
Peace!
Kurt Kirsch
Self-anointed Moderator
http://microscum.com
"It'll soon shake your Windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'."

 

[RoadRunner]

The answer still isn't No. I've successfully moved harddrives to other computers, without having to do a repair install at all.


So Kurt you are saying you can install your hard drive on my computer and its going to boot up without any problems ?

Hey Andreww go ahead and do as Kurt is telling you , Let me know how things goes later on will you ...

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Hi - I have 2 PC's, one with home and one with Pro.

I want to swap them around, i.e. home-Pro and Pro-home.

Can this be done?

If they are retail versions, certainly. But if either is an OEM version (for
example, if it came with the computer), the OEM license ties it permanently
to the first computer it's installed on and it may never be moved to
another.

Can I just swap Hard Disks?

After swapping hard drives, you would then have to at least do a Repair
Installation on both. See "How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install"
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

That usually works, but if it doesn't, you may need to do a clean
installation, so be sure than anything you can't afford to lose is first
backed up to external media.

 

[Anna]

If they are retail versions, certainly. But if either is an OEM version
(for example, if it came with the computer), the OEM license ties it
permanently to the first computer it's installed on and it may never be
moved to another.

After swapping hard drives, you would then have to at least do a Repair
Installation on both. See "How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install"
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

That usually works, but if it doesn't, you may need to do a clean
installation, so be sure than anything you can't afford to lose is first
backed up to external media.

Ken:
Without getting into the OEM licensing/activation issue...

With respect to the physical transfer of one system's HD to another
system...

While a Repair install will likely be necessary following the transfer of a
HD from one system to another, we've encountered many instances involving
such a transfer where no Repair install was necessary. The system booted
straightaway with no problem. To be sure, in most (but again, not all) cases
the necessary driver(s) had to be installed. But no Repair installation was
necessary.

So, in our experience, it's entirely worthwhile for the user to attempt an
initial boot following the HD transfer. If it works - fine. If not, then go
to a Repair install.

I should also mention that some commentators have cautioned against making
this initial boot involving a transferred HD because it will (or might)
cause some (unexplained) subsequent problems with the system. We have
perfomed scores of these initial boots following such a HD transfer and I
can't recall a single instance of any evidence of such a problem that could
be traced to an initial boot - successful or not - of a transferred HD.
Anna

 

[kurttrail]

The answer still isn't No. I've successfully moved harddrives to
other computers, without having to do a repair install at all.


So Kurt you are saying you can install your hard drive on my computer
and its going to boot up without any problems ?

I've done it, but I had to do some prep work of uninstalling the
previous mobos devices.

And if that didn't work, all that needs be done is a repair install.
Which is much easier to do that to do a clean install.

Hey Andreww go ahead and do as Kurt is telling you , Let me know how
things goes later on will you ...

I haven't told Andrew to do anything. I've only replied to you in this
thread, with the reason of showing that your "No you can't" answer was
BS, and showed how little you know about this subject.

That, along with your HTML posting, shows that you for the idiot you
are.

--
Peace!
Kurt Kirsch
Self-anointed Moderator
http://microscum.com
"It'll soon shake your Windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'."

 

[kurttrail]

Ken:
Without getting into the OEM licensing/activation issue...

Just to clarify it a bit. MS's arbitrary rules state you can't move OEM
XP to another computer. In reality, it can be done quite easily.

With respect to the physical transfer of one system's HD to another
system...

While a Repair install will likely be necessary following the
transfer of a HD from one system to another, we've encountered many
instances involving such a transfer where no Repair install was
necessary. The system booted straightaway with no problem. To be
sure, in most (but again, not all) cases the necessary driver(s) had
to be installed. But no Repair installation was necessary.

So, in our experience, it's entirely worthwhile for the user to
attempt an initial boot following the HD transfer. If it works -
fine. If not, then go to a Repair install.

I should also mention that some commentators have cautioned against
making this initial boot involving a transferred HD because it will
(or might) cause some (unexplained) subsequent problems with the
system. We have perfomed scores of these initial boots following such
a HD transfer and I can't recall a single instance of any evidence of
such a problem that could be traced to an initial boot - successful
or not - of a transferred HD. Anna

A question:

1.) Who is the "we" you keep referring to?

A comment:

I generally agree with your post, but would caution anyone attempting to
swap harddrives to make sure they back up everything before the attempt.
While most likely nothing bad will happen 99 out of 100 attempts, you
don't want to find out that you are the 1 out of 100 with no good backup
in place.

--
Peace!
Kurt Kirsch
Self-anointed Moderator
http://microscum.com
"It'll soon shake your Windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'."

 

[Bruce Chambers]

While a Repair install will likely be necessary following the transfer of a
HD from one system to another, we've encountered many instances involving
such a transfer where no Repair install was necessary. The system booted
straightaway with no problem. To be sure, in most (but again, not all) cases
the necessary driver(s) had to be installed. But no Repair installation was
necessary.

This usually means that the two motherboards are based upon the same
chipset, or only slightly differing versions of the same chipset. I've
never seen it work anywhere near so smoothly when there are substantial
differences, especially manufacturer, between the chipsets.

So, in our experience, it's entirely worthwhile for the user to attempt an
initial boot following the HD transfer. If it works - fine. If not, then go
to a Repair install.

Experiences differ, of course. Sometimes such a changes works; quite
often it doesn't. However, if the installation doesn't work at this
point (having tried to boot the previous OS on the new hardware), then
usually the only thing to do is a clean installation; very often a
repair insatllation cannot recover from this situation.

I should also mention that some commentators have cautioned against making
this initial boot involving a transferred HD because it will (or might)
cause some (unexplained) subsequent problems with the system. We have
perfomed scores of these initial boots following such a HD transfer and I
can't recall a single instance of any evidence of such a problem that could
be traced to an initial boot - successful or not - of a transferred HD.
Anna

If the two motherboard chipsets aren't sufficiently alike, and one does
first attempt to boot into the previously installed OS, it's much more
likely that the OS will not recover, even with a repair installation,
and only a clean installation will result in a stable OS.


--

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

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Hi - I have 2 PC's, one with home and one with Pro.

I want to swap them around, i.e. home-Pro and Pro-home.

Can this be done?

Can I just swap Hard Disks?

No you can't swap hard drives ,
Unless both computers are identical , same model/motherboard

Roadrunner,

You can - in fact - do what the OP was asking about.

Your answer of , "No you can't swap hard drives , Unless both computers are
identical , same model/motherboard" was too conclusive and incorrect because
of that. The whole thread boils down to that. The OP asked if there was a
way to swap the hard drives/operating system on the two computers they
have - and the answer is, "Several ways - some better than others - some
less destructive than others and ALL requiring a little
planning/preparation - just to be safe."

It could be the OP has two very similar systems. For example. Two Dell
Optiplex systems.. like a GX240 and a GX260. Sometimes - depending on
components - it is possible to just "swap" drives and everything go along
fine. One should never expect that. One should always plan for the worst
and expect the best. Covers all bases. So if the OP made full backups
(even perhaps images) of the two systems and swapped the drives - they may
be okay - as it *might* just work.

If that doesn't work and the OP has both full install CDs from both systems
(actual Windows XP installation - not recovery - CDs) - then a repair
install is an option. The preparation for this would be slipstreaming those
CDs with SP2 and still performing the backup of both systems before doing
any swapping. They then can swap the systems (by image application or hard
drive swap) and before they boot the first time with their new hard drives -
perform the repair installation with the corresponding CD that goes with
said image/drive. Most of the time this works fine - but if it doesn't -
that is what the backups were for.

Another option would to be actual clean installs. Backup all the data
(notice the trend on the backups?) and do clean installs with the OS you
want on each machine.

Now - all of that assumes retail licensing for the sake of simplicity -
because this is not a thread about licensing issues nor should it turn into
one. OEM would just complicate the discussion.

 

[RoadRunner]

Andreww wrote:
Hi - I have 2 PC's, one with home and one with Pro.

I want to swap them around, i.e. home-Pro and Pro-home.

Can this be done?

Can I just swap Hard Disks?


Shenan it would seem you can't read what Andreww has ask , He ask whether he
can swap the drives , He didn't say if there WAYS to make it load , I'm
assuming he talking about just swapping the drive and having them to load up
without any problems , At which there will be unless the computer are
identical in the hardware department

Kurt you have a big mouth with your insults , I would love to show you the
old fashion style in how we handle guys like you , Just for the fun of it
what part of the states might you be from ?

 

[Anna]

Bruce:
See my inline comments...

This usually means that the two motherboards are based upon the same
chipset, or only slightly differing versions of the same chipset. I've
never seen it work anywhere near so smoothly when there are substantial
differences, especially manufacturer, between the chipsets.

Anna responds:
This is not necessarily so in our experience. We've tranferred many HDs from
one system to another that had completely different motherboards/chipsets
and as I've stated, the drive booted straightaway. In many instances the
transfer was made between Intel > AMD based boards and vice versa. We saw
*no* significant correlation in this area.



Bruce responds:

Experiences differ, of course. Sometimes such a changes works; quite
often it doesn't. However, if the installation doesn't work at this point
(having tried to boot the previous OS on the new hardware), then usually
the only thing to do is a clean installation; very often a repair
insatllation cannot recover from this situation.

Anna responds:
Our experience is based on transferring HDs in scores of XP systems over the
years. Should the initial boot fail - as it frequently does - then, in our
view, a Repair installation should be attempted since the success of such
results in the user's programs/data being retained, a not insignificant
benefit in most cases. Should the Repair fail then obviously there's no
other choice but to undertake a fresh install of the OS.

If the two motherboard chipsets aren't sufficiently alike, and one does
first attempt to boot into the previously installed OS, it's much more
likely that the OS will not recover, even with a repair installation, and
only a clean installation will result in a stable OS. --
Bruce Chambers

Anna responds:
This is not so in our experience with performing hundreds of HD transfers in
an XP environment. I reiterate what I stated previously - we have performed
scores of these initial boots following such a HD transfer and I can't
recall a single instance of any evidence of such a problem involving the
subsequent failure of a Repair install or a fresh install of the OS that
could be traced to the failure of an initial boot of the transferred HD.
Anna

 

[kurttrail]

Andreww wrote:
Hi - I have 2 PC's, one with home and one with Pro.

I want to swap them around, i.e. home-Pro and Pro-home.

Can this be done?

Can I just swap Hard Disks?


Shenan it would seem you can't read what Andreww has ask ,

He reads better than you, Cartoon Character.

He ask
whether he can swap the drives ,

He can.

He didn't say if there WAYS to make
it load , I'm assuming he talking about just swapping the drive and
having them to load up

It is a possibility, as both Sheenan and Anna have both stated.

without any problems ,

Please quote where the OP said that.

At which there will be
unless the computer are identical in the hardware department

BS! You don't know what you are talking about.

Kurt you have a big mouth with your insults ,

You insult yourself the longer you keep spouting your utter nonsense.

I would love to show
you the old fashion style in how we handle guys like you ,

Don't worry, I already know how idiots try to handle those that they
know are wiser than them.

Just for
the fun of it what part of the states might you be from ?

My mother's womb, and that happened to be in Nevada at the time of my
birth.

--
Peace!
Kurt Kirsch
Self-anointed Moderator
http://microscum.com
"It'll soon shake your Windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'."

 

[RoadRunner]

Its a to bad your not in the eastern parts of the states , I sure would love
to show you a few things

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Bruce:
See my inline comments...


Anna responds:
This is not necessarily so in our experience. We've tranferred many HDs from
one system to another that had completely different motherboards/chipsets
and as I've stated, the drive booted straightaway. In many instances the
transfer was made between Intel > AMD based boards and vice versa. We saw
*no* significant correlation in this area.

Define "many." Does that number extend to hundreds? As I said,
experiences vary.

Anna responds:
Our experience is based on transferring HDs in scores of XP systems over the
years.

Then - and I mean no offense here - your experience is somewhat limited.






--

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