Transferring system HD to new computer

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I have a retail copy of XP Pro. I needed more speed and bought a new tower
with CPU. Can I just take the system drive from the old computer and put it
in the new one? Will it cause problems? I really don't want to go through all
the installing of software that comes with a clean install if I can help it,
it would take at least a day to do it all, probably more.

I just need to know how it can be done.
Thanks!
Ted
 
You will have to do a least a "Repair Installation" as all of the machine hardware drivers will be
wrong.
Most likely you will also have to activate the Windows Installation again as well.

I would still recommend a clean install or you will be bringing a lot of problems from the old
machine.
 
SkipMDMan said:
I have a retail copy of XP Pro. I needed more speed and bought a new tower
with CPU. Can I just take the system drive from the old computer and put it
in the new one? Will it cause problems? I really don't want to go through all
the installing of software that comes with a clean install if I can help it,
it would take at least a day to do it all, probably more.

I just need to know how it can be done.
Thanks!
Ted
Click to expand...


Normally, and assuming a retail license (many factory-installed OEM
installations are BIOS-locked to a specific 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

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SkipMDMan said:
I have a retail copy of XP Pro. I needed more speed and bought a new
tower with CPU. Can I just take the system drive from the old
computer and put it in the new one?
Click to expand...


No, that will not be sufficient.

Will it cause problems? I really
don't want to go through all the installing of software that comes
with a clean install if I can help it, it would take at least a day
to do it all, probably more.
Click to expand...


If you're lucky, you won't have to do a clean installation. Try a repair
installation (see "How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install"
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm). That usually works,
but occcasionally it's not good enough and you have to do a clean
installation. So make sure you do a backup first
 
SkipMDMan said:
I have a retail copy of XP Pro. I needed more speed and bought a new tower
with CPU. Can I just take the system drive from the old computer and put
it
in the new one? Will it cause problems? I really don't want to go through
all
the installing of software that comes with a clean install if I can help
it,
it would take at least a day to do it all, probably more.
Click to expand...

First question - is the copy of XP retail or OEM? If retail it can be moved
to a different computer. If OEM, by the license, it's tied to the first
computer on which it's installed and can't be moved to a new computer.

If retail, you will need to do a repair install in the new computer unless
the hardware is almost identical. Sometimes, if the hardware changes are
significant, a clean install is needed.
 
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