Use old XP hard drive with a new Vista machine?

[Tom]

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

 

[Shenan Stanley]

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?

Technically possible? Maybe.

Repair installation.

Aside from a technical standpoint, ...

 

[DL]

The old win installation is Licenced to the origonal Dell PC, its not
transferable, nor will it work on the new PC
You would require a 'real' winxp cd to repair the installation on your new
PC, assuming the new PC's hardware has winxp drivers available

 

[HeyBub]

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?

It's quite possible the new machine has hardware that is not supported by
XP. It could be anything: video card, USB electronics, anything.

Plus, the OS on the XP machine is quite probably locked to its original
BIOS.

I wouldn't even fool with it.

 

[Jim]

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

" Act strange " ?

 

[R. McCarty]

Using the XP disk in the Vista machine will NOT boot. The key is
the Mass Storage Controller ( Disk drive Ctrl ). Intel and AMD type
chipsets are not interchangeable. To accomplish what you're seeking
requires an In-Place install. Overlaying the OS on top of an existing
setup to preserve programs and user data. Besides that OEM PCs
have single use licenses that are not transferable.

 

[Michael Dobony]

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

Try it and see what happens. As far as drivers for XP, get a program like
Driver Scanner or Driver Detective. I used Driver Detective to get my
Vista laptop that had no XP drivers from the manufacturer (Shame on
Micro$$$$oft for illegal restraint of trade and extortion to keep
manufacturers from giving the public what they want) to find the drivers
for XP. My laptop runs programs MUCH faster under XP! It is also MUCH
more stable than Vista and it's surprise system resets and lockups. There
is a program I saw at Best Buy that is supposed to transfer PROGRAMS from
one computer to another for about %50. I wish I knew about the full rebate
for it when I bought the laptop

 

[Shenan Stanley]

<snipped>

Michael Dobony wrote:

As far as drivers for XP, get a
program like Driver Scanner or Driver Detective. I used Driver
Detective to get my Vista laptop that had no XP drivers from the
manufacturer (Shame on Micro$$$$oft for illegal restraint of trade
and extortion to keep manufacturers from giving the public what
they want) to find the drivers for XP.

<snip>

What does Microsoft have to do with the manufacturer's of the hardware
deciding not to provide drivers for a given Operating System? Are you
honestly saying you think Microsoft pays off or threatens hardware
manufacturers in such a manner that they *have to* stop providing drivers
for older (or even newer) operating systems?

The foil isn't working. ;-)

If ATI, NVidia, HP, etc don't want to support a given OS (for whatever
reason) - they won't. No one is forcing manufacturers of hardware to
provide drivers for hardware they have determined they will only support in
a given range of operating systems. They make a business decision, "we will
support this particular ______ device in Windows ___ and ___ and ___,
Macintosh OSX 10._-_ and *nix." and they stick with it or change as they see
fit. Good sense - more than anything else - likely determines what they
decide to support.

Before you start going zealot - I could care less if Microsoft disappeared
tomorrow and BeOS became the dominate market share. I just question your
logic.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

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://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

 

[Tom]

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