How move XP Pro hard drive to new PC

  • Thread starter Thread starter Vinni
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Vinni

I want to upgrade to a new PC and put my old XP in the new machine. (Later
I'll install Win 7.)

This is what I have now: XP Pro Volume Licence, AMD Duron processor and
VIA SV266A chipset. The hard drive is IDE.

First I'll copy the XP partition to a new SATA drive but what do I do after
that?
 
I want to upgrade to a new PC and put my old XP in the new machine. (Later
I'll install Win 7.)

This is what I have now: XP Pro Volume Licence, AMD Duron processor and
VIA SV266A chipset. The hard drive is IDE.

First I'll copy the XP partition to a new SATA drive but what do I do after
that?
Click to expand...

Hopefully you are talking about copying a disk image of the entire
system drive (C:). Just "cut and paste" will result in problems.
You would then need to attempt a Repair Installation of XP. You will
need your XP CD to do this. When you boot the computer (it will not boot
the OS at all) with the CD in the drive you will be presented with the
option to press F6 to load SATA drivers, which you must do so to use a
SATA drive with XP (Windows 7 and Vista have SATA drivers built in). The
SATA drivers should be on the motherboard CD, or on the manufacturer
website. You will need these on a floppy disk or a USB thumbdrive.
After that you will get to a menu that will offer the option to do a
repair install. You will need all the current XP drivers for your new
hardware available.
You would be best advised to do a search for "XP Repair Installation"
and read up on the details and tips. My post is only an overview.
A clean installation would be your best option however, IMHO.
 
I want to upgrade to a new PC and put my old XP in the new machine. (Later
I'll install Win 7.)

This is what I have now: XP Pro Volume Licence, AMD Duron processor and
VIA SV266A chipset. The hard drive is IDE.

First I'll copy the XP partition to a new SATA drive but what do I do after
that?
Click to expand...

While XP will run on new hardware (I have it running on a very new i7 X58
system) I doubt that simply moving the install over in any way will end
well. In the best of all possible worlds it might boot and run well enough
for you to do a repair install of the OS and add the new drivers but I
doubt that it would get far enough. Oh, and simply copying the XP partition
to the new drive would not work; you would need to do an image rather than
a simple copy -- you need the boot information.
 
Vinni said:
I want to upgrade to a new PC and put my old XP in the new machine.
(Later I'll install Win 7.)

This is what I have now: XP Pro Volume Licence, AMD Duron processor
and VIA SV266A chipset. The hard drive is IDE.

First I'll copy the XP partition to a new SATA drive but what do I do
after that?
Click to expand...

Just do a clean install.
 
I want to upgrade to a new PC and put my old XP in the new machine. (Later
I'll install Win 7.)

This is what I have now: XP Pro Volume Licence, AMD Duron processor and
VIA SV266A chipset. The hard drive is IDE.

First I'll copy the XP partition to a new SATA drive but what do I do after
that?
Click to expand...

I've upgraded this way - several times .

The XP drivers for your old PC will be wrong for your new MB,
so don't even try to boot the new PC from the SATA drive.

First make a copy of your XP CD with SP3 slipstreamed in, if it doesnt already
have it.

Connect the SATA drive to your new MB.

Boot from your XP CD.

Choose to do a Repair Install.

This will affect only Windows components, no other programs will be changed.
It will replace all the old, wrong drivers with new, good ones.
Use the CD that comes with your new MB to feed XP with drivers specifically for
your new hardware.

When it completes, you'll have a new working system.

Do a normal Windows Update to add back the post-SP3 MS patches that were
rolled back as a side effect of the Repair Install.

You now have all your old programs working just like before, but on the new,
better hardware.
You did NOT have to find their master disks and serials to reinstall, and
especially did NOT have to re-do all the tweaks you'd made to get them
running just the way you like.

Enjoy!
 
Look through the following search hits, basically switching
involves adding some registry entries and files so the new
system can find the hard drive after it loads an appropriate
driver for the controller to finish booting windows, at
which point it will plug-n-play the rest and you then
install the appropriate drivers, uninstalling the old
inappropriate drivers.

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&safe=off&q=migrate+existing+XP+new+system+registry
Click to expand...

Just one nitpick note: the old devices and drivers are not actually
removed from the system. They are marked as inactive and hidden in the
OS and the Device Manager. Most times this does not cause any problems,
but sometimes the old leftover drivers do cause trouble. I had this
happen with a new NIC install on a box I had done a repair install on.
You can go into Device Manager and check the option to "show all hidden
devices" and then (carefully) uninstall the ones you know are old, but
the OS does not do this for you. That is why it is recommended, if you
have the time, to do a clean install. That said, I have run my
repair-install box for 4 years or more without issues since
deleting/removing the old devices.
 
Just do a clean install.
Click to expand...

A clean install mean I re-enter all my application settings, shortcuts,
personalisations, tweaks, patches, etc. My XP has been used daily for 5
years so it's had a lot of modifying!

That's why I want to run my XP on the new hardware.

I'll do a clean install when I go to Win7.
 
Hopefully you are talking about copying a disk image of the entire
system drive (C:). Just "cut and paste" will result in problems.
You would then need to attempt a Repair Installation of XP. You will
need your XP CD to do this. When you boot the computer (it will not
boot the OS at all) with the CD in the drive you will be presented
with the option to press F6 to load SATA drivers, which you must do so
to use a SATA drive with XP (Windows 7 and Vista have SATA drivers
built in). The SATA drivers should be on the motherboard CD, or on the
manufacturer website. You will need these on a floppy disk or a USB
thumbdrive. After that you will get to a menu that will offer the
option to do a repair install. You will need all the current XP
drivers for your new hardware available.
You would be best advised to do a search for "XP Repair Installation"
and read up on the details and tips. My post is only an overview.
A clean installation would be your best option however, IMHO.
Click to expand...

Good info. Thx!
 
While XP will run on new hardware (I have it running on a very new i7
X58 system) I doubt that simply moving the install over in any way
will end well. In the best of all possible worlds it might boot and
run well enough for you to do a repair install of the OS and add the
new drivers but I doubt that it would get far enough. Oh, and simply
copying the XP partition to the new drive would not work; you would
need to do an image rather than a simple copy -- you need the boot
information.
Click to expand...

You're right. I will copy a partition image to the new disk drive.
 
Vinni said:
A clean install mean I re-enter all my application settings,
shortcuts, personalisations, tweaks, patches, etc. My XP has been
used daily for 5 years so it's had a lot of modifying!
Click to expand...
As has mine. However, it still wouldn't stop me reinstalling it, especially
after 5 years! How do you /really/ know that all that lovely new kit is
working as well as it could? And new kit or not, mine would have been
reinstalled long before then.
 
I want to upgrade to a new PC and put my old XP in the new machine. (Later
I'll install Win 7.)

This is what I have now: XP Pro Volume Licence, AMD Duron processor and
VIA SV266A chipset. The hard drive is IDE.

First I'll copy the XP partition to a new SATA drive but what do I do after
that?
Click to expand...

Stick it in and boot. Won't, then try safemode and start getting rid
of old drivers. When it does you can restore a binary copy of the
original XP OS-only partition and signal out and address any prior
identified driver(s) conflicts, at which point you're ready to put in
orderly and neat program install, linked to another HD/partition, for
more or less testing and further tweaking. Simple. Then again, maybe
not. Mileage varies. Horrible to imagine sitting there for days, as
if condemned forever to pulling out hair for a build config that won't
take the OS. The alternative is a fresh install and getting the OS
tweaked and at least thousands of program settings correct with
required registry entries. Fun, fun.
 
Another option that's worked since W95. I did the tech beta on 98 and
98SE, and I "slid in" about every piece of my PC this way. IIRC, 6
motherboards and 9 processors, 5 video cards, etc.

Copy the "I386" directory off your XP disk to the root of the C: drive
(the DIRECTORY with files, not dumping all the files in C: root)

Make another directory called "VIA Drivers" or such, and download the
appropriate XP mobo/chipset/video/etc drivers to it, I recommend making
a separate subdir for each device.

Start your newer machine in SAFE MODE. Go into Device Mangler and delete
EVERYTHING that will delete. (This can also be done via REGEDIT, but
it's scarey as hell)

Shut it down, and STOP THERE! Don't restart the machine. Take the drive
out and move it over to the old machine.

Boot the old machine normally.
It should find the "basic" M$ drivers for your stuff. It may take a
couple of reboots.
Then install the "real" driver as needed.

This is about the "cleanest" way to "move installed XP" I've found.

I've used it for both upgrades and downgrades of hardware.
Click to expand...

Sounds familiar -- do something along those lines when shuffling
around things inside the case. Think I see what's going on --
replenishing itself from the I386 "CD install" when the registry
entries are missing -- keeping, thankfully, prior references to
desired program installs and respective settings. Also recall running
into a network trained guy mentioning doing that, though believe he
left the registry alone. Not nearly as involved as what I run into
nowadays, couple MB swaps that went well enough. Last one, and I've
had this ASUS socket 754 3Ghz A64 seems forever, just keeps on
pluggin' -- early spec'd SATA controllers (have three sets / 2MB and 1
PCI controller) are the extent of a PITA it subjects me to.

Got one for you. Watch'a think about doing the OS shuffle along the
same line, but going up from a single-core CPU to multicore on
XP. . .and (to complicate it a little more) XP just with SP1?
 
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