Properly this is a Windows 98se question, but I've seen this
tangentially discussed here before, so I thought I might ask:
Can I just move my HD, with a Windows 98 se install, into a new PC?
yes, if done properly it is certainly do-able.
The old PC:
Compaq Deskpro EN Series
Pentium II 233 MHz
The new PC (yet to be purchased):
Microtel Desktop
AMD Sempron 2200+
I wouldn't really be that big of a deal to reinstall after the HDs are
put into the new machine, but the current installation is still quite
clean, and the new PC does not have a floppy drive.
Thanks for entertaining, if you in fact do, this off-topic question.
1) Obtain all patches for Win98SE and apply them now, prior
to swapping the drive.
2) Put a folder on the drive with all the newer drivers
needed, in it. Mainly you need a "connectivity" driver, the
method to obtain any further drivers. For example this
could be a network adapter driver, or modem driver, etc.
Doing at least this much makes it easier to get the rest of
the drivers later if you decided to... I suggest you do use
the newest drivers right at first, NOT the old ones that
come on a motherboard CD.
3) Uinstall any drivers that apply only to the old system,
as well as any types of hardware monitor software or
"tweaking" apps. It's not necessary to disable things
loading with MSCONFIG, but it wouldn't hurt either. In
particular you want all drivers in Add/Remove programs,
uninstalled. This should be done on the last time you boot
your system, all of them at that point. If it prompts that
you need to reboot to finish, you dont' have to yet, can
swap the motherboard before doing that.
4) Go into the registry (run Regedit.exe) and select the
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ENUM] key. With it highlighted, delete
that entire key. It is easier to delete the entire key than
going through it and deleting everything but a few items,
BUT it is then _necessary_ to add back a couple of items,
this step can't be skipped for modern (sound cards in
particular) items to work later. The registry information
that needs added back is this, which is same thing in a
regostry file you can simply copy to the drive before
swapping the board, then merge it anytime after deleting the
"ENUM" key.
-------------------------------
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Enum\Root\SwEnum]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Enum\Root\SwEnum\0000]
"HardwareID"="SWENUM"
"Capabilities"=hex:14,00,00,00
"ClassGUID"="{4d36e97d-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}"
"Class"="SYSTEM"
"Driver"="SYSTEM\\0001"
"ConfigFlags"=hex:00,40,00,00
"Mfg"="Microsoft"
"DeviceDesc"="Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator"
"Serial"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
------------------------------
As mentioned, all of the above is in this reg file:
http://69.36.189.159/usr_1034/Win98_WDM_Sound.reg
5) Shut off system, swap the drive, boot the new system.
It'll detect a lot of hardware, you'll reboot a few times.
Any drivers you don't have, you can skip for the moment,
coming back to them later if necessary. Until a certain
point in the redetection (and a reboot later) you will not
have use of the CDROM/DVD/etc drive yet. This means that if
you had previously inserted the WIn98 disc anytime Windows
needed make OS changes, you should FIRST, prior to swapping
the drive, create a folder on the hard drive and copy the
Win98 CD's "Win98" folder to it. By doing so you then can
point windows to these files instead of having to provide
the WIn98 disc (while the optical drives aren't functional
yet).
Some video drivers (and perhaps sound) may require newer
DirectX version than WIn98 used. If this is the case,
download the newest DirectX from Microsoft and install it
after swapping the drive into the new system. You could
install it before the swap, but just as well afterwards,
after a reboot or two.
These steps should pretty much cover the entire swap, at
this point it's similar enough to installing Windows clean,
you simply install the drivers as you would then. Provided
you have installed the Win98SE patches first and (re)added
the above metioned registry entries, there is no reason to
believe ANY system that could run Win98SE as a fresh
install, won't work afterwards. It's possible I've
overlooked minor details, but nothing crucial AFAIK... the
above has worked with 100% success rate.
