moving hard drive with windows xp

  • Thread starter Thread starter just55
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J

just55

i just bought a new mother board and heard you can't move
the drive with xp to the new mother board.can i undo drive
the put in and reload? thanks
 
just55 said:
i just bought a new mother board and heard you can't move
the drive with xp to the new mother board.can i undo drive
the put in and reload? thanks
Click to expand...
You can move it to the new motherboard as long as the version of XP is a
retail version and not an OEM version supplied by your computer
manufacturer.

After moving the hard drive, you'll need to run a repair install or the
computer will likely not boot:
.. NOTE, while a repair install should leave your data files intact, if
something goes wrong during the repair install, you may be forced to start
over and do a clean install of XP. If you don't have your data backed up,
you would lose your data should that eventuality occur.



Boot from the CD. If your system is set to be able to boot from the CD, it
should detect the disk and give a brief message, during the boot up, if you
wish to boot from the CD press any key.



Once you have pressed a key, setup should begin. You will see a reference
asking if you need to load special drivers and another notice that if you
wish to begin the ASR (Automatic Recovery Console) depress F2. Just let
setup run past all of that. It will continue to load files and drivers.



Then it will bring you to a screen. Eventually, you will come to a screen
with the option to (1) setup Windows or (2) Repair Windows Installation
using the Recovery console.



The first option, to setup Windows is the one you want and requires you to
press enter. When asked, press F8 to accept the end user agreement. Setup
will then search for previous versions of Windows. Upon finding your
version, it will ask if you wish to Repair your current installation or
install fresh. Press R, that will run a repair installation. From there
on, follow the screens.



You may also be prompted to activate it again. Usually, this is simply a
handshake between two comptuers over the internet. Sometimes it does
require a phone call. If instructed to call, just tell them what you've
done and they will give you a new activation number over the phone.
 
I'm unable to figure out exactly what you're asking.

If the new motherboard isn't nearly identical to the first, XP probably
won't boot, as it won't have the correct drivers for the board.

The simplest approach is to do a repair install:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315341

"How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP"

(In brief, set the BIOS to boot from the CD-ROM drive. Boot from the XP CD.
Choose to install rather than going to the Repair Console. Under install,
choose repair rather then new.)

You should keep most installed applications and settings, You will, however
lose everything installed using Windows Update.

I've done the above several times with good results, but I've tried to make
sure that my system wasn't messed up before starting. Backing up (at least)
the boot partition is a good idea. So far, I've been spared having to resort
to restoring from a Ghost-ed copy and starting over.

The other approach, preferred by compulsive types, is the reformat/clean
install. Do the same thing as above, but choose to do a new installation.
Say goodbye to everything on your drive. (I exaggerate. You probably must
reformat only the boot partition, although you could completely repartition
the drive should you like.)

Bob Knowlden

Spam dodger may be in use. Replace nkbob with bobkn.
 
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