awake Posted June 15, 2004 Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 This must've been tried before ...I have an XP Pro system loaded on a hard drive, which I want to install into an upgraded box. Basically plugging the HDD into a new PC.I've tried this before on Win98 with no probs. As windows boots it sees the new mobo hardware and (mobo CD to hand) the new drivers are loaded from CD and away we go.But I've now tried this a few times with an XP Pro HDD and all I get is grief. Only once have I managed to get the XP system up. It normally ends with a re-install.The problem is that XP either hangs or reboots as it's loading the services and drivers from c:\windows\system32\drivers.Once it's in this state it seems fairly terminal.I've tried safe mode, last known good settings. Fix boot / mbr in recovery mode all to no avail.I've also tried disabling the services that it appears to hang / reboot on at startup.And, as a last ditch attempt I installed XP to a different directory, then copied the entire contents of c:\windows\system32\drivers from the newly installed directory to the dodgy one. Still no good.Just before the PC reboots, a blue error screen flashes up briefly, though too quick to see what it says.So, I wondered if anyone has come up with a way of loading an XP HDD into a 'new' PC. Or, is it a case of backup/format/reinstall ?Thanks in advance for any info on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted June 15, 2004 Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 Or, is it a case of backup/format/reinstall ?Yes and no.backup/format/reinstall would easily solve your problem, but Windows Product Activation would kick in and prevent you from using XP as it has been installed onto another computer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nellie2 Posted June 15, 2004 Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 But then it is just a question of a phone call to M$ isn't it? Explain the situation and they do something their end!! I think, I've never had to do it so I'm not sure there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expertec Posted June 15, 2004 Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 No, I don't think you're allowed to do that. According to M$ it would be the same installing on two different machines, which is not allowed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nellie2 Posted June 15, 2004 Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 I thought you could have it on what machine you liked, as long as it was only on one machine if you only have one copy.awake said that they want to take the hdd with xp on out of one machine and stick it in another.... that should be ok, I thought! Could be wrong though. :huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expertec Posted June 15, 2004 Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 Yes, I think you are wrong. M$ would count that as installing it on a new PC, the license of XP doesn't allow you to transfer it from one PC to another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nellie2 Posted June 15, 2004 Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 oh!! ok. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted June 15, 2004 Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 Look at the rest of his/her post nel.Give MS a ring but they require that XP be unistalled of the drive first... XP = 1 computer only, 1 license. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nellie2 Posted June 15, 2004 Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 That is what I thought.... as long as it is on only one computer, it didn't matter which computer it was!!! :blink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awake Posted June 15, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 Thanks for the replies, though we've kind of got off the main point a bit here. The answer is yes you can 'move' an XP license from one PC to another. Otherwise what are you expected to do ; buy a new license every time you upgrade / reload your PC ? I have had this with another PC and there is an option to generate a new pass code (or whatever it's called) on the registration screen. I've actually been through this over the phone with MS, registering Win XP after upgrading/reloading.Anyway, all this only applies if there's no solution to my problem ! :) Anyone got any ideas on that ?Again, thanks in advance for replies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djohn Posted June 15, 2004 Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 Your correct nel. XP [Retail] can be transferred to as many PC's as you wish with the provision it is on only one PC at a time.If awake does a clean install of XP to the new setup it will require activating again but should do so via the net without any problem, a quick phone call to M/S will sort the problem if it refuses to play ball.XP [OEM] should stay with the PC it was first installed on but this also will re-activate to a new machine if first removed from the original one. This can be done as many times as you wish.I installed/formatted/installed XP 6 times over one weekend with hardware changes made in between. I activated each time. [i know I didn't need to] but was testing several different setups. Each time it activated via the net with out problem.The problem for awake is XP has locked itself to the first machine and will not recognise the new one. A format of the drive and re-install will work fine and activate with out any problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expertec Posted June 15, 2004 Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 I stand corrected (on my head) :teehee: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expertec Posted June 15, 2004 Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 To get back to the point of this,I think formatting it is the best way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awake Posted June 15, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 Thanks for confirming what I posted re: reactivating, Djohn.I know format/install will work fine, but not what I wanted to do. I was trying to keep the windows system intact - have another read of the original post.Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ellas Posted June 15, 2004 Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 you can do it,I posted a topic about it,I have changed a mobo without reinstallling xp,I will dig it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted June 15, 2004 Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 HiOne thing to try, if you can, is to put the hdd back into the old system, and remove/delete/uninstall any drivers for the mobo (chip set, agp, USB, and so on) and anything else that is going to change between the two systems.Once you have done this DO NOT restsart the system as it will install them all again.Just shut it down, then put the hdd back into the new system, and see what happens.It has worked for me a number times in the past, but not always.Good luck Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ellas Posted June 15, 2004 Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 the guide is for changing a mobo but should work with a new computer, most important thing is do you know what chipset the new computer is using compared with the old,if for example both if are intel it should be ok if one is say intel the other via it could be tricky and solution 5 at this website http://www.windowsreinstall.com/install/ot...board/winxp.htm is your best bet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djohn Posted June 15, 2004 Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 Sorry awake, not sure on the tech. side of this and will leave to others to try and help. I can see why it's not working but don't know how to get round it.A couple of side issues though regarding Microsoft and their policy on software.1) They don't mind you making a copy of any of their programs as long as it's for your own use. IE: Copy XP and put the original CD back in the box for safe keeping, use the copy for any necessary work requiring the disk. [Note] On the CD it says "Do not make illegal copies of this disk" and not "Do not make a copy of this disk"2) It's perfectly legal for someone else to install and use your XP [O/S or Office] for trial purpose on their own machine and it will work until activation is required [30 days for O/S 20 uses for Office] but must be removed from their machine once these time/use limits are reached.So as an example if 3-5-6 of your friends wanted to try out XP before buying then it will be fine for them to do so all at the same time. Microsoft used to do a compatibility test to see if your PC was capable of running XP. You would download it from their site and try it for the 30 days while you made your mind up. At the time they did say that for those without Broadband it was in order to borrow a friends disk and do it that way.Last year I was upgrading to XP Pro with an upgrade disk. I inserted my 98se CD for verification when requested but for some reason it could not read the serial number, so install of XP halted. I phoned M/S and explained the problem. They were very helpful and stayed on the phone with me why I ran through several options at their suggestion, each one failed. They then said "Do a copy of your 98se disk and see if the number can be read from that". This also failed.Their next suggestion surprised me. "Can you borrow a copy of 98se from a friend or neighbour and insert this when requested by the XP upgrade." They were at this point satisfied that I had a genuine copy of 98se.Explained that it was difficult for me to get out of the house so they said "OK I'll pop a 98se disk in the post to you but it may be 7-10 days before it arrives as we have none here at the moment." I thanked them for their efforts and mentioned it was a pity I had removed 98se from my PC prior to the install of XP as I would now be without the use of my PC until the new disk arrived.His reply. "Wait a mo while I check, please read out the Product key of your XP upgrade CD and the number showing on the lower left of instruction manual" Within 2-3 minutes he was back and said "OK ignore the product key you have and place a sticker over it with this new number." He then gave me a new key number that turned my XP up-grade into a full retail version that did not require the use of 98se disk.XP installed first time and 4 days later my new 98se disk arrived from M/S. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awake Posted June 16, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2004 Thanks Ellas. Look forward to seeing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ellas Posted June 16, 2004 Report Share Posted June 16, 2004 not much to see as I just followed the guide in the link in this post :D http://www.windowsforum.org/forum/index.ph...wtopic=3004&hl= since then they have added a seperate xp guide http://www.windowsreinstall.com/install/ot...board/winxp.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awake Posted June 17, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2004 Thanks to everyone for their advice / help on this.Awake. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hurdy Posted June 17, 2004 Report Share Posted June 17, 2004 I have moved XP when I re-built my PC and the only way I could keep all my files etc. was to do a repair install.You have to DL SP1 afterwards before installing new drivers etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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