I'm trying to build my own computer and was wondering if i could just take the hard drive from my old computer and put it in the new one im building. If i do this, will windows xp be on the new computer, or does it not work that way?

computer building noob thanks you in advance

3/12/2006 9:26:57 PM

sure why not

3/12/2006 9:34:23 PM

The answer is "it depends". Sticking a new set of hardware on Windows XP might result in the infamous blue screen of death; it may not. If you do end up with the infamous BSOD, the easiest option is to reinstall (note, formatting NOT needed). Most of your settings will still be there. The "proper" way to do it is to Sysprep your system and then update your HAL through the sysprep.inf file. I'd rather reinstall myself than go through that mess.

3/12/2006 9:41:01 PM

Usually it will boot to a BSOD if you do.

3/12/2006 9:43:28 PM

you could sysprep it before you put it in the new machine.

if sysprep still exists.

3/12/2006 9:45:46 PM

It does:

http://www.appdeploy.com/downloads/detail.asp?id=258

Use this on the drive before you swap it.

Put the drive in the new computer IMMEDIATELY after you do this; DO NOT boot the computer on the drive again because you will undo everything it did.

3/12/2006 9:55:54 PM

Once i tried stabing my key with a knife because it was stuck in the ignition and ended up cutting 3/4 inch into the bone of my lect thumb. Hurt like a bitch.

3/12/2006 10:22:48 PM

Sysprep may still BSOD if you don't update your HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer). Its a pain to do correctly through sysprep. http://www.binaryresearch.net/UIU/About.htm will do it for you automagically.

Again, reinstalling Windows is the easiest solution. If you haven't formatted in 3+ years, not a bad idea to do so as well.

3/12/2006 10:30:41 PM

as others said. technically it has a good chance of "working" and there is stuff you can do to pretty much garauntee itll work but i would reccomend putting a new drive in a new computer.

3/13/2006 12:29:58 AM

I've changed the motherboard and processor from AMD to Intel and my copy of XP worked fine.

3/13/2006 1:16:02 PM