how can i replace the primary hard drive on a computer with another one that has xp pro installed on it?

[dolph]

here's the sit:
computer 1 is lacking a hard drive. computer 2's psu died, and i want to put the hd from computer 2 on computer 1. i recall something about ms not liking that a whole lot. what do i need to do?

 

[Varsh]

What you do is this, if you get a blue screen then you've got an NTFS partition, therefore you'll need your WinXP CD and boot from it when starting up, choose to install XP to the HD, then there should be an option to reinstall all files incase of corruption, this pretty much fixes everything
Oh and remember to change the jumpers

 

[dolph]

so it's basically just a reinstall of windows, keeping all of the original settings & programs?

 

[Varsh]

Yup, basically that but make sure you don't reformat or reinstall, just "repair", but the first repair option goes into DOS to change the Master Boot Records, don't pick that one, just the one after you've chosen to install Windows, another "repair an existing installtion" selection should be available

 

[dolph]

excellent, thank you very much