WinXP and the Enum delete process

[Buz2b]

Posted this in the MB forum but figured to cover my bases a bit more here. Just curious; has anyone tried dropping a new MB in their (XP) system by using the Enum deletion method. If so please elaborate on your experience. I've done this with 98SE before with few problems but never with XP. I'd be grateful for any feedback provided.

 

[AndyHui]

Don't do it in Win2K/WinXP.

The system HAL addresses hardware a little differently, so you can't simply delete devices out of the registry.

What is your existing board and what are you changing it to?

 

[Buz2b]

The board is on my stepson-in-law's machine and I"m not sure of the exact model. It is an older ECS board for an Intel system w/SDRAM and a PII. He will be changing to an MSI K7T Turbo2 (AMD of course) board and new processor. I want to do a clean install for him but his wife is a real pain about her data on the machine. She has a ton of info and web site data on it and hasn't backed up much of it lately. In fact he wants to do this "switch" while she is at work. (good luck).
I'm open for suggestions on how to proceed with this. Right now it is unlikely that we/he will get her to consent to a clean load. I'm hoping to find a way to do this as painlessly as possible and was hoping I could use the ENUM delete or possibly just go into the Device Mgr and delete the hardware individually; then shut down, change out the board/CPU and reboot.

Here's a thought:
What about the process that XP takes you through on an upgrade where you save your settings and (I assume) any data? I think it is referred to a "migration" process. Would that process work if they already have and are running XP home edition? Sorry if that is a dumb question but I am still "getting used to" WinXP. Anyway, would that settings saving process pull all the data, settings and program info from their existing XP load and reinstall it on a "clean" load of XP? They just did an upgrade from WinME to XP home (upgrade version).

 

[Ronzon]

Boot up with the WinXP disk and choose repair, BUT not the recovery console method (at the first prompt, do not choose to repair using the recovery method -- let XP look for an existing windows installation and then choose to repair that installation). Should migrate just fine and keep all her data.

 

[Buz2b]

Ronzon:
Is there anything I need to do prior to this procedure? Just so I understand, you are saying that I can shut down, trade out the MB+RAM+CPU, then reboot with the XP CD in the drive. When it comes up there will be an option to do the "recovery" that I SHOULD NOT choose. However there will be an option to let XP "look for" and existing (XP) installation and repair it. This would allow it to load the native drivers it has for the MB? Sounds OK by me. So, during the first boot with the new MB I should go into the BIOS and change the system to boot from the CD as the first option (and probably place the XP disk in the drive before shutting down)?
Have you tried this?