Moving Dell HDD to new system.

[WHOAguitarninja]

I have a 400GB HDD that I'll be removing from my old dell system and placing in a new case and with a new motherboard. I've read that there may be some problems in doing this due to OEM XP versions being unable to work on systems that aren't from the original manufacturer. Is there any way for me to do this without buying an entirely new XP disk?

 

[-=Antimatter=-]

You can't move windows installations between computers like that, you need to format the drive and reinstall on the new hardware. I doubt that an OEM licensed copy of WinXP would install and activate successfully on a new system that you built yourself. I know that Dell's system restore copies of WinXP Home check the BIOS to see if the system is a Dell before deciding to install.

Buy another copy of WinXP to put in the new computer. It will run you about $130. Usually with a disk that isn't tied to a manufacturer (like your Dell copy) you can install the copy on a new system (like your next new computer) and call microsoft to activate it. As long as the key is used on only one system at a time, they don't mind.

 

[BinarySynapse]

yeah if it a top tier manufactorer that copy of XP is bios locked. Just buy a retail version of XP and you can move it to any system you like, (one at a time though). As long as you don't try swapping more than once like every three months you probably won't ever be bothered by MS's activation. You'll still have to activate, but you won't have to call in.