[Home] How to recover old win setup to new comp

Here's the situation:

Celeron based E-Machine computer blew its powersupply and took the motherboard with it. The computer was about a year and a half old, basic email and word processing system (video and all interfaces built into the motherboard). Since a direct replacement motherboard was going to run $140 from E-Machines, and a reliable powersupply another $40-$50, the owner decided they would rather buy a new basic system, have the warranty and avoid any other possibly electrically damaged parts.

This computer had been cleaned up by myself when new (remove bundled crap, load utilities that wouldn't expire after 60 days, load application software, customize GUI settings, etc.), and it would be a shame to have to go through all that again (if you only knew how little that computer got used).

I do have an Acronis True Image backup of the old system, but I know that the new machine is using an entirely different set of drivers (Sempron based computer this time, so different chipset, video and such). And I presume that a repair install of WinXP Home would resolve the driver deficiencies, but here's the problem (at long last, I hear some of you say :D ) -- the computer is 3,000 miles away from me, and like most pre-built computers it (either the old or the new) only come with recovery CD's, not full blown versions of WinXP.

So here are the questions (doesn't this guy ever stop?? :p ):

1) After restoring the old system's True Image backup to the new computer, is it possible to "repair" from the I386 folder on the harddrive of the "restored" computer?

2) If no to #1, can a retail WinXP Home Upgrade CD of the same service pack level be used to "repair" a pre-installed E-Machine version of WinXP Home (even if I have to get on the phone with Microsoft and manually activate)?

You cannot legally transfer Windows from the old machine top the new one at all. With OEM licences thay live and die with the motherboard, so when that old mobo died so did Windows :( I can't imagine that you'll ever be able to activate the old Windows on the new machine whatever you do.

Well, how about this...the new machine comes with its own valid license for WinXP Home. After restoring the old image, shouldn't Microsoft allow the license number to be changed and validated with the new computer's install code?

I don't think you'll find that MS will have anything to do with it - for any OEM version they will always refer you to the original computer supplier. That is one reason why you don't pay much when you buy Windows on a new computer, MS don't have to offer any support for it at all. You can always phone them and ask though, there is nothing at all to lose by trying.

Easy enough solve by slaving the old drive to the new machine and ghosting the image back over to a new drive.

Unless I'm misunderstanding what you're telling me, getting a copy of the old system onto the new computer's harddrive isn't an issue -- I'll just boot the True Image recovery CD and restore my backup. This will actually be less painful than talking my aging Father (the owner alluded to previously) through the process of changing the drive jumper to "slave" (when he probably won't be able to read the embossed writing on the drive anyways) and cabling it into the machine. (See anecdote at bottom)

I've not experienced a repair install of WinXP, so I don't know what all it does. I saw some mention that it removes and re-installs the files in the I386 folder. What I really need it to do is re-enumerate the installed hardware and activate/ask for drivers for that hardware. Is it going to do this?

If not, is there a branch of the Registry that I should instead be killing so that Windows is forced to do the re-enumeration? I know that with Win95/98 that this was a recognized "hack" (i.e., real world solution), but can/should this be done in WinXP?

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I sent him a 10ft USB cable so that he could attach an HP inkjet printer to the computer. He informed me it wouldn't work, because it had the flat USB connector, and the printer needed the square type connector. He had therefore gone ahead and connected the printer with the old parallel cable instead. I checked the packaging from the cable and yes, it was a cable with A and B connectors -- it should work. I finally got him to look at the other end of the cable and...oooh, it does have two different ends. Okay. :rolleyes:

The only issue you willhave is that you will have to reactivate over the phone since a major component was replaced, i.e.; the motherboard. If it is the same model, no driver updates should be needed.

I know the new machine will be using a largely different set of drivers, as the old one was a Celeron based computer with an Intel chipset (with Intel onboard graphics), and the new computer is Sempron based. At the very least, I'm facing different video and IDE drivers, which I realize are the major obstacles to making this happen. This is why I'm hoping/wondering if a repair install will force the re-enumeration of the hardware.

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This is why I'm hoping/wondering if a repair install will force the re-enumeration of the hardware.

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If you go into the BIOS and change the boot order to FDD/CD-ROM/HDD, then clear the hardware configuration settings (sometimes referred to as ESCD) the OS will take a brand-new inventory of what it's installed on. I do it occasionally on 98-equipped computers, it involves having the drivers and OS install disk on hand. For XP, you may have a problem booting at all since XP is finicky about hardware changes. Making sure the CD-ROM is before the HDD in the boot order should allow the system to boot from the XP CD; if it doesn't you can boot from a 98 boot disk with CD support. It will be an over-the-top, new install in other words, as opposed to a repair install; but it should accomplish what you want to do.

You need to phone MS and see whether thay are going to allow activation or not, or otherwise everything you try is going to be a waste of time. But I would be extremely surprised if they would allow the transfer of an OEM version to a new machine, given that it is expressly against the terms of the EULA.