Hello. The motherboard to my Japanese desktop Sony Vaio is fried. I need to switch the HDD (Japanese XP) into a new computer here in the West. Yes, I need to keep the Japanese OS at all costs. Question: when I move my HDD into a non-Japanese computer, will I have any issues or will it be a smooth transition? Will I have to do any system restore stuff? Thanks for any help...I surely need it. Link to computer info: http://computers.yahoo.co.jp/shop?d=HDPC&id=227471

You may have (A LOT OF) trouble trying to reactivate the OS when you change it to a new computer to begin with. Microsoft may help but I think you'll have to call them and speak to them directly.

To further Badboy assertion that you will have a lot of trouble reactiving the OS: When you first activated your copy of XP, the Windows Product Activation used a 10 hardware characteristics to establish a hardware hash. The hash information is then encrypted somewhere on your HD. Each time Windows boot, it first check the hash information to make sure the machine is the same. Now when you transfer the HD to another machine, the hash will be completely different, causing Windows to fail to load. i_XpUser

I know all my copy (XP Pro SP1) had to do was reactivate itself, it was fine... Celeron Eater

You will not have problem in activating Windows. See scenario A : http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/evaluate/xpactiv.mspx#EEAA You should worry more on the motherboard chipset difference because if they are different you will get either BSOD or reboot during booting, because the drivers installed in the hard disk will be from your Sony Vaio. Re-installation is necessary then.

I think it will fail as the o/s stores hardware details, which almost certainly will *NOT* match your new pc unless it is exactly the same config as the old. You will get the blue screen of death. To overcome possibly you will have to reinstall the o/s in update mode but if something goes wrong you may lose data. I think it best to install the old hdd as a slave on the new pc and then you can access/move the data over. Good Luck - Keep us posted.

Thanks guys, this helps. I'll let you know how it goes.