I got myself a new computer and wish to swap my hard drive from my old one which has Win XP... now I know that once i swap the drive over to the new computer Win XP will mess up and says it has errors and will have no choice but to reinstall Win XP again... or do I??? Does anyone know a way around this? If not...if I make a back up of my registry and import it back in the computer can I keep the programs I have on it registered?

Nice thought processing, but you could be lucky & not need to do that, depending on the components comprising the old PC. If the motherboard & chipset are similar, a lot of times, all you need do after swapping the HDD is firing up the system & you are good to go.

The question is if you undertake a repair install will XP pass WGA ??

Not even close... there 2 different mobos completely from a P2 to a P4, completely different chipsets.... i just thought that if i had no choice but to reinstall windows... which i can do without format, it just asks if it can delete the old Win XP and install the new copy... if i saved a registry before the new install and then import it back in once it has installed the new copy. Will that solve my problem of not having to reinstall all the registered software I have.

Sorry Walter, didn't see your post because i was responding at the same time... even if i did the repair option... how would i fix it? Is it Fixboot?? or FixMBR.... I'm not sure.

IF xp is acting up you do a in-place repair installation. backing up your activation file would be a good idea too.

There is nothing to fix. Windows XP creates encrypted algorithm (a.k.a. hash) based on the machine hardware composition and use it. At bootup if the algorithm hash doesn't match what was originally in the machine, XP won't load. Also saving the entire registry using ERUNT will not help you. The bottom line here is that you're trying to save yourself money by not buying XP and M$ is trying to make a profit out of you for their stockholders. This is a no-win situation. i_Xp/VistaUser