Hey, I currently have windows xp pro running on my system and am upgrading the ram/mobo/chip/video card. Is it possible to simply plug in the master drive to the new system and have it work properly or is a clean install the way to go? Are there any tools that I should use if I choose a clean install to migrate my settings/programs over?

Since you're changing the hardware, you're better off either getting a new drive, or reinstalling the OS on the old one after moving it from the current system.

put the harddrive back into the computer you installed it on. open your xp cd and go into the support folder.. look for an archive called deploy. copy all files to the harddrive.. Next click on the sysprep.exe file. Click on the reseal button and the computer will then shutdown. Now move you harddrive to the new computer and it will ask a few questions and allow you to use this new installation on a different computer.. You can;t simply move the hd to a new computer.. other wise you have to boot with the xp cd and and run the repair option.. i hate computers! but cant help myself....

Although I am a big proponent of doing a clean install when making major changes (I did a clean install of XP with SP2 slipstreamed instead of running the update), there's no harm in trying to migrate it first though. It could save you many hours in setting up your system. If it doesn't work, you won't have sacrificed much time and you can still do the clean install. If you do go with the upgrade method, here is what I would do. 1.Make all the changes, except use the old video card. 2.Boot into safe mode and windows should recognize the new motherboard and iinstall the correct drivers (or point windows to the driver disk you get with the mobo or the drivers you download from the vendor site). 3.Once the new M/B drivers have been loaded, Windows should ask for a reboot. Reboot even if windows doesn't ask for it. 4.Go ahead and boot normally this time. 5.Once in Windows, remove the drivers for your video card (they should be in the add/remove programs list in control panel). Then in device manager right-click the video card and select remove device. 6.Shut down the computer and install the new video card. 7.Boot up again and install drivers. Again, that is the course of action I would take. But there's no telling what will happen along the way. You might have to make changes if any issues come up. Michael J

This is what I've recently follow a few weeks ago to change MoBo and it's still working fine,Fast and easy ! Anyway this is from a previous post on this board, I just copied and pasted it. Before you swap out the current motherboard go to device manager and select the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller and select your current storage controller. Right click, select update driver and select install from a list or specific location. Click don't search I will choose the driver to install and select the standard dual channel IDE controller. This will prevent the inaccessable boot device blue screen. I have done this multiple times on different platforms with no problems. Also I found that booting the first time with the new motherboard is best done in the Safe mode where XP will install the drivers it needs and at the same time you can install the new motherboard drivers from its CD. This saved me doing a repair or a reinstall of XP. My whole system came right up and worked great and very stable. GOOD LUCK