I have xp running on my old Athlon 1700. I wish to remove the hard drive from that machine and install it onto another pc i've built with a new motherboard and an Athlon 2800 chip. So its basically migrating the hard drive to a new pc. I recently did this with Vista with no problems at all, and I need to ask should I remove all system drivers from device manager before removing the hard drive or not? Or is there anything else I can do to avoid having BSOD's when I reboot the new machine. thanks.

Harddrives installed in another computer will not work. You would have to reinstall Windows, after the HDD transfer. http://support.microsoft.com/defaul... How to replace the motherboard on a computer that is running Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, or Windows 2000

are you intending on formatting? if so then just go ahead and put the drive in the new PC stick the xp CD in and format and install a new copy of XP. if not then you will have to perform a repair install in order to ensure you do not get BSOD. all your data will remain on the drive. you will need you XP CD and CD key. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/...

If you want to re-use your Windows XP Key it may not validate, depends on the type of Licence.

When you install a hard drive that already has Windows 2000 or XP (and probably Vista) on it that was set up on another computer, if the difference in mboard hardware is too great 2000 or XP (and probably Vista) cannot deal with the change and will not boot - typically it often hangs with a blinking cursor in the corner of a black screen shortly after Windows starts to load. Assuming you loaded Windows from a regular Windows CD: If you don't care about losing your old software, and personal data if you haven't backed it up, you can run Setup from your XP CD the regular way. If you want to keep all your existing data and just accomodate Windows to the changed mboard hardware, you can run a Repair Setup instead. Some call it a Repair Install, but the proper name is a Repair Setup. An XP Repair Setup will not harm your existing Windows installation.In the case of drastically changed hardware, it will set Windows to the new hardware situation. You will need a Windows CD of the same version as the one of your Windows installation, and the Product Key, preferably the one that was used to install it, but it can be one for the same version as the one of your Windows installation. How to do an XP Repair Setup, step by step: http://www.windowsreinstall.com/win... You must load all the drivers for your changed mboard after Setup has finished. NOTE: I have found some older XP Home CD's without SP1 or SP2 updates (e.g. made in 2001 - see the date on the CD) DO NOT have the screen with Repair Setup option! See Slipstreamed CD (below) in that case - you should have the Repair Setup option after you make that. If your Windows CD did not have SP1 or SP2 updates included, and you updated to SP1 or SP2, you may have to install that again to get SP1 or SP2 working properly again. SP1 or later is required for USB 2.0 and hard drives larger than 137gb (manufacturer's size; 128gb in Windows and most bioses) ..... If certain Microsoft Updates (2007 - summer?) have been installed on the existing Windows installation, you will find Microsoft Windows Update can't install new updates after a Repair Setup - it downloads them, but all or most fail to install. In that case, you need to re-register some Windows Update files (some wu*.* files) - I can tell you what you need to do. ....... Slipstreamed CD If your XP CD does not have at least SP1 updates included, and you have hard drives larger than 128gb (in Windows; = 137gb manufacturer's size), you need to burn a slipstreamed CD that has the contents of both the original Windows CD and the SP1 or SP2 updates - e.g. Slipstreamed Windows XP CD Using SP2 http://www.theeldergeek.com/slipstr... Directions for using Roxio or Nero. ..... Slipstream Your Way to Safer, More Secure WinXP Systems http://www.crn.com/white-box/186700253 The elder geek site mentions you must add the Microsoft Corporation.img file to the CD - the crn site explains what it is and where to get it. "While you've got the Windows XP installation disc in the drive, take a few moments to extract the Microsoft Corporation.img file from the disc. The Microsoft Corporation.img file is an image file, and it's a critical component for compiling the bootable Windows XP CD image" The crn site uses freeware programs to make a slipstreamed CD. Optionally you can also use the freeware nlite to do it, and also integrate hot fixes. ...... How To Slipstream SP2 http://kadaitcha.cx/slipstream.html Simlar to elder geek site with more detail. Roxio, Nero, or the freeware Isobuster ....... This explains what the image is of - the boot sector - but it's about integrating SP1 into Windows 2003: Click on the link above the ads here: http://www.windowsitpro.com/Article... to go here: http://www.windowsitpro.com/Article... ..... http://www.helpwithwindows.com/Wind... ...... Repair Install and precautions and fixes, slipsteam references, in place install references. http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/X... from there: SP2 download from Microsoft and a major file on the SP2 CD are the same - instructions for slipstreaming both: http://www.winsupersite.com/showcas...

http://aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.php

thanks everybody, as I thought it would be difficult to do that. I have legit copy of windows and ill do a reformat on the drive before installing a new install of windows. I'll ring Microshaft and do the necessaries. thanks a lot everybody