OT: Migrating WinXP to different hardware

[admin]

My old computer has gotten a bit rusty with the years. It's time for a new machine. It's not time for a new OS though! My XP system is in a state of supernatural perfection, every single byte is in top shape and enjoys a blissful relation to its neighboring bytes. So the question is: can it be done? Migrate the complete system to a different hardware, without needing to reinstall/reconfigure every application (what a horror!).

My research brought up this promising article by MS themselves:

How to replace the motherboard on a computer that is running Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, or Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/default.as ... -us;824125

and also this one:
How to move a Windows installation to different hardware
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/249694/en-us

Has anybody of you ever done 824125 ??? How was it?

[Liquidmantis]

Using the HAL change trick can be nasty. I've had a lot of ghost devices in the device manager after trying that as all your hardware will need to be re-enumerated.

I have used the repair technique from 824125 quite a bit though and that works well. My general technique though is to simply change the IDE controller from the motherboard specific to Microsoft Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller. This only works if the HAL is the same though.

If you're upgrading from an older computer though 824125 is your best bet. Just remember that depending on what you're upgrading to you might need a floppy disk with the IDE controller drivers.

[admin]

Thanks for the report!

If you're upgrading from an older computer though 824125 is your best bet. Just remember that depending on what you're upgrading to you might need a floppy disk with the IDE controller drivers.

... which comes with the new computer/mainboard?