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Summary: Windows configures itself to the hardware it finds, but changing everything at once by moving the system disk to a different machine might be too much.
This is a classic case of "maybe". Ultimately, it might work, and it might not. Or something in between. It depends on how similar the two machines are. • When you install Windows onto a machine, the installation process configures Windows to the specific hardware configuration of that machine. It selects and installs the drives appropriate to, for example, the specific network card, sound card, hard disk interface, CD-ROM drive and so on that you actually have installed in that machine. In fact, it even selects drivers and settings for things you don't normally think of, like chipsets, CPUs and other low-level components. If the machine you take your hard disk to is identical to the original machine, then yes, you stand a pretty good chance of having everything work. You might have to deal with Windows activation, since that incorporates things like serial numbers to detect hardware changes, but that too can often just work or be handled with a phone call. "Part of the problem is that knowing what will
happen is further confused by Windows 'plug and play'
architecture."
If the new machine is dramatically different, then I'd not expect this to work. The problem is I can't point to a specific thing and say that "this will break it". A different CPU? Maybe, maybe not. A different disk controller? Perhaps. Different amounts of RAM? Probably not an issue. It's difficult to say, but the more different the machines are, the less likely I would expect it to work. Part of the problem is that knowing what will happen is further confused by Windows "plug and play" architecture. As you may have already experienced when adding new hardware, Windows often just notices, and either installs the new drivers, or prompts you for the new drivers, without your needing to do a thing. The copy of Windows on your hard disk, when booted in a new machine, may simply treat the differences it finds as newly detected hardware; a lot of newly detected hardware. Your chances of success then depend on Windows ability to then install all the drivers for the hardware that it sees as different. I have to say that, ultimately, I would never rely on this approach to work. There are simply too many pitfalls; too many ways that things could go wrong. I'd expect the result to be "half-baked" and prone to hardware issues. The safest approach, by far, is to reinstall Windows on any new machine after backing up the old hard disk, of course. Which, to be frank, if you're planning on trying this strategy you should do anyway. Related:
Article 12557 | Posted July 18, 2008 |
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I've replaced motherboards in Windows computers with a completely different make/model/type of motherboard than the old one. I've yet to have the system fail to boot to Windows with the new motherboard.
That said, it often takes numerous reboots as Windows goes through numerous "detecting new hardware" phases, and installing new drivers which require a reboot.
With that in mind, I always copy the contents of the Windows install disk into a subdirectory on the hard drive, prior to changing out the system. Otherwise, you may end up in a Catch-22 scenario where it needs to load the CD device driver from the CD. (BTDT)
Posted by: Ken B at July 19, 2008 12:36 PMAs you said Leo if the new machine is dramatically different then it will not work , for me actually i prefer to run every machine with it's custom system , this way is more successful and fast.
Thanks Leo..
Posted by: peter at July 19, 2008 1:12 PMhttp://www.fosdir.com
Hello, I'd like to ask a question relating, kind of, to using other hard drives.
I have a removeable hard drive which I'd like to make secure. At the moment I just plug it in and use it to sore data, photographs. Could I make it secure by copying windows vista from my laptop to the hard drive, errrrrrr???????
Hoping to get a response, Gail
Posted by: Gail at July 22, 2008 9:15 AM1 - Vista cannot be copied to another hd, especially an external one, and work. Actually i seriously doubt you could even install it there.
Posted by: Gigi Duru at July 22, 2008 12:56 PM2 - Wherever you would put it, the security is the same.
I had to remove a guys hard drive from his old computer and put it in another machine after his power supply burned out. It would not boot up but a simple repair install and I was able to save the files he wanted saved on the hard drive. And got is second machine up and running.
http://www.geocities.com/terryhollett2003/
Posted by: Terry Hollett at July 23, 2008 4:14 PMHow 'bout this: I have my system on a partitioned drive (partition=30 gigs) which I use [almost] exclusively for the system (Windows, System/32, 'Documents and settings' and 'Program Files' etc.) I don't want to move to another machine; I want to move my 'C' drive to another hard drive/bigger partition and I want to keep ‘everything’ as it is- meaning the Windows configuration and the installed software. Of course I also want to accomplish this in 2 1/2 minutes. What do you think would be the best way to go about achieving that goal? BTW- My OS is XP Pro.
-Leo
Posted by: Rick Loggins at July 25, 2008 6:15 PM
Hi Leo
This article has really confused me. Are you saying that the image I made of my Windows XP operating system with Acronis True Image, would not be able to be installed on a new computer or even a new hard disk?
A backup serves two different, yet extremely important functions:
• Restoring to the original machine: an image that can be restored to your existing machine should it ever crash and simply be repaired. (Probably more common than failures requiring complete machine replacement)
• Moving data to a new machine: an image of your old machine that can be installed on a different hard drive on an different new machine - not as the boot drive for that new machine but as another drive from which you can then access all the old data from your old machine
While, as the article outlines, it may occasionally be possible to move a hard drive, or an image of a hard drive, to completely different hardware and have it boot and work, it's not at all something I would rely on.
Hope that helps clarify.
-Leo
Posted by: robin at July 26, 2008 11:51 AM
Although I have not experienced Vista on the copy yet, I can vouch for Windows XP. Basically when you install Windows the first time, it chooses a HAL type (hardware abstraction layer). If you have a single processor with only one core, it chooses the 1 HAL. If you have a dual core or more than one processor it will choose the 2^n HAL. The big difference is the 1 HAL can only ever interact with one processor machines. So if you take a machine that had been running the 1 HAL and put it in a dual core machine, you will blue screen every time, even booting to safe-mode, etc. This can be resolved by booting the windows disk and repairing your Windows installation (windows disk will choose the 2^n HAL and you should come up ok.)
For the 2^n HAL's, they can go backwards, since anyone with any math skills know that 2^0 = 1. It will issue out the instructions in a correct manner to the processor, although you do lose a bit of computing power from it having to make that computation on every instruction, only to issue it to a single processor (not a noticeable slowdown).
Once you are up and running with a working HAL and windows build, its just a matter of updating all your device drivers. Hopefully you have hardware from a big company, as they tend to have very friendly UI's for getting to various hardware drivers.
Have fun!
Posted by: Michael Smith at July 31, 2008 1:56 PMHi, This guy has a solution,
http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2008/07/09/move-windows-xp-hard-drive-or-change-motherboard-without-getting-blue-screen-of-death/
Posted by: Yohan Perera at October 22, 2008 9:27 AM