Pre-installed XP hard drive

[hdnn2000]

Could I just remove my working IDE Pre-installed Window XP hard drive from my outdated system and plug it right in to a new motherboard ( ASUS M2A-VM 690G ) and CPU ( Athlon X2 4800+ ) then boot it right up? Or I must re-format it and install a fresh Window XP. Thanks to any reply.

[jclaydon]

Well it may work, but more than likely it won't. If you have a retail version of XP then it would be better to do a fresh install.

Well that's from my limited experience and from reading on here. Anyone else have anything to add?

-James

[The Wise Monkey]

You would need to run a repair on XP, but for that you would need the disk. If it came pre-installed, then it won't work, as pre-installed versions only contain drivers for certain hardware. Unfortunately, you will probably have to buy a new copy of Windows.

[hdnn2000]

I would like to correct myself. It was not a pre-installed
XP from the manufacture. It was an OEM Window XP upgrade from Window 98 done by me and I do have the Window XP OEM disc with activation number. I just don't want to spend what would be a two hours process again to install the XP and update it. Thanks for reply.

[The Wise Monkey]

Ok, boot from the XP CD, and proceed as if to install XP anew, but press "R" when it asks to repair a current installation.

What this does is basically upgrades XP to itself - all of your programs and files are kept, but XP itself is reset to the default settings. This takes about the same time as a normal install and, unfortunately, you will have to download all of the updates again.