I have two computers. One is a P4 with XP Pro, AutoCAD 2009 and Office 2007 installed which I use for Contracting work. I also have a Core 2 Duo machine running Vista Home Premium. I would like to swap the hard drives so I have my entire XP setup (applications, network to Server 2003, etc) running on the faster machine for contracting and use the older machine for home. Can I simply swap the hard drives then tweak it a little or will it cause issues? My main requirement is to get the faster machine running fine and am not too fussed about the P4 as I will retire that and get a laptop sometime next year.
My XP Pro I have the original genuine disk. For Vista it was installed on my Dell machine when I purchased it. I'm not too worried if the P4 with vista goes in the bin but I definately want the XP/Core 2 machine to work and be legit in the process.
Removoing a HDD from one mobo to another will do one of two things. Work or fail miserably and potentially resulting in data loss.
This is normally a result of a different bios and Windows choking when it sees a different system configuration. On many occasions this will work and Windows will detect the new system andf install the correct drivers. If it does fail you will probably corrupt the Windows install and it will not work again, even if placed back in the original machine.
Have you though or virtualising the XP machine using something like VMWare and then running it as a virtual machine under Vista? This will give you an exact copy of your machine that can be booted as required from Vista.
Why not just install the Office etc applications on the Vista machine? This is the simpest method of all..
Unfortunately I cannot simply transfer applications and then move the box from the one location to the other.
1. The XP machine is currently configured to run on a domain under Server 2003 with all it's settings. Windows Vista Home Premium cannot apparently be joined to a domain. I don't really want to have the off site IT guy have to come back and reconfigure the new machine as this will cost me personally.
2. My office 2007 is an OEM version therfore cannot be authorised on another machine. Thanks microsoft.
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