[Daxterity]

Hi Guys and Gals,

Ok here's the thing.

I have a Compaq Presario 900 which doesn't have a working CDrom drive.
I took my harddrive out and put it in my friends Dell Inspiron B130 and installed Windows xp SP2. Now that all works fine but(there is always a but ....) when I tried to put the harddrive back into my laptop(Presario 900) Windows will not boot, even if I go to safemode first thing. I thought maybe I could install Windows from the USB port but my BIOS doesn't have a BOOT FROM USB option. Also there is no Bios update that will give me that option.

I have tried deleting and installing all the drivers for the Presario then trying to boot like that but it still gets stuck.

Is there a way or does anyone know of a way I can somehow get this to work???

Thanks in advance.

Perplexed!

[Curly]

You cannot move your XP hard drive from one computer to another. This is to prevent piracy. Otherwise one drive could be cloned billions of times and given to everyone in the world!

Install XP with the drive inside your own computer.

[Daxterity]

Thanks Curly, I certainly understand the reasoning and logic behind that. Unfortunately that doesn't help my predicament. My DVD/CD drive doesn't work so I cannot load windows this way on my own computer with my hard drive in it (and yes I have a genuine Windows Xp disk ....). I wish it were that easy.

Please anyone I just want my computer back

[Curly]

Replace the drive or buy an external USB drive. Optical drives are very inexpensive.

[TheOutcaste]

Here's how to install XP to a drive while connected to another PC:
What you'll need:

1. Windows XP CD and Product key for the target system
2. A second system running Windows XP
   If your XP CD Does not have at least SP2 included, the second PC must be running the same SP or earlier than the CD, or you'll need to slipstream SP2 or SP3 into a new disk.
   I haven't tried installing XP Pro using a second PC running XP Home, so don't know if that will work, but it should, as XP Pro is considered newer.
   Installing XP Home using a second PC running XP Pro might not work.
   I also have not tried with an XP OEM disk.
3. An external enclosure to connect the hard drive from the first PC to the second PC, or the proper cables/adapters to temporarily connect the hard drive internally to the second PC.

Refer to the screen shots below as well.

After connecting the drive to the second PC, boot into Windows XP
Start Disk Management (Click Start | Run, type diskmgmt.msc, press Enter)
When you start Disk Management, if the disk is new or has been wiped, the Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard will start, click Cancel.
You don't want your boot disk to be a Dynamic Disk, especially on a Notebook, as Dynamic Disks aren't supported on Notebooks.
Right click the drive in the lower right pane (Click where it says Not Initialized, circled in yellow on Picture 1), then click Initialize Disk.
Make sure the correct disk is checked in the dialog, then click OK.
The Disk should now show as Basic and Online.
Now create a partition. Right click the graphic of the drive where it says Unallocated, then click New Partition... (See Picture 2)
Follow the Wizard and choose Primary partition
Select the size if you don't want to use the entire drive
For Assign the following drive letter: choose Z:
(If Z: is not available, you can use any letter, but this guide assumes it's Z:, so adjust as needed)
Type in a Volume label if desired
Check Perform a quick format if desired, though in some cases it might be better to leave that unchecked, so it will do a full format.
When it's finished formatting, close the Disk Management window.

Right click the Recycle Bin, click Properties
On the Global tab select Configure drives independently
Click the tab for drive Z:, and check Do not move files to the Recycle Bin
Click OK
Right click My Computer, click Properties
Click the System Restore tab
Highlight drive Z: and click the Settings... button
Check the box for Turn off System Restore on this drive
Click OK

Insert your Windows XP Disk
If the AutoPlay dialog comes up, close it.
If the Welcome to Microsoft Windows XP windows opens, click Exit
Open a Command Prompt (Start | Run, type cmd, press Enter)
type the following lines, press Enter after each. X: is the drive letter of your CD/DVD ROM drive, so change that as needed.

cd /d X:\i386
winnt32.exe /syspart:Z: /tempdrive:Z: /makelocalsource /noreboot

(Note that there is a space before X: and before each of the forward slashes /, but nowhere else)
You may get the following error message:
Setup cannot continue because the version of Windows on your computer is newer than the version on the CD.
If so, just click OK
The Welcome to Windows Setup dialog will open
Choose New Installation (Advanced) and click Next
Accept the Agreement
Enter your 25 digit Product key
Windows Setup will copy files. When its finished copying, the Setup window will close.

Right click My Computer, click Explore
Navigate to Z:\$WIN_NT$.~BT
In the right pane, double click the migrate.inf file, it will open in Notepad

Look in the [Addreg] section for 2 lines that look like this:

HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices","\??\Volume{d691f0a2-6f4f-11de-bb50-0003ff631820}",0x00030001,\
     46,75,5c,03,00,7e,00,00,00,00,00,00
HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices","\DosDevices\Z:",0x00030001,\
     46,75,5c,03,00,7e,00,00,00,00,00,00 

Find the line with \DosDevices\Z: and check the numbers in blue to find the second line that matches. Usually right above or below the \DosDevices\Z: line.
These will usually be the last two lines. The key is the numbers in blue must match.
(The hexadecimal numbers in the braces will be different on each system, as will the numbers in blue)

Delete all other lines that mention Dos Devices or Volume in the [Addreg] section.
Now, change the Z: to C:
Here's a sample before and after Migrate.inf:
Before:

[Version]
Signature = "$Windows NT$"

[Addreg]
HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices",,0x00000010
HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices","\??\Volume{4feb2224-9f0e-11dd-89dc-806d6172696f}",0x00030001,\
     50,3d,19,6f,00,7e,00,00,00,00,00,00
HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices","\DosDevices\C:",0x00030001,\
     50,3d,19,6f,00,7e,00,00,00,00,00,00
HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices","\??\Volume{2df5ed82-9f0f-11dd-bb40-806d6172696f}",0x00030001,\
     5c,00,3f,00,3f,00,5c,00,46,00,44,00,43,00,23,00,47,00,45,00,4e,00,45,00,52,\
     00,49,00,43,00,5f,00,46,00,4c,00,4f,00,50,00,50,00,59,00,5f,00,44,00,52,00,\
     49,00,56,00,45,00,23,00,35,00,26,00,31,00,37,00,39,00,63,00,38,00,31,00,37,\
     00,35,00,26,00,30,00,26,00,30,00,23,00,7b,00,35,00,33,00,66,00,35,00,36,00,\
     33,00,30,00,64,00,2d,00,62,00,36,00,62,00,66,00,2d,00,31,00,31,00,64,00,30,\
     00,2d,00,39,00,34,00,66,00,32,00,2d,00,30,00,30,00,61,00,30,00,63,00,39,00,\
     31,00,65,00,66,00,62,00,38,00,62,00,7d,00
HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices","\??\Volume{2df5ed83-9f0f-11dd-bb40-806d6172696f}",0x00030001,\
     5c,00,3f,00,3f,00,5c,00,49,00,44,00,45,00,23,00,43,00,64,00,52,00,6f,00,6d,\
     00,4d,00,53,00,5f,00,43,00,23,00,44,00,56,00,44,00,2d,00,52,00,4f,00,4d,00,\
     5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,\
     00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,\
     5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,33,00,2e,00,30,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,23,00,35,\
     00,26,00,63,00,66,00,62,00,35,00,36,00,64,00,65,00,26,00,30,00,26,00,30,00,\
     2e,00,30,00,2e,00,30,00,23,00,7b,00,35,00,33,00,66,00,35,00,36,00,33,00,30,\
     00,64,00,2d,00,62,00,36,00,62,00,66,00,2d,00,31,00,31,00,64,00,30,00,2d,00,\
     39,00,34,00,66,00,32,00,2d,00,30,00,30,00,61,00,30,00,63,00,39,00,31,00,65,\
     00,66,00,62,00,38,00,62,00,7d,00
HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices","\DosDevices\D:",0x00030001,\
     5c,00,3f,00,3f,00,5c,00,49,00,44,00,45,00,23,00,43,00,64,00,52,00,6f,00,6d,\
     00,4d,00,53,00,5f,00,43,00,23,00,44,00,56,00,44,00,2d,00,52,00,4f,00,4d,00,\
     5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,\
     00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,\
     5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,33,00,2e,00,30,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,23,00,35,\
     00,26,00,63,00,66,00,62,00,35,00,36,00,64,00,65,00,26,00,30,00,26,00,30,00,\
     2e,00,30,00,2e,00,30,00,23,00,7b,00,35,00,33,00,66,00,35,00,36,00,33,00,30,\
     00,64,00,2d,00,62,00,36,00,62,00,66,00,2d,00,31,00,31,00,64,00,30,00,2d,00,\
     39,00,34,00,66,00,32,00,2d,00,30,00,30,00,61,00,30,00,63,00,39,00,31,00,65,\
     00,66,00,62,00,38,00,62,00,7d,00
HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices","\DosDevices\A:",0x00030001,\
     5c,00,3f,00,3f,00,5c,00,46,00,44,00,43,00,23,00,47,00,45,00,4e,00,45,00,52,\
     00,49,00,43,00,5f,00,46,00,4c,00,4f,00,50,00,50,00,59,00,5f,00,44,00,52,00,\
     49,00,56,00,45,00,23,00,35,00,26,00,31,00,37,00,39,00,63,00,38,00,31,00,37,\
     00,35,00,26,00,30,00,26,00,30,00,23,00,7b,00,35,00,33,00,66,00,35,00,36,00,\
     33,00,30,00,64,00,2d,00,62,00,36,00,62,00,66,00,2d,00,31,00,31,00,64,00,30,\
     00,2d,00,39,00,34,00,66,00,32,00,2d,00,30,00,30,00,61,00,30,00,63,00,39,00,\
     31,00,65,00,66,00,62,00,38,00,62,00,7d,00
HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices","\??\Volume{d691f0a2-6f4f-11de-bb50-0003ff631820}",0x00030001,\
     46,75,5c,03,00,7e,00,00,00,00,00,00
HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices","\DosDevices\Z:",0x00030001,\
     46,75,5c,03,00,7e,00,00,00,00,00,00 

After:

[Version]
Signature = "$Windows NT$"

[Addreg]
HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices",,0x00000010
HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices","\??\Volume{d691f0a2-6f4f-11de-bb50-0003ff631820}",0x00030001,\
     46,75,5c,03,00,7e,00,00,00,00,00,00
HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices","\DosDevices\C:",0x00030001,\
     46,75,5c,03,00,7e,00,00,00,00,00,00 

Save the file, shutdown and move the drive back to the original system. Power on, and setup will continue. When you get to the Choose partition part of Setup, it will list the drive letter as C:

HTH

Jerry