XP - Move drive into another system

[ich]

I'm currently dealing with a computer that has specialized software for which the user doesn't have the installation disks. The user needs to move the application to another system to have a just-in-case backup system.
Obligatory disclaimer: Software company is out of business - they couldn't buy/beg/borrow/steal another copy if the fate of the free world depended on it, & they have a valid Windows license on the second computer.

I duplicated the drive from the original system but can't get it to boot - Windows starts to load and there's a spontaneous reboot - even in Safe Mode.
I've dealt with motherboard and other drivers being problematic for an existing installation in the past by doing a repair install of Windows, but it doesn't work this time. The repair starts to run and, when the system reboots, same reboot cycle. After the attempted repair, I can get into Safe Mode, but as soon as Windows loads up I get an error: "Windows XP Setup cannot run under Safemode. Setup will restart now."

Any ideas how to proceed?

 

[hrlow2]

I have used 2 programs with some success on my own machine. DriveImageXML and xxClone. xxClone has section called CoolTools that will let you make cloned copy bootable and also copies originals ID number to clone. May not work on different machine with different hardware installed,but a little time to try may do it.

 

[ich]

Thanks for the reply hrlow2.

I'm actually already using duplication software - Acronis True Image is my "weapon of choice" when duplicating drives. The issue is that the data is being put into a system with dissimilar hardware. In most cases, Safe Mode is possible so old drivers can be removed and new drivers can be installed, but sometimes motherboard differences can cause problems because the old hardware is similar enough that it gets detected as the same, but not similar enough that it will run.
One method (my preferred method...) is incorporated into the professional version of Acronis True Image - there is a Universal Restore plug-in that allows you to prevent copying of certain drivers and allows inclusion of the proper drivers while the image is being restored to the new media. It's pretty slick but for some reason isn't working in this instance.
Another method of getting around this is performing a Windows Repair (second prompt during setup from WinXP boot disk when you're prompted "Hey, we found this old installation, want to fix it?" (paraphrasing) The drawback of this method is all Windows Updates need to be reapplied and all hardware drivers need to be installed.

I've probably performed this operation 50 or 60 times in the past for various clients, but this is the first time I've run into this inability to get the system running.

 

[ich]

Any suggestions?

I've additionally tried uninstalling all drivers on the original system before duplicating the drive. Same result when the image (without drivers) is put into the new system.

Took it one step further and ran SysPrep on it before duplicating the drive, same result.

 

[fairnooks]

The only thing I can think of that might apply is if its an older version of Windows, it's probably up to date but I didn't see that mentioned anywhere to be sure. Seems like the hardware abstraction layer plug-in would then havve terminal trouble with any critical hardware channel that wasn't understood (for example, an original XP install does not understand PCI-e graphics) but that's all I have, and as I said, if its SP2 or later, doesn't apply as far as I know.

 

[DVOM]

VMWare has a converter that will create a virtual machine from an existing OS installation. It would solve all your hardware and driver issues:

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/10/30/vmware-converter-turn-your-computer-into-a-virtual-machine/

 

[Elvandil]

A repair installation may work on the new machine. There is also PCMover that supposedly allows programs to be moved.

Acronis has its "Universal Restore" that I have had varying success with, and Symantec's Backup Exec System Recovery claims to be able to move an installation to "different hardware".

The VMWare idea is good, too. I converted my XP machine to a VM and now run it on my Vista machine (though it turned out all my programs work in Vista, so it was not really needed). The VMWare converter is free, and the Player to run it is also free.

 

[DVOM]

Another thing to try is simply copying the needed program's folder from the old machine to another machine. Some programs will actually work, even complex programs. Photoshop, up to version 6 or 7 would work this way with the only thing needed was to reenter your product key.

Edit: I've even moved an old DOS program originally installed on 98 onto an XP machine with success.

 

[ich]

See a courteous "bump" with updated information can result in a wealth of replies.

Thanks for all the suggestions. For the sake of thoroughness:

• fairnooks - Yes, it's recent(ish). SP2.
• DVOM - Thanks for the suggestion, I'll try the VMWare stuff. It even looks like the converter will deal with an Acronis True Image TIB file, which is how I backed up the original system.
  I tried copying the program directories (3 of 'em seem to be interrelated) When that didn't work I dug around the registry and tried exporting relevant keys and importing them into another system but no joy. Wasted about 3 hours trying to do the copy method before I tossed in the towel.
• Elvandil - Repair install didn't work - I get the issues stated in my post on 10/9.
  I think part of the problem I've had with Acronis Universal Restore is it won't recognize chipset drivers in the new system's installer, it must be compressed and get extracted during install so I can't specify a better driver for it to use.
  I haven't tried PCMover but the times I've tried similar programs in the past, including one built into Ghost personal edition, it was problematic. Possibly there's a better solution available now that would work, but I think I like the idea of the VMWare solution.
  Thanks for your feedback regarding VMWare Converter.

Thanks for all the suggestions, I'll post back and let you know how it goes.