Moving XP...

[sburns1992]

Hello,
Today I was asked to wipe a hard drive in someone's laptop for them. I obviously chose the option to format and reinstall windows (XP) with the disc, the problem I faced was that their CD drive wouldn't read discs, so I put the hard drive into my PC and installed XP using my PC, then moved the hard drive back into the laptop.

Now, the XP installation works on my PC but when I load up the laptop it will freeze as just before the XP loading screen is about to come up.

Now I am stuck with a dead laptop and I need to get it fixed, else I will feel real bad

Thanks in advance.

[Allan]

You cannot use a hd with an OS installed on one system on a different system. Put the drive back in your system and format the drive then put it back in the original laptop.

What do you mean the cd drive on the problem system won't read discs?

[sburns1992]

Well the CD spins, but the laser must be buggered as it's just not reading any disc.

[patio]

It's not the CD drive...it's a failed installation as Allan illustrated can't be done.

Replace the drive in the PC you are fixing and Clik Here...

I suggest reading it thru 1st and printing out a reference copy before starting...

[sburns1992]

No it is the CD drive because it wasn't working before the HD was formatted, as I was trying to play a music CD

Is there absolutely no way of installing XP elsewhere and putting it into the laptop? Reason being I don't think there's any point replacing the CD drive...

Also can you explain why it HAS to be done on the laptop only?

[Allan]

You can try a usb cd drive, assuming the laptop can see the drive at boot (most modern systems can see usb devices at boot).

The reason you can't swap drives is that during installation XP makes note of all hardware and stores that info in a small database file (wpa.dbl). That file is accessed at boot and if the hardware detected at boot is significantly different from the hardware info stored in the wpa.dbl file, the boot will fail.

[camerongray]

Depending on the laptop you may be able to create an install USB stick such as those used with netbooks. - Google "Install Windows XP From USB stick"

[patio]

I give up...

[sburns1992]

Well I found out a way of doing it

1) install the external hard drive as a slave in your working desktop system.

2) Format the drive. I just did a quick ntsf format, doesnt seem to matter.

3) insert your windows cd in the drive, and exit when it pops up asking what you want to do.

4) Go to "My Computer" and look at the drive letters of the CD-rom containing the XP disk, and also the drive letter of the hard drive you are installing to.

5) Assuming the hard drive is "D" and the XP cd is in "E:", go to the run command and type (or cut and paste):

E:\I386\winnt32.exe /syspart:D: /tempdrive:D: /makelocalsource /noreboot

6) setup will begin and ask you if you want to upgrade or full install, make sure it is FULL INSTALL. It will then ask you for a few more things including the CD key.

7) When it goes back to your desktop, turn off your PC and remove the external hard drive. It is now ready for install in the new system. It will simply continue to install windows from this point.

This worked very well and now the laptop is in working order again...
Thanks for giving up Patio, a little research never hurt anyone

[patio]

No problem...

BTW it wasn't about research.

[Computer_Commando]

Seems as if procedure was found here:
http://netbooks.modaco.com/content/asus/262505/installing-xp-from-an-external-hard-drive/