Re: Swapping Laptop Hard drives


"John Williamson" <johnwilliamson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:ff77bf$f44$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Fixer wrote:
The Dell version of Windows almost certainly won't install on the HP & vice versa. I believe they check a system makers code stored on the BIOS. You can even add memory with no problem.

That is incorrect, any OEM copy of windows will install on any machine HOWEVER if you install say a Dell copy of XP on a HP/aACer/Whatever you will need to activate windows and provide a 25 hexadecimal key. But if you install a dell copy of XP on any Dell you wont have to activate or provide a key and the same goes for other manufacturers supply of OEM Manufacturer supplied XP windows


On an Acer package I bought a couple of years ago, the restore disc supplied will *not* work except on an Acer machine, (Tried on Toshiba, IBM & HP laptops, as well as a tower unit I'd built myself) ditto with a Toshiba I've tried recently. An HP? machine I worked on a while ago actually needed the boot sector of a replacement HD "branding" (or it may have been a code burnt into the BIOS to match the HD, either way, it needed a seperate non-Windows boot CD with a downloaded program off the manufacturer's website) with a key to match the motherboard before it would even consider using it as a boot device. Once this was done, the manufacturer's restore CD set then worked to reinstall Windows. Even a full retail version of Windows (98, ME & XP tried) wouldn't install until the unit had been branded.
Dell no longer supply a restore CD with their machines, the restore partition needs to be backed up, producing a restore CD set. HP do the same. As to whether the Dell would find the HP restore partition & vice versa, I've no idea.

Going back a decade or so, a Fujitsu tablet machine I've got on the shelf needs the right external floppy drive to boot from, as it writes a special code into the boot sector of the HD. Fdisk on another machine won't produce a bootable HD for this machine, & it won't boot from either the PCMCIA slot (for CD, HD or CF card) or the USB port.

So, *any* OEM version will install on *any* machine? Not in my experience, although with 95 & 98, it was easier to work round the problems.

Possibly if you copy the I386 folder from one machine onto a fresh HD or bootable CD/DVD & use it on another machine, it may work. But then, if you're doing that, you might just as well just borrow a full copy of the appropriate OS, & use the key on the COA attached to the machine. Either way, you need to download all the drivers for the fresh installation.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.
your actually talking about two seperate things here ie a recovery cd and a windows cd, Dell does not provide recovery cds they supply a Dell copy of windows that is locked to the bios ie it will install on any dell machine without needing activation, BUT it will install on any machine and then you will need to provide a 25 digit key. Acer on the otherhand to name just one use a recovery CD that will recover the hdd to the state it was when it left the factory and will only work on an acer specific model range

So i stand by my original post and any OEM copy of windows will install on any machine, but to clarify your point a OEM Recovery cd which is something totally different will be manufacturer specific

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Two boot drives
    ... you had a Dell OEM version of Windows XP. ... to install Windows XP once on one computer. ... I did install it twice on two separate partitions ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.setup_deployment)
  • Re: Windows Update Failure; Tech Abaondoned Me
    ... I did not think about Dell technical support, ... MS will provide support for the OS if you install it. ... Create A Bootable/Slipstreamed Windows XP Installation CD ... Reinstallation disc and after it finished it still had the same error message ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsupdate)
  • Re: Computer Infected:
    ... Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition ... Dell Application – Backup Dell installed programs, ... SeagateDisk Utility ... You do NOT want to do a Repair or Recovery install. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Trying to reinstall Windows XP on another computer.
    ... Purchase Windows XP for the other computer. ... Although there is a probability that the Dell OEM Windows XP Installation CD ... End-User License Agreement - which you agree to everytime you install or use ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.setup_deployment)
  • Re: HP Refuses to provide XP installation CD
    ... the Dell OEM Windows XP ... CD will install only on a Dell, the IBM on an IBM, an eMachines on an eMachines ... to new hard drives, if the hard drive crashes then the OEM license dies ...
    (comp.sys.hp.hardware)