[Melissahsmile]

Can you put a hard drive that has Windows XP on it into a computer that is equipped with Windows 2000?

[Advertisements]

Like I want to take the hard drive that is in there and replace it with my hard drive that has XP on it. But I tried and it hasn't worked. A blue screen came up and said something like windows has shut down to prevent any damage to your computer...Check your computer for virus' remove any new hard drives... IDK what to do now

[Melissahsmile]

Like I want to take the hard drive that is in there and replace it with my hard drive that has XP on it. But I tried and it hasn't worked. A blue screen came up and said something like windows has shut down to prevent any damage to your computer...Check your computer for virus' remove any new hard drives... IDK what to do now

[Spyderturbo007]

Did this hard drive come from a different computer? If so, that's not going to work. The hardware of each machine is totally different.

[dsenette]

if you were doing it the other way (putting a hard drive set up with windows 2000 into a new machine) it would more than likely work fine...however with XP the OS is tied heavily to the hardware platform that it was installed on and doesn't like being moved around.

sometimes you can run a repair installation on the XP system to get it to work (basically removes all the drivers and puts new ones in as well as replacing windows system files), but sometimes this doesn't work and your only choice is to format and start over

Repair the Windows XP installation.

To do this, follow these steps:

• Make sure that the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive is the first priority startup device.
  See your computer documentation for information about how to do this.
• Insert the Windows XP CD into the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, and then restart your computer.
• When the instruction to "Press any key to boot from CD" appears, press a key. Your computer starts from the Windows XP CD.
• When the computer starts from the CD, the system verifies your hardware, and then prompts you to select one of the following options:
  

  - To set up Windows XP now, press ENTER
  - To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R.
  - To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.

• Press ENTER.
• Press F8 to accept the Licensing Agreement.
• A box lists your current Windows XP installation, and then the computer prompts you to select one of the following options:
  

  - To repair the selected Windows XP installation, press R.
  - To continue installing a fresh copy of Windows XP without repairing, press ESC.

• Press R.

You'll get to keep your existing apps & settings, but you need to re-install SP2, Windows Updates & any unsigned drivers afterwards.
NOTE: Be aware that you'll lose any protection from Blaster / Sasser type worms. Don't go online without a firewall, whether the built in Windows one or 3rd party.

How to Perform A Re-Install Of XP.

[Spyderturbo007]

I guess I should have expanded on my whole "it's not going to work" comment.

Thanks to dsenette for a more thorough explanation.