Re-locating Windows
- Thread starter Darts
- Start date
You can install the HDD into anther machine with an active operating system and boot drive to access any personal files and transfer them. You cannot install the drive into another machine as the primary drive and boot into windows 8. The hardware is different.
Thanks. Does the O/S in the other computer have to be a version of Windows like XP, VISTA, Win7, etc.? Or, can it be Linux?
The other computer I have in mind is a P4 with XP. I'm not even sure a P4 has the "horsepower" to accept a Win 8.
Yes, Linux can see a Window NTFS file system. Win XP will also be able to read the file system.
Not sure what you're trying to do but you cannot boot into windows 8 with that drive on another machine without reinstalling windows. If you're only installing the drive as a second drive on a machine to access the files then you can do that. You will boot up the working machine with its OS and system drive then open the contents of the second drive you installed with Windows file explorer to access and backup your personal files. Windows will assign a drive letter to that drive other than C:. You may have to go into BIOS to save hardware changes when it detects a new drive but not for sure.
Not sure what you're trying to do but you cannot boot into windows 8 with that drive on another machine without reinstalling windows. If you're only installing the drive as a second drive on a machine to access the files then you can do that. You will boot up the working machine with its OS and system drive then open the contents of the second drive you installed with Windows file explorer to access and backup your personal files. Windows will assign a drive letter to that drive other than C:. You may have to go into BIOS to save hardware changes when it detects a new drive but not for sure.
Btw. All this is assuming the drive and the motherboard you want to plug it into are compatible. Ie. You're installing a SATA drive onto a MB with SATA ports and not IDE ports.
Actually you can. On first boot up, Windows will detect hardware has changed and go through the set up process to install generic drivers unless it already has vendor specific drivers in its repo. The first time you boot it up will take the longest for this so don't be surprised or think the process has frozen when this happens. The worst thing you can do is reboot it during this phase which can corrupt your drive.
For the most part it will work. There is maybe a 5-10% chance it can blue screen but you shouldn't run into that issue unless you use very obscure hardware. Though this method is never recommended, it's not the end of the world if you do it either. It's always good to start fresh anyway.
You will need to reactivate your copy of Windows as it will have detected the massive hardware change. And there is a chance that you won't be able to re-use the key as Microsoft will see it as a new computer.
