Copying drivers from two of the same computers

[V-tek]

I have an Emachine with Windows Media Center, and a customer wants Professional on it, so i had to downgrade and upgrade to Pro, but when this occured, the Emachine needed PCI, Ethrnet etc drivers installed, and emachine has crappy website support, and doesnt even list the drivers for the computer model. It a T5020, and i was wondering if drivers from another T-Series like T5010 would work or if i took the same machine and loaded the dll files from the C:\Windows\System32\Drivers onto a CD or floppy and just used the Add New Hardware and read it off of the CD or floppy...what do you guys think ?

 

[Osiris]

It should work as long as they are exactly the same

 

[EricB]

I have an Emachine with Windows Media Center, and a customer wants Professional on it, so i had to downgrade and upgrade to Pro, but when this occured, the Emachine needed PCI, Ethrnet etc drivers installed, and emachine has crappy website support, and doesnt even list the drivers for the computer model. It a T5020, and i was wondering if drivers from another T-Series like T5010 would work or if i took the same machine and loaded the dll files from the C:\Windows\System32\Drivers onto a CD or floppy and just used the Add New Hardware and read it off of the CD or floppy...what do you guys think ?

media center is the same as xp pro, minus domian names, but with media extras.

 

[EricB]

to add domain to MCE all you needed to do was...

Insert Windows XP CD.
Start > Run > X:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons
(replace X: with the appropiate drive letter)
Acknowledge prompt by clicking 'Yes'.
Skip updating process by clicking 'Cancel' or by pressing 'Esc'
After installation, acknowledge success msg. by clicking 'Ok'
Start > Shutdown > Restart
At boot menu, select 'Microsoft Windows Recovery Console'
Select proper installation to log onto (default: 1) and press 'Enter'
(If prompted, enter Administrator password and press 'Enter')
Type (without quotes) and press enter: 'cd system32\config'
Type (without quotes) and press enter: 'copy SYSTEM C:'
Type (without quotes) and press enter: exit
At boot menu, select 'Windows XP Media Center Edition'

Start > Run > Type: 'regedit' and press enter
Click on 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE'.
File > Load Hive...
Browse and select C:\SYSTEM
Specify key name 'BANANA' and click OK
Expand: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > BANANA > WPA > MedCtrUpg
On the right-hand side, double-click IsLegacyMCE value
Change selected value to 1 and click Ok. (THAT IS NOT AN L!)
Click on BANANA subkey (under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE).
File > Unload Hive. Confirm.
Start > Shutdown > Restart
At boot menu, select 'Microsoft Windows Recovery Console'

Select proper installation to log onto (default: 1) and press 'Enter'
(If prompted, enter Administrator password and press 'Enter')
Type (without quotes) and press enter: 'cd '
Type (without quotes) and press enter: 'copy SYSTEM C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM'
(Yes, you want to overwrite - Go ahead and do it)
Type (without quotes) and press enter: 'del SYSTEM'
Type (without quotes) and press enter: 'exit'
At boot menu, select 'Windows XP Media Center Edition'

Join domain.

 

[V-tek]

Ive found it, i just went to Intel's website and looked up my mobo and DL the drivers for it