install xp one pc, then switch HDD to another?

[furyhawk1224]

I'm finally replacing my dell inspiron 600m with a shiny lenovo x61. the x61 comes with *shudder* vista, so i want to downgrade to xp. Problem? the x61 has no cd drive. my plan is to replace the hard drive of the 600m with the x61, install onto the x61 hard drive, and then replace back into the x61.
Would there be any problems with this? Baiscally, i'm just doing a clean install of xp onto the x61 hard drive. Are xp installs dependant on hardware? I would just use the generic drivers that are installed with xp.

In case you wanted to know, here are my x61 stats
Core 2 duo- 2.2ghz 800mhz FSB 4mb L2 cache
2gb DDR2-5600 RAM
12.1' XGA screen
120gb 5700rpm HDD
Lenovo wireless abg
Intel X3100 integrated graphics
Crappy size appropriate sound card and speakers

I got it for $850, i saved $600. Coupon codes ftw! </bragging>

 

[KSoD]

Cant do this. When you put the hard drive back in the origianl PC it will give you errors.

But if you are lucky a Repair install might fix them.

 

[furyhawk1224]

oh well, thanks for the reply

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

It does this because XP configures itself around the system it installs on, and it registers itself (and it's CD key) to that PC. When you activate your copy of Windows, it sends your system info, making a pair between your OS and your system. If the system changes, the OS will know that it's not licensed for that hardware, and won't boot. You might be able to do a network boot (copy an ISO image of the CD to a network PC and boot from it somehow, no clue if it'd work or not but worth a try) or a USB key, or (the best thing) just get a USB CD-ROM drive (maybe you could use a USB->IDE hard drive kit with a CD-ROM drive?).

...and what good is a new laptop without a CD drive I would never buy a laptop that didn't have the essentials (CD/DVD, HDD, 15"+ monitor, networking (internal or PCMCIA), sound, etc), actually I still prefer to have a floppy drive for recovery.

 

[Trotter]

If the Lenovo is capable of booting from a flash drive, you can try mounting an image of the XP disk on a flash drive and then booting from it.

Why would you buy a comp with no optical drive???

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

Yeah, I love my ThinkPad...but if Lenovo stopped putting optical drives on them, they must be going downhill...though he probably just got one of the slimline PC's that got rid of the drive to save space...if that's the case, then get a dock for it that has a CD/DVD drive.

 

[KSoD]

Yes a flash drive (OF 2GB or so) or a external CD/DVD Drive would solve this problem quickly.

 

[EricB]

external cd drive or


make 2 partitions on the other computer (one ntfs one fat32). install windows me on the second one. copy the xp cd unto either one. put it back into the lenovo. when it boot, you can ignore the hardware change wizards.

run the setup.exe from the xp folder to install xp.

when you are done, delete or format the me drive