Win 2003 Server on a USB only desktop?

[BabySealClubber]

The tech guy before me purchased a Dell 5150 with only USB ports on it, no ps2 and to boot its stuck on Win xp home. I'm going to take out that harddrive and install win 2003 server on another machine (with a ps2) and then put that harddrive back into the Dell5150...now before I go through all the trouble, will Win 2003 server recognize USB keyboards and mice? Thanks!

 

[office politics]

i say bad idea because the windows install is going install drivers for one machine but will require differrent drivers for the other. this would be ok if you were only changing the mouse port, but you'll prolly have conflicts with the HD controller and/or mobo drivers.

 

[Law]

Switching the harddrive with a prexisting OS to another computer with different hardware spec is not a good idea. So what exactly are you going to do? Yes, Windows 2003 Server supports USB keyboard and mouse as long as you have USB ports.

 

[EricB]

change your bios to enable usb legacy support.

window me was the last OS to allow you to swap harddrives to different machines and it would alway work. xp sp1 would work sometimes. they did this on purpose so people wouldn't get around activation.

 

[BabySealClubber]

I would love not to exchange the Harddrives but I can't even use the ddamn USB keyboard in windows setup. There is no USB legacy option in the bios either.

 

[EricB]

ok. get partition magic. make two partitions with your windows. copy all of the 2003 server cd files onto the hdd (second partition). install server to the second partition. install it within windows. pick new install and make sure that you set it to copy all the files to the second partition

pick install to the G:\Windows folder (make windows folder in your secong partition) with g being considered your second partition (it might be a different letter on your computer). make sure that you check the "copy all of the installation files from the cd" option

boot into it when done installing. now right click your C drive and select format. it will delete it.

now reinstall server 2003 to the 1st partition exactly as above except everything is going to the C drive. when you are done, you can delete the second partition