XP does not run

[Juriemagic]

Hi good people!, my first time on this forum, looking forward to learning some stuff!.

I have a new motherboard, 2 SATA connectors and one IDE connector. I run Windows 8. Windows 8 is installed on the hard drive connected to the IDE port.

Because of some programs (old but nice ones), which used to run on XP, I was trying to get XP installed again. I removed the hard drive (Windows 8), and connected another. XP loads all files and then reboots. At this time it is looking to boot from the files copied to the hard disc, but it fails. A blue screen flashes once, and the pc restarts. So it carries on.

I then tried something else. My friend has an oooold pc which runs XP. I took that hard drive out and connected it to my pc. It does not boot at all. The normal BIOS loads, but that's it.

I have googled and found some answers, change settings SATA to PATA and so on...nothing makes any difference.

Could somebody maybe tell me why this is please?, all and any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all kindly..

 

[bazz2004]

I reckon you are going about this the wrong way. Firstly, Windows 8 has little to recommend it so look into the free upgrade to Windows 10 using Microsoft's media creation tool. That done, install a virtual OS shell like VMWare Player which is freeware. You can then install XP within it and all your XP software will work fine too. You will be able to run XP like a program within your Windows 10 OS. All the drivers you need for XP are included in the install of VMWare Player so there won't be any of the tricky problems you are facing now. Be aware though that a full install of XP fully updated to SP3 and beyond will take an unbelievably long time. Upgrading from W8 to W10 will take around five hours. There is plenty on the forum about virtual OSs.

 

[DelJo63]

If Win/8 or 10 were installed, the BIOS is setup to use UEFI secure boot and you will need the Legacy Mode

 

[bazz2004]

Yes, you've two ways to go. I like the virtual machine solution but you can roll back 10 years and do it the old fashioned way.

 

[mike1959]

It seems to make sense, to take a working hard drive with Windows XP installed, and connect it into a different pc, but it won't work.
This is because when a Windows O/S is installed, it reads several numbers from the hardware of that particular machine, such as motherboard, etc, and each time the pc is booted it checks those numbers are the same ones. It will allow a few changes to be made such as more memory added or a change of graphic card, but this is why you had the restarts.
If you have an XP DVD you can install it from scratch again, as long as you have a keycode as well, otherwise XP was useable for 30 days as a trial. After that it will not run properly, and you will have to install it again.
The idea of this was to prevent one copy of XP being used hundreds of times I.e. cloning.

 

[bazz2004]

I stuck a hard drive from my laptop into a second hand netbook and was delighted when it booted up into Windows 7. It was a complete mess though and even the keyboard didn't work. After wasting too much time time on trying to solve what I expected to be minor problems I gave up and reinstalled Windows from scratch. Windows XP is not easy to install on recent hardware.

 

[Juriemagic]

I stuck a hard drive from my laptop into a second hand netbook and was delighted when it booted up into Windows 7. It was a complete mess though and even the keyboard didn't work. After wasting too much time time on trying to solve what I expected to be minor problems I gave up and reinstalled Windows from scratch. Windows XP is not easy to install on recent hardware.

You have certainly been a great help, thank you very much. I realize XP is old and we should keep up with new technology, and also that XP won't be supported at all very soon, if not already, but while I can have it, I would like to. Thank you again, I am definitely going to look into all your suggestions. Have a great day..

 

[Juriemagic]

It seems to make sense, to take a working hard drive with Windows XP installed, and connect it into a different pc, but it won't work.
This is because when a Windows O/S is installed, it reads several numbers from the hardware of that particular machine, such as motherboard, etc, and each time the pc is booted it checks those numbers are the same ones. It will allow a few changes to be made such as more memory added or a change of graphic card, but this is why you had the restarts.
If you have an XP DVD you can install it from scratch again, as long as you have a keycode as well, otherwise XP was useable for 30 days as a trial. After that it will not run properly, and you will have to install it again.
The idea of this was to prevent one copy of XP being used hundreds of times I.e. cloning.

Hi Mike 1959,

Thank you for your reply. I have the original XP disc and did try to install, but I get the very same response from the pc. It copies all files up to the point where it restarts, then prompts again "press any key to boot from cd"...but of course you don't press anything now, and then it goes on to say "error loading OS"..

I have changed various settings on the BIOS, every time trying to get past this error condition, but it just keeps staying stuck there. Anycase, I do appreciate all of your help. Have a nice day..

 

[Juriemagic]

If Win/8 or 10 were installed, the BIOS is setup to use UEFI secure boot and you will need the Legacy Mode

Hi jobeard,

Sorry, I clicked "unlike"...oops, that was not on purpose..sorry about that. I would like to thank you for responding. I do select the legacy options..but no joy. I'm sure there must be other settings as well that needs to be changed. And motherboards differ so much from each other. You don't have the same settings/options on all...

 

[DelJo63]

Set LEGACY BIOS option and then install. The choice controls which partition table is effected by the following install.