XP will not boot with hardware change

[kepnet]

I have two desk top computers #1 is for the internet and #2 is for my work(consulting).

#2 is never used on the internet I mean never. # 1 has an 80g hard drive with XP_PRO. #2 has an 250g hard drive with XP_PRO and a 300g slave.

#1, the internet computer decided to take a permanent vacation and went south. So I bought a duo core computer with a 80g hard drive and XP Home. Let call this computer #3.

I wanted to used the new computer #3 as my consulting computer( replacing #2). And then use #2 as my internet computer. I wanted to take the 80g hard drive with XP_PRO from # 1 and put it in #2 ( this drive has all my internet records- bookmarks, correspondent and I didn’t want to start over.) . I wanted to remove the 250g hard drive with XP_PRO and a 300g slave and uses them in #3 .

The 80g hard drive with XP_PRO would not boot-up in computer #2. I was told this was caused by Microsoft.
Is there a way to make this happen. What is wrong with Microsoft! Why must one go thru such pain to upgrade a computer or make a change in the hardware.

 

[SNGX1275]

You can't really do what you want without reinstalling the OS. When XP is installed it gets set up for the hardware in the machine its being installed on, you can't just go slap that hard drive in another computer with different hardware and get it to boot (unless its identical hardware or at least real similar).

So Microsoft didn't really cause your computer to not boot, you did by not understanding the limitations of the OS. Swapping hard drives like you did was more forgiving back in the 9x days.

What Microsoft did do with XP is require activation, and if you dramatically change hardware you will have to reactivate XP. Changing computers is an example of dramatically changing hardware. You will likely have to call Microsoft and explain what you are doing for XP to pass activation.

What it boils down to is you can only run XP on as many computers as you have a lisence for, so if you have 2 XPs and 2 computers you are fine. 2 XPs and 3 computers is no good if you plan on using all 3.