OEM WinXP in Busted Laptop

Hello group
A former neigbor of mine sent me an email and asked if there is a
way for his busted laptop hard drive to be used in another laptop.
What happened was his notebook got a busted motherboard and had asked
a technician that assessed the damage and told him that repairing the
whole things is not practical and its better to get a new one.
Another thing also the technician told my neighbor that his laptop is
a Sony VaIO and its difficult to get replacement parts for such
notebook that was made circa 2004 in the third world country where he
currently resides...Besides as that laptop was bought overseas its
unlikely also that the local Sony Center would service it.

Therefore he thought iif that particular HDD is installed in another
machine ( another laptop with no installed OS,would its OEM OS work
( WinXPSp2)?
..Can he instal the inbuilt OS from the broken laptop hard drive? How
will he do it?
TIA

On Tue, 29 Sep 2009 06:17:41 -0700 (PDT), Roy <>
wrote:

>Hello group
>A former neigbor of mine sent me an email and asked if there is a
>way for his busted laptop hard drive to be used in another laptop.
>What happened was his notebook got a busted motherboard and had asked
>a technician that assessed the damage and told him that repairing the
>whole things is not practical and its better to get a new one.
> Another thing also the technician told my neighbor that his laptop is
>a Sony VaIO and its difficult to get replacement parts for such
>notebook that was made circa 2004 in the third world country where he
>currently resides...Besides as that laptop was bought overseas its
>unlikely also that the local Sony Center would service it.
>
>Therefore he thought iif that particular HDD is installed in another
>machine ( another laptop with no installed OS,would its OEM OS work
>( WinXPSp2)?
>.Can he instal the inbuilt OS from the broken laptop hard drive? How
>will he do it?
>TIA

Aside from the fact that it is not *legal* to use an OEM OS on a
different computer from which it was originally installed.... what you
are describing probably won't work unless the "new" laptop is
virtually identical to the old one, including make and model. (Laptops
require some special drivers that are installed by the manufacturer,
some may be available by download, but it would be a huge task to
locate and download all that he'd need.)

The easiest way to utilize the original HD is to get an enclosure, and
use it as an external drive to another computer. With that setup, he
can easily copy over any data files to the new computer, and possibly
some programs.

In news:,
Charlie Hoffpauir typed on Tue, 29 Sep 2009 09:22:34 -0500:
> On Tue, 29 Sep 2009 06:17:41 -0700 (PDT), Roy <>
> wrote:
>
>> Hello group
>> A former neigbor of mine sent me an email and asked if there is a
>> way for his busted laptop hard drive to be used in another laptop.
>> What happened was his notebook got a busted motherboard and had asked
>> a technician that assessed the damage and told him that repairing
>> the whole things is not practical and its better to get a new one.
>> Another thing also the technician told my neighbor that his laptop is
>> a Sony VaIO and its difficult to get replacement parts for such
>> notebook that was made circa 2004 in the third world country where he
>> currently resides...Besides as that laptop was bought overseas its
>> unlikely also that the local Sony Center would service it.
>>
>> Therefore he thought iif that particular HDD is installed in
>> another machine ( another laptop with no installed OS,would its OEM
>> OS work ( WinXPSp2)?
>> .Can he instal the inbuilt OS from the broken laptop hard drive? How
>> will he do it?
>> TIA
>
> Aside from the fact that it is not *legal* to use an OEM OS on a
> different computer from which it was originally installed.... what you
> are describing probably won't work unless the "new" laptop is
> virtually identical to the old one, including make and model. (Laptops
> require some special drivers that are installed by the manufacturer,
> some may be available by download, but it would be a huge task to
> locate and download all that he'd need.)
>
> The easiest way to utilize the original HD is to get an enclosure, and
> use it as an external drive to another computer. With that setup, he
> can easily copy over any data files to the new computer, and possibly
> some programs.

Actually Microsoft has never commented what constitutes the same
computer. We do know it is legal to change the motherboard, power
supply, RAM, drives, etc. So virtually at least one part is left of the
original computer, it is still the original computer. In this case, the
original hard drive. <vbg>

Most methods to run Windows from one system to another non-similar
system generally fails. Although there are at least two products that I
know of that claims to be able to do this.

Paragon's Adaptive Restore feature of Drive Backup

Acronis True Image Universal Restore

I have the former, but I have never put it to the test.

--
Bill
Windows XP SP2 (5.1.2600)
Asus EEE PC 702G8 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC

There are at least four different questions here:

1. Can he use the hard drive (not anything recorded on it, just the
hard drive)? Sure.

2. Can he physically use the OS from the Sony in another machine?
Maybe. [btw, the COA label on the Sony (if there is one) is part of
this question and is not irrelevant]. The answer to this is quite
complex, it's not a simple yes/no. ["how" is a related question that is
too complex to get into and that also doesn't have a very simple, quick
response]

3. If he does so, will it activate/pass WGA tests? Again, no simple
answer. "maybe".

4. Is it legal? ***NO***, it is not legal. That is clear. But not
everyone cares. And the answer to "is it legal" and "will it activate /
pass WGA validation" are not necessarily the same.


Roy wrote:
> Hello group
> A former neigbor of mine sent me an email and asked if there is a
> way for his busted laptop hard drive to be used in another laptop.
> What happened was his notebook got a busted motherboard and had asked
> a technician that assessed the damage and told him that repairing the
> whole things is not practical and its better to get a new one.
> Another thing also the technician told my neighbor that his laptop is
> a Sony VaIO and its difficult to get replacement parts for such
> notebook that was made circa 2004 in the third world country where he
> currently resides...Besides as that laptop was bought overseas its
> unlikely also that the local Sony Center would service it.
>
> Therefore he thought iif that particular HDD is installed in another
> machine ( another laptop with no installed OS,would its OEM OS work
> ( WinXPSp2)?
> .Can he instal the inbuilt OS from the broken laptop hard drive? How
> will he do it?
> TIA
>

Ignoring the legalities (because I think we all agree that it's NOT
legal) .... depending on what he has (on the hard drive (both in a
hidden "restore partition" and in the "I386" folder (or in other places)
on drive C, on any restore media that came with the computer, and even
JUST using the product key from the COA label (with a GENERIC OEM media
that did not originally come with the Sony laptop) .... it may be
possible for him to do a clean "reinstallation" of XP on another
computer, and it may even both work and activate / pass WGA.

The question asked is complex and has a huge number of variables. There
is no easy answer given only the information in the original post.


Charlie Hoffpauir wrote:

>
> Aside from the fact that it is not *legal* to use an OEM OS on a
> different computer from which it was originally installed.... what you
> are describing probably won't work unless the "new" laptop is
> virtually identical to the old one, including make and model. (Laptops
> require some special drivers that are installed by the manufacturer,
> some may be available by download, but it would be a huge task to
> locate and download all that he'd need.)
>

You are right that "Microsoft has never commented what constitutes the
same computer". And, as a consequence, there are situations in which
the legalities themselves are unclear.

BUT ....

In this instance, it's clear that from a legal perspective only, the
action that was inquired about is outside ANY reasonable definition of
"the same computer".

Using the hard drive in another system, by itself, is not going to get
around that. However, many people just don't care about the legalities
of what he asked about doing.

BillW50 wrote:

>
> Actually Microsoft has never commented what constitutes the same
> computer. We do know it is legal to change the motherboard, power
> supply, RAM, drives, etc. So virtually at least one part is left of the
> original computer, it is still the original computer. In this case, the
> original hard drive. <vbg>
>
> Most methods to run Windows from one system to another non-similar
> system generally fails. Although there are at least two products that I
> know of that claims to be able to do this.
>
> Paragon's Adaptive Restore feature of Drive Backup
>
> Acronis True Image Universal Restore
>
> I have the former, but I have never put it to the test.
>

On Sep 29, 10:22*pm, Charlie Hoffpauir <inva...@invalid.com> wrote:
> On Tue, 29 Sep 2009 06:17:41 -0700 (PDT), Roy <royba...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> >Hello group
> >A former neigbor *of mine sent me an email and *asked if there is a
> >way for his busted laptop hard drive to be used in another laptop.
> >What happened was his notebook got a busted motherboard and had asked
> >a technician that *assessed the damage and told him that repairing the
> >whole things is not practical and its better to get *a new one.
> > Another thing also the technician told my neighbor that his laptop is
> >a Sony VaIO and its difficult to get replacement parts for such
> >notebook that was made circa 2004 in the third world country where he
> >currently resides...Besides as that laptop was bought overseas its
> >unlikely also that the local *Sony Center would service it.
>
> >Therefore *he thought iif that particular HDD *is installed in another
> >machine ( another laptop with no installed OS,would its OEM OS work
> >( WinXPSp2)?
> >.Can he instal the inbuilt OS from the broken laptop hard drive? How
> >will he do it?
> >TIA
>
> Aside from the fact that it is not *legal* to use an OEM OS on a
> different computer from which it was originally installed.... what you
> are describing probably won't work unless the "new" laptop is
> virtually identical to the old one, including make and model. (Laptops
> require some special drivers that are installed by the manufacturer,
> some may be available by download, but it would be a huge task to
> locate and download all that he'd need.)
>
> The easiest way to utilize the original HD is to get an enclosure, and
> use it as an external drive to another computer. With that setup, he
> can easily copy over any data files to the new computer, and possibly
> some programs.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Hmm, he still want to run the hard drive in another laptop (not
necessarily Sony )and experience the former glory of his defunct
machine. He had a strong sentimental attachment to his past machine
and he is reluctant to just let go...

On Sep 30, 3:28*am, Barry Watzman <WatzmanNOS...@neo.rr.com> wrote:
> There are at least four different questions here:
>
> 1. *Can he use the hard drive (not anything recorded on it, just the
> hard drive)? *Sure.
>
> 2. *Can he physically use the OS from the Sony in another machine?
> Maybe. *[btw, the COA label on the Sony (if there is one) is part of
> this question and is not irrelevant]. *The answer to this is quite
> complex, it's not a simple yes/no. *["how" is a related question that is
> too complex to get into and that also doesn't have a very simple, quick
> response]
>
> 3. *If he does so, will it activate/pass WGA tests? *Again, no simple
> answer. *"maybe".
>
> 4. *Is it legal? ****NO***, it is not legal. *That is clear. *Butnot
> everyone cares. *And the answer to "is it legal" and "will it activate /
> pass WGA validation" are not necessarily the same.
>
>
Yes, he ( my former neighbor) does not care about it he just want to
regain the former glory of his beloved machine by any means....

On Sep 30, 3:32*am, Barry Watzman <WatzmanNOS...@neo.rr.com> wrote:

>
> The question asked is complex and has a huge number of variables. *There
> is no easy answer given only the information in the original post.
>

Barry does it mean that there is a leeway to this issue?
Roy

Yes, there is "leeway". It may work (if the replacement machine has the
same CPU, chipset, video, sound, lan, etc.). It may not work but may be
repairable by installing the right drivers. And it may be possible,
with what is on the hard drive, to do a new install. Or, last
possibility, to use the product key on the COA with a generic OEM
Windows XP CD.


Roy wrote:
> On Sep 30, 3:32 am, Barry Watzman <WatzmanNOS...@neo.rr.com> wrote:
>
>> The question asked is complex and has a huge number of variables. There
>> is no easy answer given only the information in the original post.
>>
>
> Barry does it mean that there is a leeway to this issue?
> Roy