Switching operating system

Ann-Marie · Guest

Can I clone the drive from an XP computer to a new Windows10 computer and turn it into an XP?

My old XP has irreplaceable software that I need to keep functional that won't run in Windows10.

TGRMN Software · Site Admin Joined: 10 Jan 2005 Posts: 8762

No, sorry, you would need to uninstall Win 10 and install XP again.
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Ann-Marie · Guest

I don't understand, the operating system is stored on the disk so how would the W10 computer know it used to be W10? The boot procedure would only find and execute the XP software. Its not like I'm using W10 to load XP, without the original W10 disk its a blank slate. Goes to sleep as a W10 and wakes up as an XP and doesn't know the difference after a brain transplant Smile

I was worried that there might be some hardware settings stored on the XP disk that would be incompatible with the new computer but perhaps could be edited after it is running.

TGRMN Software · Site Admin Joined: 10 Jan 2005 Posts: 8762

The XP operative system that you want to copy on the new PC will most probably have many hardware issues, e.g. the hardware is different, and many of the drivers will be missing / not working for the new computer. The best would be if you run XP as a virtual machine inside the Win 10 with the irreplaceable software on it.
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Ann-Marie · Guest

OK I agree that there could be a bunch of items "not found" that would have to be re-assigned individually BUT all the drivers, register files, authentications, passwords are stored on the disk and will be cloned.

Thanks, I'll look into running XP as a virtual machine, I couldn't get it to work on Windows 7.