I have a legitimate licensed copy of winxp pro on my desktop.

I want to purchase a new desktop and it comes with a licensed copy of winxp pro

I don't want the hassle of reinstalling programes, transferring files and settings etc. It would be easier to clone my old hard drive to my new one.

Is it possible to do this properly and legally? If not is there any other solution?

Answer:
Your XP Pro software is tuned to the motherboard. You’ll not be able to successfully remove the disk and put it in the new personal and hope that XP will boot. It won’t boot successfully.

You’ve no chocie but to load the XP Pro (new) with the new machine. That is your only choice.

It is not a matter of legal, it is a matter that Microsoft restricts the cloning of its software by mating it to the motherboard. That is life.

You can load the harddrive as a second harddrive and run programs off the second drive.

Do what everyone does. Load the OS, load the drivers, load the programs, transfer the data. Sure it takes time, so do it while you are doing laundry or home chores.

Answer:
A hard disk might have one or more partitions. If you just have a C: drive, files are stored on it in a single partition. Copying an image of a hard disk partition copies the raw data, the 0's and 1's stored on the partition. This is done with an image replicating utility such as:

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/pro…

http://www.symantec.com/norton/partition…

Answer:
you want to buy a new personal, the desktop comes with it!

you can clone it, or just copy from A to B as it were.

because of XP's habit of going BANG at the most inopportune moment… keep your old HD and put it in a USB slave cradle… and keep ALL your docs on it.

then, to avoid disasters, get a copy of LINUX- Linspire (windows XP2007) itll fire up from the CD and it mounts and sees everything… and will work on any old Personal computer.

Linspire is open source, comes free with open office 2 (and lots more) you can download it free. and sorry Bill, but it shows XP up for what it is… second rate…

http://freespire.org/

Answer:
i like windows millennium edition i have it.

but xp is ok. i upgrade from 98 to millennium edition

i have a 150 mgz cpu sdam 36 mb it is fast.

Answer:
No, you will have to install the programs again to install the drivers.
Answer:
Yup - Norton Ghost sounds like what you want here.
Answer:
just use windows “file and settings transfer wizard” in the system tools program group. thats what its for.
Answer:
use the built in tranfer wizard perhaps