Dell Optiplex 740 XP > Windows 7

[2492]

Hello All,
I have a Dell Optiplex 740 running Windows XP Pro. I'm going to keep the other one but I have a hard drive with Windows 7 Pro 64bit on it. I'm having trouble getting it switched over. Any help would be great. All its doing at this point is getting to the system restore point then restarting.

 

[AZScanner]

I'm not surprised. You can't drop a Windows 7 hard drive into a different machine and expect it to work. Windows configures itself to match the hardware it's being installed on during the set up process. Imagine waking up to discover your conscious mind is suddenly living in your wife's body, that's basically what happened - Windows woke up and said WOAH, who's body did I just end up in??

You need to reinstall Windows from scratch rather than just drop a pre-installed hard drive in. If you need a windows 7 iso, google Digital River Windows 7 and check out some of the search hits that come up - tech blogs and that sort of thing - and you'll find a legit download link direct from Microsoft for any version of Windows 7 you want.Burn that to a DVD or put it on a flash drive and install from that.

From there, once you get enough drivers installed for it to find the internet, go here: Drivers & Downloads | Dell US and get the rest of the drivers you'll need. Then all you need is a product key for your shiny new Windows 7 install and you're good to go. Google is your friend for obtaining one.

-AZ

 

[wkm]

I think hd OS swapping only really works with linux.

You might want to run the program magic jelly bean on that hd before you do a clean install. Makes retrieving the product key easier.

 

[SCPD]

Interesting. I just tried a HD with Win 7 installed and put it a Dell 745 OptiPlex, not connected to the internet, just to se what would happen. It loaded default windows drivers and powered up and ran just fine. Surprised me. Don't intend to use it like that. It was just an experiment. The Dell is my backup XP computer.

 

[Kf4mnc]

As EdAzalea explained If you are switching drives with similar hardware it should work just fine, however if the hardware is significantly different don't expect it to work. At work we run all Dell machines and we frequently swap hard drives between various dell product lines (620, 745, etc). Generally speaking if it's the same family you are good to go.

That said, I'd extract the key and do a clean install. You will be much happier.