Ronald Murray wrote:
> Hello
> I purchased a used desktop computer. It did not come with an operating
> system. I have WinXP on my old desktop. How can I get the operating system
> from my old computer to the newer(used) one?
> I do have some CD's that came with my Dell computer.
> Thanks.
> ron

There's no easy way to do this. However, if you're game enough, try
the following idea!
1. Contact Norton via their website and inquire about a bootable cdrom
that will allow you to clone hard drives. If the price isn't too high,
you might want to consider buying it and proceeding further.
2. Make sure your new computers hard drive is hooked into the primary
IDE (which is on the end of a dual IDE cable) and that your new hard
drive is set to Cable Select. If your new hard drive is an SATA hard
drive and your old hard drive is an PATA hard drive then you shouldn't
have to worry about this.
3. Hook up your old hard drive in the new computer on the slave IDE
(which is the IDE connection in the middle of a double cable IDE) and
set the drive to Cable Select.
4. You will have to setup your BIOS to allow your computer to boot to
CDROM. This may already be defaulted so try booting to the Norton cd
first. If it doesn't boot up to the norton software, you will need to
change your BIOS Boot options.
5. WARNING: THIS STEP COULD CAUSE YOU SOME PROBLEMS IF YOU PICK THE
WRONG HARD DRIVE AS YOUR SOURCE. Now, once you have gotten into the
Norton software you will want to figure out how to clone or copy hd to
hd. You'll want to be VERY VERY CAREFUL here so that you pick your OLD
hard drive as the source and your NEW hard drive as the destination.
If you get them backwards, you will probably throw yourself into the
wall.
6. Finally, let it finish its thing, and with a lot of luck you should
be able to power your computer off and remove your old hard drive.
Turn it back on and VIOLA! That is of course if everything goes right
and certain drivers don't cause the system to lock at the Windows
progress bar. If this happens, you might could try going into SAFE
MODE and loading the correct drivers for your new computers
hardware.....but other than that...I'm sorry...you'll have to buy a new
copy of Windows or try to go another route with it.