I just purchased a new motherboard and processor. I am going from an AMD VIA and migrating to Intel / P4.Questions:(1) Do I have to re-install XP Professional, or do I just plug the hard drive into the new motherboard and let XP upgrade all the drivers etc that it detects on the new motherboard? Has anyone done this?Or:(2) Install from scratch. Is there an easy way to migrate all applications, settings, etc to the new machine? I know XP supports migrating Settings for email and Office, etc.. But I would like to migrate all applications without going through the hassle of reinstalling each one.What is the best and efficient way to do this, as I have three hard drives to perform this update on (Using TRIOS from RomTec). Of course (1) would be ideal if it works.Thanks for your help..Barry

Your best bet is to do a fresh install of Windows XP. Chances are your system will blue screen once you have installed the new components and boot up. A new motherboard means a new chipset and XP doesn't respond too well to that.Chances are you will need to reinstall a number of programs so they run correctly. I know it's a pain the butt, but there isn't really a away around it. You can save your emails, address book to another partition of drive and reimport them after the new install. FS can be moved to another drive and will work just fine.

Barry - I'd do a repair install. This is basically a reinstall which will redetect the system settings and make the necessary changes while retaining your existing applications. (But regardless of the method used, be sure you have a backup of your critical data "just in case".) The "how to" information found on this site may be helpful on the repair install procedures:http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp....duct%20Key%20XPDoug

I tried repairs, they didn't work for me. I think one did and it made my system quite unstable. Worth a go to save a lot of hassle :)

Reformatting is really not too bad if you have one thing...A CD-RW DRIVE :-)All you have to do is burn all of your payware keys, installers, and any other important applications onto CDs. I recommend labeling them, and organizing them for easy reinstallation. The whole process shouldn't take any longer than a day. :-)EDIT: Spelling Errors :-rollRyan-Flightpro08 :-cool VATSIM Pilot/ControllerZLA ARTCC Senior Controller (C-3)ASRC (Advanced Simulated Radar Client) Beta Tester-----------------------------My "Home Made" System Specs:Intel Pentium 4 2.2GHz ProcessorTurbo Gamer ATX Mid-Tower with 420W Power SupplyEPoX 4G4A Motherboard with Intel 845G ChipsetVisiontek XTASY GeForce4 128MB Ti4600 (Det 42.01 Drivers)512MB PC2100 DDR RAM40GB Matrox 7200RPM Hard DriveWindows XP Home Edition SP1*No CPU or GPU Overclocking*3dMark2001SE Score: 11298-----------------------------Click Here to Download my American Eagle POSKY CRJ-200!

Ive been doing this for several years now, but not with XP. I just install the mobo and new ram and let the bios detect it all, works fine with WIN 98. I then usually will do a reinstall of windows. Very rarely do i have to reinstall proggies. Just reset the shortcuts and make sure windows is working ok. I have used this HD for two systems now without a reformat. No major problems at all so far :)Your mileage may vary. Hornit

Is there any software out there that will save all application data and registration settings to an image file and then allow you to restore it?Thanks!Barry

I just replaced my Motherboard, Processor and Memory. I restarted the computer with the old Win XP and it found all my new hardware. The system is right back to exactly the way it was prior to upgrade(Only faster :-) ). It has been about a week and I've had no problems whatsoever. So before you reinstall XP, give it a try you'll be pleasantly surprised.Pete S

>Is there any software out there that will save all >application data and registration settings to an image file >and then allow you to restore it? >>Thanks! >>Barry norton ghost sorda does what you want. Check it outhttp://www.symantec.com/sabu/ghost/ghost_personal/it does not specifically do applications it does a whole drive..so what you do is do a fresh xp install. install you drivers and programs you want. And then make a ghsot image of it .. You can burn to cds if u like..Then the next time u run into a problem and need to format. Just reload you image, it wipes the drive and loads ur original settings.Its a big time saver.