You likely can get away with what you propose, if you are prepared to use the CD disc that comes with the new machine (or downloaded files) to install the drivers for the new hardware. There won't be any need to delete the old drivers, although there may be some longer time taken to boot, as there will be registry entries for the old hardware. If you open support.dell.com and enter the System Service Tag "number" (alphanumeric string) for the new machine, you should be able to download all of the drivers for the hardware in it.
At least it would work with Win2K and XP. Don't know for sure with Win7. I at one point had a dockable hard drive that I carried between two computers, which worked ok. Fred Holmes At 08:35 PM 12/11/2009, Michael Wosnick wrote: >This may be a dumb question, but here goes. I ordered a new computer from >Dell and they shipped the wrong box to me. I am awaiting a replacement but >it may take a while given the season. I was told I could use the wrong box >(a Precision T7500 Workstation with a Xeon Processor) while I wait for the >right one to be built and re-delivered (an XPS 9000 with an i7-920 >processor). > >If I install a legal version of Win7 and install all my programs on a brand >new drive that I put temporarily into the T7500, then when the XPS finally >arrives, would I be able to simply remove the T7500's new boot drive and pop >it into the XPS instead and be functional booting form the swapped drive? I >don't want to spend days setting up all of my programs on the box that has >to be sent back unless I have an easy migration to the right box when it >arrives, i.e. a migration that does not have me re-install either the OS or >more importantly all my programs. Both computers will be running on Win7 but >the hardware is different enough that I am wondering about a) license issues >or more likely b) incompatibility issues that might force me to go the >re-install route. > >Anyone shed light on what I might expect, or better still, is there a better >way to accomplish what I want? > >Many thanks, > >Michael ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
