Crap. My HP sff desktop started going blank then correcting. A warning states the graphics accelerator is to blame. A trip to a local shop confirmed bad caps on the main board in the video section. This is a Windows 7 machine because I have two legacy programs I use a lot. Both are left over from Windows XP days. They both run on Windows 7 but one will not register so I get warnings to register all the time.I don’t think it will run on Windows 10.
There are several similar computers in a local shop that have been tested although I have no idea how old they are. It’s been a long time since I built a computer (remember the old computer show days where Russian models sold you memory cards and a bit of fantasy along with them?)
I should be able to swap my existing hard drive with a legal copy of Win 7 into the replacement box and just fire it up - right?
No. All of the drivers and important boot information will be wrong.
You can install Windows 7 software in Windows 10, though. There is an option to install it in compatibility mode and run it in a Windows 7 environment. It’s pretty simple, and requires nothing extra.
There are utilities that let a person do exactly what you’re talking about. I’ve used Macrium Reflect to move the Windows 7 environment my partner was using on a failing Dell to a different PC, bringing over all her settings and installed applications and files and whatnot; you do have to download the various drivers that won’t be on the hard drive that the new hardware needs, and install them. I’m a Mac-centric person and I managed.
I would recommend running XP software in a VM on a modern machine with a modern OS. It is an exercise in frustration to nurse some ancient machine or trying to run obsolete software on a modern OS. A VM makes all that painless. (And machine-independent)
I agree. VMs are wonderful. You can reach forward in time as well as backward, by the way. I’m running 3 OS versions beyond the latest that my native hardware would support. Don’t need any of that stuff full-time but nice to be able to use it when I do need it, and not have to shell out for new merchandise just yet.
I gotta agree pretty heartily on this one. A dozen years ago I told my boss, “Hey, maybe I should study up on Linux since our main application suite is Linux-based and I have to do some of the updates.” He agreed and gave me a license for VMware so I could put a copy of RedHat on my machine at home. After a few weeks he suggested I change to Ubuntu, just for the fun of it. Then we upgraded that main application to a WIN version and, because I happened to complain about losing an old favorite game, he suggested I turn my VM at home into an XP box. All of this was with one VMware license within about a year and it was as simple as digging into our VM library and telling the VMware to install the right stuff. In the decade since I wiped my VMware machine (got tired of that old game anyway) virtual platform hardware and software has become a lot more sophisticated and even easier to set up and maintain.
Windows will squawk at this since the key is tied to your hardware, most explicitly to your CPU/MB, so it will think you’re trying to use an unauthorized copy in your new computer. If you had a retail copy of Win7, you can deregister it form the old hardware and re-register it to the new system but if it was a prebuilt retail desktop then it was almost certainly an OEM copy with a single-device license. You could potentially just re-register it with a new Win7 key but that would require you locating and purchasing a new Win7 key.
Thanks for the help. I ended up buying this Dell Optiplex with Windows 7 Ulimate, whatever that is. It also has a Windows 10 installation pre-loaded. Looks like a fairy high end computer compared to what I have now. What is the best way to transfer my many graphic images? The last time I did this I added the existing hard drive to the cable on the new machine and transferred what I have.