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Migrating Windows 2000 to another PC

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16 replies

by litus

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Is there any way, or tool, to successfully migrate Windows 2000 to another piece of hardware with a different chipset (motherboard)? Is there any set procedure for disaster recovery if a server dies and you need to get it up and running on a totallydifferent piece of hardware?
How do you get around the problem of the system rebooting every time the initial screen comes up?
The safe mode (F8) not solve the problem!

Thanks a lot

16 replies

by thechas

Microsoft recommends backing up the system, and installing 2000 fresh, then restore the backup.

The last time I looked, they lost the Knowledge Base article when they changed their article naming convention.

I will e-mail you the file I had saved.

The first thing to try, is to run regedit, and delete ALL hardware that is not part of the new system.
(Since you are still in install, I would just delete ALL hardware.)
I haven't done this on 2000, but most of the hardware is listed underthe enum sub-key.
I would look at the terms used to describe each item, and search the registry on those terms to make as full of a purge as possible.

Make sure to check the 'legacy' system files for drivers for old hardware. (autoexec, config, win, sys)

Chas

by litus

I cannot accede to regedit because I cannot boot the PC
Whenever Windows 2000 starts, becomes to reinitiate the PC
I do not want to reinstall Windows 2000 because I do not want to lose nothing of the content of the hard disk
The hard disk comes from a damaged PC (motherboard) and I would want to install it in a new PC

by thechas

I guess I misunderstood, and thought you were able to boot into safe mode, but that that did not correct the problem.

If you can boot into safe mode, you should be able to run regedit from there.

Your next option, is to run regedit from DOS.
Check out this Tech Republic article for some tips and assistance.

http://tinyurl.com/5jrt

I sent you the MS article along with 2 other related articles from 3rd party web sites.

Let me know if you need other ideas.

Have you tried booting from the W2K CD, and running the recovery console?

Chas

by litus

The problem with the new PC is the motherboard (the chipset, I supose). The rest of internal boards (video, audio, lan) and peripherals are recicled from the old PC (the one where motherboard crashed).
Can you send me another time the articles, please? I have some problems with e-mail. I changed the e-mail on my profile to sinise69@hotmail.com
I read the article http://tinyurl.com/5jrt but I doesn't work because I don't want rebuild all the registry, only a few lines for start windows 2000 (on normal or safe mode)
I start recovery console from CD, and I go out to command line, but I don't know what to do on It... :-(

by litus

It didn't worked... :-( But the information and articles that you send to me are so complets and interesting for changing the motherboard on Windows 2000 that I assign the points to you...

by duane pelkey

You can try to use the hard drive(s) from the old server if they are still readable as a secondary drive. This will allow you access to the data files on the hard drive. As for using the actual Windows itself that I am not entierly sure. Do you have a problem like this currently? The only other solution, if the server is still viable would be to do a file replication of vital files to a seperate server.

by litus

I need to boot from the hard disk, because the server was a domain server, DNS server, DHCP server, Antivirus server, ...

by maholtz

1) Pertaining to using another piece of hardware. This can be done, but tough to pull off. One way is to go into the registry and go to key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Controlset(???)\Enum. If you have multiple Controlset keys, (example: Controlset001, Controlset002, etc...) you will need to delete all of the "Enum" keys and then reboot. The system will try and redetect all hardware again. You will go through a 30+ minute process of reloading the drivers. At first you will get some errors loading the drivers until one finally takes and then they will all load.

2) Pertaining to the part of your question about, the system rebooting every time the initial screen comes up. What causes this is a setting in Control Panel/System, Advanced Tab, Start-up & Recovery button. Deselect "Automatically reboot". (That is if you can get into the system in "Safe Mode").

by shmaltz

If you have a complete system backup of your machine before it crashed:
Reinstall Win2K on this hard drive.
Create a ERD using the Win2K backup tool.
Resotre your full system.
Restart the computer, if windows desn't want to boot use the ERD to boot and restore the HAL.
If you don't have a complete system backup, then the only way is to rebuild your machine with a new install (you can try an inhouse installation, but in most cases it creates new problems). And reinstall all the programs andmake sure that the programs use your old data (i.e. copy your old DHCP database to the new DHCP Server).

Since what changed is the HAL, windows cannot boot with the old installation of Windows. In most cases even deleting the registry keys will not work, since the HAL is not Plug And Play.

by kmcniff

There are a couple of things that can be done.

1. Try reinstalling Win2k using the Repair option. This will often times fix a bad HAL or other device driver problem.

2. Try using the Repair Console option from the setup.

3. In the setup process there is a second repair available that is done during the normal setup routine.

I have used all three at different times and have been able to repair 99% of the ese same problems. Usually the third option is needed and you should be ready to do a fresh install.

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