Windows 7: Booting from old laptop HDD in new desktop via USB

What I have:

A failing laptop with Windows 7 installed on the internal HDD
A computer with Ubuntu currently installed on the internal HDD (it's free!)
An enclosure and USB cable for the laptop hard drive

What I'm trying/want to do:

Put the laptop HDD in the enclosure, connect via USB to the desktop, boot Windows 7 on the desktop from the enclosure and use all the currently installed programs on the laptop HDD with their current settings.

What happens:

With the HDD in the enclosure and connected to the desktop, I power up the desktop. Going straight to the boot menu, I select the new option which is labelled something like "USB-HDD0". "Starting Windows" appears as expected, followed after a bit by the logo, but then the desktop restarts before reaching anything the blue patterned default screen before login options.

Extra info:



When I replace the laptop HDD back into the laptop and boot, everything still works fine.
Windows Startup Repair cannot find a problem (big surprise!)
If possible I'd like to avoid the hassle of clean installs etc.

Thanks for your help!

It's not going to work that way. That Windows 7 install was customized for the hardware it was originally installed on. The following tutorials may help you out:

New Installation: How to Create a General System Image in Audit Mode

Windows 7 Installation - Transfer to a New Computer