Sysprep problems - New Hardware

Here's the deal: I built a new system completely from the bottom up, but wanted to keep my old hard drive with Windows 7 on it. I started out using sysprep with some problems (windows media network was still on, and such things) I straightened all that out, and fully completed the sysprep. After I boot it on my new computer, I get the "Windows cannot finish configuring the system". I reboot and try again, same result. I bring the hdd back to my old system, and it boots up perfectly fine. I've since come to the conclusion that it has to do with something that HP slipped into the hard drive. I searched and haven't been able to find a workaround, so I'm asking here if anyone has been able to fix this problem, or for any help in general. Thanks for you help!

I did not know that, thank you very much, I will definitely make sure to purchase a new copy of windows then.

Thank you again

Hi all

I am posting this as a possible solution only, based on the myriad hardware\software configurations which could influence the outcome of a SYSPREP exercise:

I helped a friend upgrade his buggy mainboard\CPU. The old and new mainboards both had Intel chipsets so I hoped we might avoid SYSPREP,,,. Alas, it was not to be, so after tripping over the WMPNETWK.EXE problem, we finally got an OOBE + Generalize SYSPREP to run through to completion.

We placed the prepped hard-drive into the rebuilt system and.... it halted with the dreaded 'Windows could not finish customizing your machine' error, followed by 'Will continue after restart'.

So - in the pursuit of insanity we re-booted 3 times and got the same gut-wrenching result.

We then tried Safe Mode only to be informed that this process cannot be done in Safe Mode.

In total desperation, I re-booted the machine and kept the LEFT-SHIFT key depressed.

I remember this from Windows 95 days of preventing startup items from interfering with problematic boot issues,,, and would you believe it - IT ACTUALLY WORKED!

The PC is now up and running perfectly after updating drivers.

I cannot guarantee that this will work for everyone experiencing these startup errors, but what have you got to lose by trying? After all the alternative is several hours of format\reloading Windows7 + apps + everything else....