MacNN Forums - Getting your Windows installation to boot on any PC or Intel Mac.

With newer Macs coming out people are migrating their installations of OS X and Windows between different Macs frequently. Up until now this has been fine because all of the computers have been using Intel chipsets, with the introduction of nVidia though, this causes problems if you try and clone Windows to a new MacBook or MacBook Pro.

The problem is caused by the mass storage drivers that are installed on WIndows for the specific ATA/SATA controllers in the Mac.
On the Macs before the nVidia chipset was introduced, you would have a mass storage driver installed that specifically worked for Intel chipsets and controllers, these aren't compatible with any other controller.

So, you're going from one brand of controller to another and don't want to format and start again?

Here's the way to do it:

Go to your System Properties - Start > Control Panel > System.
Go to Device Manager - Under XP this is Hardware tab > Device Manager
- Under Vista this is Device Manager (in left pane)

Expand IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers
Find your Mass Storage Driver, this will be something like 'Intel ICH7 Serial ATA Controller'
Now follow the directions for your OS

For Windows XP:
Right click on your Mass Storage Driver and click 'Update Driver...'
Select 'No' to deny Windows Update from searching for software, press next
Select 'Install from a list or specific location', press next
Select 'Don't search. I will choose the driver to install', press next
You should now be greeted with a list of drivers, perhaps only 2 and select 'Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller' and press next
Now press finish.

For Windows Vista:
Right click on your Mass Storage Driver and click 'Update Driver Software...'
Choose 'Browse my computer for driver software', press next
Choose 'Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer'
You should now be greeted with a list of drivers, perhaps only 2 and select 'Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller' and press next
Now press finish.

Reboot the computer, clone the drive to your new Mac or PC or swap the drive over.

Boot Windows, update your drivers and you're all set!