Problems Installing a Working HDD in Another Laptop

RoadBlaster said:

You are just wasting you time cloning windows regardless, you are just asking for trouble after installation & then having to instal a fresh copy of windows....

Not when the stated object of the exercise is to regain access to all the user's documents that were only held on the old machine. Anyway, the OP was not cloning, they were swapping an HDD from one machine to another.

...also what about windows licensing does not allow you to use the same windows on another computer & yet people on here are telling you to do that.

Windows 10 licensing is done by means of a digital license linked to the hardware ID of the PC and stored on Microsoft's activation servers. If you put an HDD with W10 on it into a machine that already has a digital license for the same edition of W10 (Home or Pro) then it will activate in full compliance with the EULA.

NavyLCDR said:

The problem is almost guaranteed to not be with the computers being different models and hardware. Windows 10 is very good at being moved from computer to computer. I've done it multiple times as have many other members.

The first issue, as @Bree has stated is likely that the old computer was a legacy BIOS computer, and the active (system) partition on the HDD is NTFS formatted. The newer computer is likely UEFI, and in UEFI mode most computers can only boot from a FAT32 system partition. You need to do 1 of 2 things to fix that problem. In "BIOS" settings of the new computer, disable secure booting and enable CSM (legacy BIOS) mode. Then boot the HDD in CSM mode.

The only issue I see is the graphics. When I boot I get a quick DOS msg about Family controller that has failed some sort of test. When the screen with the date and time displays it has black bars on either side of whatever landscape scene Microsoft is displaying. Pressing <Enter> brings up the PIN / Password screen and then the desktop. All screens are now bracketed by those black bars

@boweasel,

Open Control Panel, then under the Programs and/or Programs and Features headings, click on Uninstall a Program. Uninstall any graphics related programs published by AMD. Do not restart the computer if it tells you that you need to, select the option to restart later.

Then go into device manager, and delete graphics drivers under Display Adapter. If there is a checkbox for removing driver software, make sure to check that box. Also, while you are in device manager, look for devices with exclamation points which indicate you need to install new drivers for that hardware. Now restart the computer.

Go here and get drivers for the Inspiron 5555 and install those:
https://www.dell.com/support/home/en...laptop/drivers

NavyLCDR said:

@boweasel,
Open Control Panel, then under the Programs and/or Programs and Features headings, click on Uninstall a Program. Uninstall any graphics related programs published by AMD. Do not restart the computer if it tells you that you need to, select the option to restart later.

I had 3 items in the Programs & Features from Advanced Micro Devices - AMD Radeon Settings (which I uninstalled) and
AMD USB Filter Driver and
AMD Fusion Media Explorer

Should I remove these last 2 as well?

boweasel said:

I had 3 items in the Programs & Features from Advanced Micro Devices - AMD Radeon Settings (which I uninstalled) and
AMD USB Filter Driver and
AMD Fusion Media Explorer

Should I remove these last 2 as well?

You probably could remove them without doing any harm. They probably don't work with the new computer anyway.