HAL Question

4SG

Is there a way to change a HAL without reinstalling Windows?

Webmaster

You can perform an in-place upgrade instead of a complete reinstall. This means you should upgrade Windows XP to Windows XP. This way all settings, applications, and data don't need to be reinstalled or restored.

4SG

Thanks Webmaster.
From what I understand, there are certain times when you don’t need to reinstall/upgrade. Right?
Like in the case of installing XP Pro with a single processor and later on adding a second. In some of the material I’ve read, they say to go through device manager to update from a single to multiprocessor (XP Pro). Although I believe MS says this will happen automatically.

When XP Pro is installing, does it examine BIOS type/Hardware to determine the best HAL to use?

Anyhow, it’s much more complicated than just changing dll files. Not much info in my books regarding HALs. This MKB article helped.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309283