How can I get my old Windows 7 SSD to boot and work on newer hardware?

[berntd]

Hello,
my Dell Precision T5500 died yesterday (see other thread in internal hardware),
It was running Windows 7 Professional (I loved that OS)
I need to boot from it once more to release a software license that sits on there.
The drive is now installed as secondary drive this other newer Dell 5820 machine (Windows 11).

I got it to boot from the Windows 7 drive up to the login screen, complete with the Windows start jingle music.
But, NO keyboard and NO mouse control.

The mouse and keyboard work up to the boot option screen for Safe Mode, Start normally etc. selection.
After that the mouse turns off and so does the keyboard.

Is there any way to get this to work?

Any help, greatly appreciated.

Best regards
Bernt

[PeterOz]

By the look of it the 5820 can take a ps2 keyboard and mouse.
Do you know anyone with an old PS2 keyboard?
Or you could try a usb to ps2 converter

[PeterOz]

The other longer method if this is a must have
Use Disk2vhd and convert the win 7 disk.
Install Virtual box on Win 11 & run Win 7 as a Virtual machine.

[berntd]

Hello and thanks for the tips.

I do not have a PS2 keyboard any more.
BTW, as far as I know, those green “converters” were not actually converters, they were just pin adapters. It was the keyboard and mouse that could do PS2 and USB.
I will see what I can find, the Win 11 Dell 5820 definitely has PS2 ports on the back.

Regarding the converting to virtual machine, that is super interesting as I already run VM player with various versions of windows and older software.
I will look into converting the disk. It is pretty big though, and was getting towards 800GB of the 1TB drive.

Best regards
Bernt

[PeterOz]

It is pretty big though, and was getting towards 800GB of the 1TB drive

That is why it is best to have more than 1 drive.
1 Drive with Windows and programs.
other drives for data

[phillpower2]

berntd, you revisited the forums but left no update, do you still require assistance or is the issue now resolved, an update would be appreciated.

[phillpower2]

Abandoned thread, closed.