Yes, it is possible.
I do not think that you can emulate the hardware of your old motherboard using Vmware. But, you do it in several other ways:
- Simplest: Check the P4's BIOS and set it to boot from CDROM. I really think that it has this option, though you might need to move the CDROM around. (e.g. my motherboard only boots if I put the CDROM on two specific ports, and fails on all 6 others).
- Put the disk as only disk in another system and install. (Harder with a laptop)
- Install into vmware, then convert the image to a disk.
- Backup the laptop. Install XP onto the laptop. Then copy that XP install to the P4's disk (Using cloning software such as Ghost, Acronis, CloneZilla, FOG, ....)
Options 2, 3 and 4 mean that the hardware will change. This usually as two results:
- XP wants to be reactivated.
- It might not boot at all. If you run into this problem remove all drivers before moving the disk via
sysprep
and generalize.