windows licencing questions

Inigo_Montoya

thinking of buying a grade B laptop from http://www.scctrade.co.uk/

no operating system installed but have been informed it might come with a 'COA sticker' which apparently has an activation code on it

my current (semi broken) laptop only has an OEM windows licence which cannot be transferred to a new machine

Questions are :

1) If I put my existing hard drive into this laptop & it boots up successfully then can I use the code on the COA sticker to re-activate my existing windows ?

2) Does the code on the COA sticker have to be for the same version of windows i.e. as my current windows is Windows 7 home premium then does the COA code have to be for the this version to work ?

3) if the code has to be for the same version of windows than can I change over my existing windows eg if the COA sticker code is for win 7 pro then can I somehow upgrade from home premium to pro ? (eg by downloading upgrade software from the microsoft website ?)

StuC75

1 - You 'may' be able to use the coa details from your original system installation - although what are you doing with the old system..

2 - COA will only work for the same version of windows and Installation type - e.g. OEM / Retail / OA.. hence some have subtle differences in the installation media..

3 - Do you have the source installation disks for your original system, as maybe able to reinstall this to the new machine and authenticate the installation and then go through the upgrade process.. This would then mean that you 'should' remove the original installation from the old system....

Inigo_Montoya

dont have any installation discs for the old system - only have a recovery partition that I can use to recreate a clean copy of the windows install

ideally I want to use my existing partition to save the hassle of re-installing everything & transferring all my personal settings - quite a lot of what i have installed cannot be re-installed as I have used giveawayoftheday quite a bit in the past

it looks likely the code on the COA sticker would be for Win 7 Pro so I guess I need some way of converting from home premium to pro in order to use the code

I did recently download a windows 7 install ISO file & burn it to a DVD but Im unsure if I could use this to do an upgrade of my exiting partition without losing all my installs/settings

closed

what does semi broken mean

Inigo_Montoya wrote: »

my current (semi broken) laptop

Questions are :

1) If I put my existing hard drive into this laptop & it boots up successfully)

it probably won't

st999

my view, if you try it and it works no one is going to be knocking at your door at 5 am.

I have 4 computers that all originally had their own COA.

I upgraded them to Windows 8.1 and used the same COA in all of them to see if it would work.

it did.

Inigo_Montoya

re:current laptop issue

my existing laptop freezes randomly - suspect hardware fault rather than driver issue because

1) it has frozen while booting up in windows recovery console
2) it has frozen while trying a clean install of windows - albeit after main install but during install of extra drivers (ie not 100% confirmed non driver issue)

hence looking for a refurbished laptop replacement rather than mess about trying to diagnose what the hardware fault is

NiftyDigits

Inigo_Montoya wrote: »

thinking of buying a grade B laptop from http://www.scctrade.co.uk/

no operating system installed but have been informed it might come with a 'COA sticker' which apparently has an activation code on it

my current (semi broken) laptop only has an OEM windows licence which cannot be transferred to a new machine

Questions are :

1) If I put my existing hard drive into this laptop & it boots up successfully then can I use the code on the COA sticker to re-activate my existing windows ?

2) Does the code on the COA sticker have to be for the same version of windows i.e. as my current windows is Windows 7 home premium then does the COA code have to be for the this version to work ?

3) if the code has to be for the same version of windows than can I change over my existing windows eg if the COA sticker code is for win 7 pro then can I somehow upgrade from home premium to pro ? (eg by downloading upgrade software from the microsoft website ?)

If you could get it to boot, you would use your old COA in all instances. Just tell them that you replaced the Motherboard etc...if necessary.

NiftyDigits

Inigo_Montoya wrote: »

re:current laptop issue

my existing laptop freezes randomly - suspect hardware fault rather than driver issue because

1) it has frozen while booting up in windows recovery console
2) it has frozen while trying a clean install of windows - albeit after main install but during install of extra drivers (ie not 100% confirmed non driver issue)

hence looking for a refurbished laptop replacement rather than mess about trying to diagnose what the hardware fault is

Which is the new machine?

Typhoon2000

You can buy Windows re installation disks from ebay and such for £5. Used the code on the new machine to activate the copy on the machine.

Or you can down load a copy for free from Microsoft ( they are hosted on DigitalRiver) and burn the ISO onto a CDs.

forgotmyname

The restore partition wont work. It will erase any data on the drive and start to recover but when windows tried to startup all the drivers will be wrong and will just hang or crash.

NiftyDigits

forgotmyname wrote: »

The restore partition wont work. It will erase any data on the drive and start to recover but when windows tried to startup all the drivers will be wrong and will just hang or crash.

No one mentioned using the Restore Partition.