Transferring Windows7 from laptop to identical spec laptop?

Avoriaz

Hi, I have a four year old Acer 8935g laptop with Acer OEM Windows 7. I have the original installation CD

The laptop came with a 500gb hard disk. About a year ago I replaced that with a 125 gb SSD and reinstalled Windows 7 from the CD. It activated with no problems and I have no issues with regular Windows 7 updates.

My laptop has been heavily used and has a few physical faults. The top cover has become a bit loose in places, one of the screen hinges has broken and the power connector plug is faulty. It still works fine but the power connector and hinge may well completely fail sometime soon.

I like this laptop so I have bought a second hand Acer 8935g laptop with the same specification as mine but in better physical condition. It will arrive later this week.

This laptop has Vista installed so I want to use my Windows 7.

I am aware that OEM Windows 7 is limited to the original computer on which it was first installed.

If I swap my SSD (which has Windows 7 activated and updated) into the new laptop, will I have any problems with Windows updates? Will Microsoft see it as a different computer and deactivate it? Will they be able to tell that I have changed computer, albeit to one of the same specification or do they only do basic checks on specification and not look at serial numbers of components or whatever it is that they can do?

Swapping the SSD will be a lot less hassle than transferring hinges etc from one laptop to the other.

I'm not trying to cheat. I will only use Windows 7 on the one laptop as my old laptop will be kept for spares.

Thanks

Geodark

Avoriaz wrote: »

Hi, I have a four year old Acer 8935g laptop with Acer OEM Windows 7. I have the original installation CD

The laptop came with a 500gb hard disk. About a year ago I replaced that with a 125 gb SSD and reinstalled Windows 7 from the CD. It activated with no problems and I have no issues with regular Windows 7 updates.

My laptop has been heavily used and has a few physical faults. The top cover has become a bit loose in places, one of the screen hinges has broken and the power connector plug is faulty. It still works fine but the power connector and hinge may well completely fail sometime soon.

I like this laptop so I have bought a second hand Acer 8935g laptop with the same specification as mine but in better physical condition. It will arrive later this week.

This laptop has Vista installed so I want to use my Windows 7.

I am aware that OEM Windows 7 is limited to the original computer on which it was first installed.

If I swap my SSD (which has Windows 7 activated and updated) into the new laptop, will I have any problems with Windows updates? Will Microsoft see it as a different computer and deactivate it? Will they be able to tell that I have changed computer, albeit to one of the same specification or do they only do basic checks on specification and not look at serial numbers of components or whatever it is that they can do?

Swapping the SSD will be a lot less hassle than transferring hinges etc from one laptop to the other.

I'm not trying to cheat. I will only use Windows 7 on the one laptop as my old laptop will be kept for spares.

Thanks

Chances are they will ask you to activate it again - whether this will activate or not I don't know. Don't want to sound high and mighty here, which I honestly don't mean to - but you are trying to cheat - you don't have a full licence for windows 7, you have an OEM which is a discounted licence to only be used on the machine it was bought with.

NiftyDigits

It can work. Just let me know when the laptop arrives.

I would also suggest that you have the latest BIOS version installed. Version: 3212
If not, it can be found here

That laptop is fully supported for Windows 7.

Avoriaz

I have BIOS 3211 on my current laptop so I will upgrade to 3212 when the new laptop arrives.

I suppose I might as well do it now on my current laptop too.

Thanks for that.

S0litaire

I'm sure it will ask you to activate it again.

Although the components are the same make and model the internal serial numbers of the components will be different, that should be enough of a change to trigger activation again.

NiftyDigits

S0litaire wrote: »

I'm sure it will ask you to activate it again.

Although the components are the same make and model the internal serial numbers of the components will be different, that should be enough of a change to trigger activation again.

It's not an issue in this case.

NiftyDigits

Geodark wrote: »

Chances are they will ask you to activate it again - whether this will activate or not I don't know. Don't want to sound high and mighty here, which I honestly don't mean to - but you are trying to cheat - you don't have a full licence for windows 7, you have an OEM which is a discounted licence to only be used on the machine it was bought with.

In this particular case, you are quite wrong.

The OP's was a legitimate question and by a quirk of fate, it will actually work.

Geodark

NiftyDigits wrote: »

In this particular case, you are quite wrong.

The OP's was a legitimate question and by a quirk of fate, it will actually work.

erm, how? I wasnt pointing out if it would work or not, just talking about the legalities - OEM licences cannot (legally) be transferred between devices. I know this from many years of software development at a very large software company, who has worked with Microsoft in the past. Besides, Here's a quote from the microsoft website. The question asked was if a customer could transfer an OEM licence from one machine to another...

No, the OEM software is licensed with the computer system on which it was originally installed and is tied to that original machine. OEM licences are single-use licences that cannot be installed on more than one computer system, even if the original machine is no longer in use. The End User Software Licence Terms, which the end user must accept before using the software, state that the licence may not be shared, transferred to or used concurrently on different computers. System builders must provide end-user support for the Windows licence on computers they build, but cannot support licences on computers they didn’t build. This is a fundamental reason why OEM System Builder licences can't be transferred.

S0litaire

NiftyDigits wrote: »

It's not an issue in this case.

It might be if the user is moving the SSD to the NEW laptop.

If he's reinstalling again it may require activation (depends on the OEM checks during instsall)

NiftyDigits

Geodark wrote: »

erm, how? I wasnt pointing out if it would work or not, just talking about the legalities - OEM licences cannot (legally) be transferred between devices. I know this from many years of software development at a very large software company, who has worked with Microsoft in the past. Besides, Here's a quote from the microsoft website. The question asked was if a customer could transfer an OEM licence from one machine to another...

No, the OEM software is licensed with the computer system on which it was originally installed and is tied to that original machine. OEM licences are single-use licences that cannot be installed on more than one computer system, even if the original machine is no longer in use. The End User Software Licence Terms, which the end user must accept before using the software, state that the licence may not be shared, transferred to or used concurrently on different computers. System builders must provide end-user support for the Windows licence on computers they build, but cannot support licences on computers they didn’t build. This is a fundamental reason why OEM System Builder licences can't be transferred.

He is not transferring an OEM licence from one machine to another.
As I have written....in this case, you have got it wrong.

NiftyDigits

S0litaire wrote: »

It might be if the user is moving the SSD to the NEW laptop.

If he's reinstalling again it may require activation (depends on the OEM checks during instsall)

Actually neither of your assumptions are correct. In fact the likelihood is that the situation would be reversed.

A clean install with a recovery disc would not require manual activation, whilst swapping the SSD might require intervention.