Transferring Windows7 from laptop to identical spec laptop?

Avoriaz

Geodark wrote: »

.... 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.

I take your point.

Am I permitted to replace parts of my original laptop that fail or develop a problem.

i.e. could I replace the motherboard or the graphics card if they failed and still legitimately retain the same copy of Windows 7?

Presumably yes, in which case I could argue that I am just replacing a whole load of components in one go.

In OFAH, Trigger claimed his broom was the original broom despite having ten new handles and 20 new brush ends.

Geodark

NiftyDigits wrote: »

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

He states in the original email that this is exactly what he is doing. he has an OEM licence on a machine, has bought a newer identical machine, and wants to take the hard drive out of that machine and put it into another machine. It will work, but from a licence point of view it isn't 100% legal. it is licensed to run on that specific machine, not that machine type. If I had two identical ford escorts I could swap over the registration plates, they would still work the same, would still look the same if the police stopped me (unless they checked the vin plate ) - but they wouldn't be licensed correctly. OEM is only valid on the original machine it was installed on.

NiftyDigits

Geodark wrote: »

He states in the original email that this is exactly what he is doing. he has an OEM licence on a machine, has bought a newer identical machine, and wants to take the hard drive out of that machine and put it into another machine. It will work, but from a licence point of view it isn't 100% legal. it is licensed to run on that specific machine, not that machine type. If I had two identical ford escorts I could swap over the registration plates, they would still work the same, would still look the same if the police stopped me (unless they checked the vin plate ) - but they wouldn't be licensed correctly. OEM is only valid on the original machine it was installed on.

You are assuming that the new machine does not have a licence of it's own.
You really should remove that foot, it can impair your speech pattern.

Geodark

NiftyDigits wrote: »

You are assuming that the new machine does not have a licence of it's own.
You really should remove that foot, it can impair your speech pattern.

Righty fella, I will give you the benefit of the doubt if you can explain how taking the hard drive from one machine, using the OEM key from that original machine, and inserting into another isn't an attempt to transfer a licence from one build instance to another?

Avoriaz

Thanks everyone for all your advice and comments.

I'm still a bit confused as to my best option.

If I have issues with activation, perhaps I could transfer enough components from my original laptop to the new one for it to be acceptable to Microsoft. Apart from the motherboard, I could probably easily swap most of the cards such as the memory cards, graphics card, etc.

What will happen if I set Windows Update to "Never check for updates"? Will that stop Windows communicating with MS. I doubt if MS would have such an obvious flaw. It would also mean I would need to regularly swap the disk back into the original laptop to get essential updates. That would be easy enough, if a bit tedious.

I have a few days before the new laptop arrives to consider my options.

If necessary I'll just bite the bullet and buy another copy of Windows7.

Geodark

NiftyDigits wrote: »

You are assuming that the new machine does not have a licence of it's own.
You really should remove that foot, it can impair your speech pattern.

And there is no need to be rude - Have I at any point been rude to you?

NiftyDigits

Avoriaz wrote: »

Thanks everyone for all your advice and comments.

I'm still a bit confused as to my best option.

If I have issues with activation, perhaps I could transfer enough components from my original laptop to the new one for it to be acceptable to Microsoft. Apart from the motherboard, I could probably easily swap most of the cards such as the memory cards, graphics card, etc.

What will happen if I set Windows Update to "Never check for updates"? Will that stop Windows communicating with MS. I doubt if MS would have such an obvious flaw. It would also mean I would need to regularly swap the disk back into the original laptop to get essential updates. That would be easy enough, if a bit tedious.

I have a few days before the new laptop arrives to consider my options.

If necessary I'll just bite the bullet and buy another copy of Windows7.

What you need to do is to listen and relax. I have told you that it is not a problem. So take a deep breath and....... relax.

Avoriaz

Please don't fall out with each other on my behalf.

The new laptop has Vista installed, not Windows7.

The Acer 8935g was designed for Vista and came out shortly before Windows7 was released.

I bought mine from Acer about a year later with Vista installed and what was supposed to be a Windows7 upgrade CD. What I received was a Windows7 CD that works on its own and doesn't need Vista already installed. I used that for several clean installs on the original disk and also, three years later, on the SSD.

NiftyDigits

Geodark wrote: »

Righty fella, I will give you the benefit of the doubt if you can explain how taking the hard drive from one machine, using the OEM key from that original machine, and inserting into another isn't an attempt to transfer a licence from one build instance to another?

If I wanted to explain, I would have already done so.

But for the sake of a debate.... the sequence of events written above have been entirely fabricated by you.

I have highlighted them in bold. Perhaps you can show me quite where the OP has written it.

Avoriaz

NiftyDigits wrote: »

What you need to do is to listen and relax. I have told you that it is not a problem. So take a deep breath and....... relax.

Ok, I'm nicely relaxed.