Changing hard drive to another laptop

Aidanmc

If i remove a hard drive from laptop, with activated windows installed, and fit it in another laptop...Will the windows remain activated?
thanks

Carrot007

Win 10 certianly is better at being moved than older win os's. However activation is 99.9% unlikely.


You will need to re-enter the key. If it is not a transferable key then is it unlikely to reactivate (and most laptops just have embedded bios keys for that reason).


Either way a clean install is always the way to go.

GunJack

NOt only that, but unless you're putting the drive into another of exactly the same model (i.e. all hardware exactly the same) the chances are it won't boot up anyway as the correct drivers won't be installed...always been a pain since windows began

Frozen_up_north

You can download Windows from Microsoft and buy a key cheaply from eBay. Windows will often install generic drivers, in which case you will need to install the drivers from the manufacturers web site.

Given the advantages of using an SSD drive, and the low cost, it’s not often worth reusing an old HDD drive. It’s certainly not worth messing around trying to transfer an old installation, which isn’t likely to be successful for the reasons mentioned in an earlier post.