Reinstalling Windows 7 OEM (not pre-installed) on new ssd

Nick Faughey

Honorable
Jun 18, 2013
7
0
10,510
I know this question has been asked plenty of times, but it seems people are always vague about whether they're referring to a manufacturer-installed OEM OS, or a self-install OEM OS that you can buy on Newegg or the like.

I'm going to be getting an ssd as a boot drive, but rather than cloning my current drive, I've decided that I want to do a fresh install to clean up some of the bugs and faulty tweaks I've been discovering. It's a home-built system, and I bought and installed Win 7 for System Builders from Newegg (specifically, this).


What's the best way to get it onto a new drive? I have the disc; the main question is the product key - I assume I can't just do another fresh install with the same product key I used the first time.
 
Solution


Any OEM version (Win7 and earlier) will do that, either from Dell or one you buy from Newegg.
If it's just a new drive, you should be OK.

Nick Faughey

Honorable
Jun 18, 2013
7
0
10,510


I wasn't aware that separately purchased Windows could link itself with the motherboard - I thought big system manufacturers like Dell and HP did that manually.

I guess I'll try it out, and worst case I call Microsoft and tell them I'm just moving it to a new hdd and hopefully they'll give me a new key.
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator


Any OEM version (Win7 and earlier) will do that, either from Dell or one you buy from Newegg.
If it's just a new drive, you should be OK.
 
Solution