get an OS off a dead laptop to use in a desktop

Greywolf77777

Reputable
Mar 19, 2014
7
0
4,510
I have a dead motherboard on my laptop, it has windows 7 on the hard drive. I want to upgrade my desktop which is running Vista. The laptop has no disk (pre-loaded) for Windows 7. I have pulled the hard drive from the laptop, but unsure if it is possible, please any help is appreciated
 
Solution
This will not work.

1. Licensing - The OS on the laptop is almost certainly an OEM version, and as such is tied to that original motherboard in the dead laptop

2. Hardware - You can't just take a drive from a laptop with OS already installed, plug it into a brand new desktop, and have it actually boot. It just won't.

Buy a new OS for that desktop. Or leave it with Vista. Either way, your original plan will not work.

jimpz

Distinguished
Jan 20, 2012
802
0
19,360
If the laptop is a prebuilt (OEM like HP, Dell, etc) with the original OS on it, you will not be able to get it to run, OEM's tie their OEM OS to the original motherboard. If it is a seperat Retail version, you will run into different drivers on each system causing problems & have to reload the OS.
 
*As said, it is NON-TRANSFERRABLE.

I upgraded my dad's HP laptop (six years old) to Windows 8 from Vista and it runs much, much better now.

You have to BUY a new copy of Windows. For $90 USD you can get Windows 8.1 64-bit OEM which is my advice, then get Start8 for $5 as well.

You may have to hunt down a driver or two but here's how it worked for me:
1) Installed Windows 8 (no problems)
2) Installed latest NVidia drivers from NVidia site (no problems)
3) Media card reader didn't work... found the Vista version at my exact laptop site so installed it (no problems).

There may be one or two other pieces of software like Webcam that may have issues. I also recommend you FORMAT the drive prior to installing Windows 8 or ERASE with zero's (low level format) if you know how.

**Make sure you got everything you needed of the desktop HDD before formatting it. And if the system seems to be working FINE with Vista then my advice is just leave it alone.

So to be CLEAR:
I strongly recommend the Windows 8.1 64-bit (not just Windows 8) and Start8, but only if the desktop isn't performing well.
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
This will not work.

1. Licensing - The OS on the laptop is almost certainly an OEM version, and as such is tied to that original motherboard in the dead laptop

2. Hardware - You can't just take a drive from a laptop with OS already installed, plug it into a brand new desktop, and have it actually boot. It just won't.

Buy a new OS for that desktop. Or leave it with Vista. Either way, your original plan will not work.
 
Solution