Windows 7 OEM/retail transferable between systems?

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alipmcg

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Apr 16, 2014
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Hi, I'm going to be buying an SSD soon for my desktop, and I'm considering getting a copy of Win 7 or 8 at the same time. I'm also interested to see what difference an SSD would make to my laptop (1.3ghz E300 based).

My question is, if I get the retail version, will I be able to install it on the desktop and then take the SSD out and run Windows on my laptop? Will this be possible with the OEM version (I would assume not)?

Thanks
 
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Y


Sometimes you get lucky and it just works but more times than not, Windows will just Blue Screen itself in the new system.

Here is one way around it (Sysprep)...
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mickypheonix

mickypheonix

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Mar 9, 2014
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Hi alipmcg
Unfortunately that wont be possible , when you install windows on your desktop it will be setup for your motherboard and chipset etc
if you then take out the ssd and put it in your laptop , the board and chipset etc in your laptop will be totally different and will cause windows to crash if it even boots up in the first place
 
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4745454b

4745454b

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Doesn't matter which version you get, they limit you to one machine. Even if you could boot it from both the desktop and the laptop, the EULA says you aren't allowed to. You need a copy of windows for each machine.

The sole exception to this that I know of is the family pack for windows 7. (I don't think they have come out with for win8.) I bought the family pack when it came out. It legally allows me to upgrade three of my machines to win7. They must be "my" machines however, and be a part of the same "house". Meaning even though I'm allowed to use it on 3 computers, I can't lend the disks to my friend in another house/city and let him use it. I feel a bit stupid buying it as my laptop still runs Vista (I'll get around to upgrading it. I swear!) and my ex didn't like Win7. So I'm so far using just one of the three licenses.
 
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alipmcg

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Hi micky, thanks for the quick response.

That's kind of what I would expect, BUT... I recently helped a friend upgrade his desktop, we replaced the mobo, cpu and ram and attached the same HDDs, and Windows booted up fine. It deteted new hardware and needed a couple of restarts, but apart from that it didn't seem to care. The mobo went from Asus - MSI but the CPUs were both AMD.

If MS doesn't want to play nice then I guess I will just test out speed in Linux. Presumably that doesn't care what computer it's put into?
 
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Y0GI

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Jul 22, 2013
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Sometimes you get lucky and it just works but more times than not, Windows will just Blue Screen itself in the new system.

Here is one way around it (Sysprep): http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/135077-windows-7-installation-transfer-new-computer.html

As stated above, the EULA for Win 7 does not allow for switching mobos/computers with the OEM version. All that changed with Win 8 OEM! Win 8 OEM allows you to move it to another system. The only catch is that it can ONLY be installed (legally) on one system at a time.

Yogi

 
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