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changing windows installation from a laptop hdd to a desktop hdd

Tags:
  • Laptops
  • Windows
  • Hewlett Packard
  • Hard Drives
  • Windows 7
Last response: in Windows 7
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October 10, 2014 10:11:27 AM

i used to have an hp dv7 laptop with windows 7 home premium, one day the laptop died a month or 2 after warranty expired so i build my self a gaming pc and used the laptop hdd with windows as the main hdd for the new desktop i built.

so far it has been more than 2 years with it and now the laptop hdd is starting to fail so im planning on changing hdd, is there a way i can preserve the windows license of the hp hdd to the new hdd? so far i have been told to just use the windows key that is under the laptop to activate windows . yet i dont know if it is that easy. can someone tell me if all i have to do is that?

edit: if it is possible to do this, how do i deactivate the windows on this HDD so i dont have any issues activating it on the new hdd? also i have read that laptops windows key are oem and attached to the motherboard, yet i had no issues running windows on my desktop after my laptop died. the only issue being that most default programs hp had stopped working (mostly touch pad and the little control pad that the laptop had for changing volume and other stuff) and i had to uninstall them

More about : changing windows installation laptop hdd desktop hdd

a b D Laptop
a b $ Windows 7
October 10, 2014 10:35:13 AM

Then you got extremily luckly.

You should not have been able to just boot and run windows using the intal from your HP drive.

You need to just buy a copy of windows and install it on your desktop. Wha tyou are currently doing is violating the microsoft license agreement.
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October 10, 2014 1:22:11 PM

boosted1g said:
Then you got extremily luckly.

You should not have been able to just boot and run windows using the intal from your HP drive.

You need to just buy a copy of windows and install it on your desktop. Wha tyou are currently doing is violating the microsoft license agreement.


so you are telling me that if my laptop dies, or my laptop hdd dies, i must dish out money to get a new windows? talking about bad choices at buying . i will see if i can even make af resh install of this windows on a new harddrive with the same id, if not well, im out of ideas and with no means to get an original windows 7 where i live (venezuela, third world country, dollars are hard to come by)
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a b D Laptop
a b $ Windows 7
October 13, 2014 9:12:19 AM

In the world of windows there is Retail and there is OEM versions of the operating system.

OEM is what comes with a computer or the "system builders" license you can buy. These versions are tied to the specific computer, or more specifically the motherboard. It is a hell of a time sometimes trying to get microsft to activate windows when you have a motherboard failure and you replace it with a different model.

Retail copies are ones that you buy seperatly from the store and cost more then double of a OEM version. These versions can be transfered to a different computer.


Now microsoft has been very inconsistant, most all win 7 licenses are OEM, but most Win 8 that you buy from the store/online is retail, XP (and versions before it) indiviuduals could only buy retail versions, and I frankly dont remember what Vista was.




Thus you violated the license agreement by using your OEM windows license from your laptop and then used it in your desktop which is a completely different computer. You got pretty lucky with both the fact that your desktop booted correctly wiht the laptop drive, and that windows never asked for manual reactivation.

Now I am not arguing that its a good system or that you should not be able to use what you paid for in a different computer as long as you are not using both at the same time. I am just stating how it is.
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a c 232 D Laptop
a b α HP
a c 376 $ Windows 7
October 14, 2014 10:59:25 AM

If the drive is still good, you can clone it to a new one. Clonezilla is free and will do the trick. Just make sure your files are all backed up incase you mess up and clone from the wrong drive (blank one to yours instead of the other way around).

And as above, the OEM Windows version that came with your laptop was only for that system legally by Microsoft license agreement.
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