Windows 7 preinstalled, want to use a new drive

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Mythrilguy

Commendable
Nov 2, 2016
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My laptops hard drive crashed and it had Win7 preinstalled when I first bought it. If I buy a new drive and plug it in will I need to purchase windows again or will it auto install Win7 on the new drive? I don't want to buy windows if I can just use the preinstalled Win7. Sounds stupid.

Just an FYI. In the bios settings it says factory installed OS is Win7, not sure if that changes anything.
 
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SuperSoph_WD
Welcome to Tom's Hardware, @Mythrilguy!

The operating system is tied to the motherboard of the computer/laptop. This basically means that a hard drive is just a carrier for the system files. If you plan to upgrade your primary storage, you won't need a new genuine operating system. Since it was pre-installed, it should automatically get activated once you clean install the same OS version onto the new system drive & go online. You can follow the MS instructions on this, if you don't have the original Windows 7 installation media. Either way, make sure you backup all important files somewhere off-site beforehand. The fresh install of the OS will format the drive and erase all other personal data.

Hope this helps. Let me...
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SuperSoph_WD

SuperSoph_WD

Glorious
Jul 30, 2014
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Welcome to Tom's Hardware, @Mythrilguy!

The operating system is tied to the motherboard of the computer/laptop. This basically means that a hard drive is just a carrier for the system files. If you plan to upgrade your primary storage, you won't need a new genuine operating system. Since it was pre-installed, it should automatically get activated once you clean install the same OS version onto the new system drive & go online. You can follow the MS instructions on this, if you don't have the original Windows 7 installation media. Either way, make sure you backup all important files somewhere off-site beforehand. The fresh install of the OS will format the drive and erase all other personal data.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have more questions! :)
SuperSoph_WD
 
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