If I purchase Windows key through the win10 store then upgrade the hdd, will the key provided still activate?

[gibbey531]

My issue is simple: Received a decommissioned work laptop that had the hdd wiped per company policy. Right now I installed win10 from the media creation tool by making a usb boot drive. At the moment I have not activated windows and have the activation watermark.

I do however plan to install an ssd in this laptop in the near future. I was wondering if I was to purchase a key from the windows store (mainly so I can get that part taken care of right away) would I be forced to buy another key when it came time to swap out the hard drive?

Thanks in advance!

 

[gangrel]

I've never had a problem migrating from HDD to SSD. That's not a major system change, by Windows' lights. So, yes, you can do it that way.

 

[gibbey531]

I've never had a problem migrating from HDD to SSD. That's not a major system change, by Windows' lights. So, yes, you can do it that way.

When Windows refers to a major hardware change, are they mainly referring to motherboard then?
Also, when you changed drives did you clone the drive over to the new one, or did you opt to the a clean install and enter in your activation key?

Thanks again.

 

[daswilhelm]

the product key is tied to the motherboard, so you can change hard drives and other components without problems.

 

[James Mason]

The key you buy from the Windows store is a retail Key, and you can use it to reinstall on as many PCs as you want, but you can only have it activated on one PC at a time.
So when you get your new SSD, deactivate Windows 10, and then you can install it on the SSD and reactivate it.