Upgrading to WIn10 on a different HDD

[cynicoren]

Hello,

I have on my old system (E8400 based) win7 which I like a lot. I recently bought a new HDD (since my old one had failure signs) and installed that very same win7 on that drive too.
Since the old HDD still works, I left it in the computer still as main HDD, and the new one is in the drawer. So my question is this: is it possible to upgrade only the new HDD and put it back in the drawer for later use?

Thanks

 

[SkyNetRising]

Sure, you can do that.
You have about 1 day left to claim your free windows 10 upgrade.

 

[cynicoren]

Thanks. Should I install over the win7 in the new HDD, or find a way for a clean install?

 

[SkyNetRising]

Create installation media
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

and perform upgrade.

 

[cynicoren]

Thanks. So after creating the iso, should I shut down, disconnect the old HDD and connect the new one? and then, how do I perform the upgrade with the iso? Since the new HDD has already the win7, should I ask for an upgrade through the win10 offer?
One more thing - the Win 7 was an OEM install. after I installed it on the new HDD, it looked ok, but now it tells me this is not a genuine windows - but lets me advance with updates and process. What went wrong (with the genuine) ? should I continue?

 

[Colif]

Ideal situation is download the ISO, create a DVD or USB
remove old hdd completely
change bios boot order to boot from DVD or USB
do a clean install following: http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1950-windows-10-clean-install.html
when you get to part asking for a licence key, enter your win 7 key in as that may activate win 10 on install

Does the key you used match PC? Did you ever swap the motherboard or more to point, how many parts have you swapped in and out of PC in its time? How many are original still? The way windows product key works is mysterious but if you replace almost all of PC over time it may think you have a new PC now - something similar to this happened on my last PC, by time I replaced it the only original parts were the motherboard and CPU. It was slightly older than this one. The hdd may have tipped it over the line.

What happens if you boot from old hdd? is windows showing an unactivated here?

what motherboard have you got? curious if its even worth upgrading it too win 10 as you may not have many drivers and it could create more trouble than its worth.

 

[cynicoren]

I haven't changed a thing! It worked well after 1st installation, but now as I tried to install 10, it is suddenly invalid

 

[Colif]

you could follow my instructions and when you reach the part about licence key, click "I don't have a key" and once win 10 is installed

right click "This PC" on desktop
select properties
on bottom of the next pop up is an area called activation. Since yours is unactivated there will be a way to call Microsoft and there you can explain your situation and see if they fix it up for you. You need to do this before cut off I think.

 

[Mankar Kameran]

My understanding was that the upgrade was per eligible machine and not necessarily per os. I could be wrong, but maybe it registered that you upgraded using that computer already and the second hardrive is causes the licensing issue.

 

[Colif]

Have you ever had both drives in at same time? if both had the same win 7 licence on them when in the pc at same time, then that could trigger this, but generally changing hdd shouldn't deactivate an install. It is mainly the CPU and Motherboard that historically Microsoft have asked you to buy a new licence for. After August update they are relaxing that a little for people who upgrade in the free period.

upgrade is both OS and PC, the upgrade links your old win 7 or 8 licence to a product key that matches up to 13 hardware devices in PC, so whenever you reinstall win 10 on a PC that has already had Win 10 on it, you don't need to ever enter the licence key again as its done automatically as soon as Win 10 is installed. You should need to click "I don't have a key" and win 10 does it all itself provided you connect to internet sometime in next 30 days.

If you have Win 10 retail the linkages are easier to break but it can still only be installed on one PC at a time.

 

[SkyNetRising]

So windows on your old hdd is activated, but on new hdd activation fails, right?
And keys used on both installs are the same?

Well, for upgrade process to succeed, your windows 7 needs to be in activated state.
You can try contacting MS support, explain situation that you had to replace HDD and now windows will not activate and
ask them to help with activation.

Or you can clean your new drive and clone first hdd to second. That should preserve activation on the new hdd.
Then you can upgrade windows on the second hdd.

Or you can try clean install of windows 10 on second hdd using win7 install key.

 

[cynicoren]

Thanks for everyone responding!
Eventually, I did a clean win10 install with the win7 activation key, and it worked fine.
Took it out and put in the drawer, returned to my trusted win7.