Question Can I install Windows 7 to another PC's HDD?

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Jul 14, 2019
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Here's what I'm trying to do.
  1. Take out the broken laptop's HDD
  2. Put the HDD into an enclosure
  3. Plug it into another laptop's USB port
  4. Install Windows 7 into the enclosure
  5. Eject the enclosure
  6. Put the HDD back into the broken laptop
  7. Boot the broken laptop normally.
  8. Done

Note that I don't want WinToGo. I don't want the portable version. I need a confirmation from someone who had done all this.
 
Reason you cannot:

Windows installation load drivers for the hardware you are currently installing on, call it hardware1.

Then once completed you move this installation, with hardware1 drivers and expect it to boot on hardware2, which has, most likely different hardware components.

Windows is not smart enough to go "aha, am booting with new hardware, let me go out to the Internet and refresh my drivers with for hardware2. YOU WISH, MS, intentionally or not DOES NOT DO THIS.
 
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USAFRet

Titan
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Can't boot from USB. Can't access BIOS settings because it's password protected (no backdoor password and can't reset CMOS battery)
Well...that's a whole other level of 'not gonna work'.
So not "broken", just password protected.

Booting from an external drive is still "USB".

You need to contact whoever set that password, or contact the manufacturer.
Tom's Hardware will not assist with circumventing passwords.

Contact the manufacturer.
 
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