Can I still use my old copy of windows from a broken motherboard

[rasmus.arwidi]

Long story short, I was moving my system to a new chassi, accidentaly broke the motherboard but nothing else. My question now is can I use the old hard drive with the windows install? It is a WD blue 1TB, 64 mb cache. My previous system was prebuilt which I am afraid might cause trouble, I am able to connect the harddrive to another system and delete things that way.

 

[volkgren]

You should mention all relevant specs, in this case which version of Windows you have and if this is a prebuilt or a custom built computer. If prebuilt what make and model?

 

[USAFRet]

Long story short, I was moving my system to a new chassi, accidentaly broke the motherboard but nothing else. My question now is can I use the old hard drive with the windows install? It is a WD blue 1TB, 64 mb cache. My previous system was prebuilt which I am afraid might cause trouble, I am able to connect the harddrive to another system and delete things that way.

More details are better...

 

[mdd1963]

Windows 10, or earlier?

(You will definitely have issues trying to activate a pre-Win10 system with an OEM OS/pre-built now *if* using a different chipset/cpu, etc....; if it is just a new MB of the same type, you might be ok)

 

[rasmus.arwidi]

Windows 10 home, prebuilt computer, old mobo was some msi itx dont know exactly, new mobo is an asus z270h gaming

 

[USAFRet]

Windows 10 home, prebuilt computer, old mobo was some msi itx dont know exactly, new mobo is an asus z270h gaming

The "prebuilt" is the sticking point here.
You'll probably have to call MS to get that activated with new hardware.

It will still almost certainly need a clean install.