Hard drive switch

[schulmanworks]

I'm building a new PC, and I have an old PC running vista on it. I was wondering if I could switch the hard drive from the old one to the new one and have everything work? Both systems will run a dual core Intel processor. If I can't, how can a switch the OS over? I'm not sure if I have, or even had, the CD and key.
Thanks!

 

[cl-scott]

No, you cannot simply transplant the drive. If you have a retail copy of Windows, the best thing to do would simply be to reinstall the OS when you build the new computer, and decommission the old one.

If you have an OEM copy of Windows, then you're stuck buying a new copy, as OEM versions have no transfer rights.