Moving HDD from prebuilt system to a new custom rig?

[Luke3079]

So im building a new rig next week, i kinda wanna know what would happen to windows if i literally move the HDD from my current prebuilt to the new rig ill be building next week.

 

[aquielisunari]

And from the MS TechNet page on sysprep:
"Sysprep must be used only to configure new installations of Windows."
....
"You must not use Sysprep to reconfigure an existing installation of Windows that has already been deployed. Use Sysprep only to configure new installations of Windows.'

That is what the /generalize parameter is for. If you had read the third paragraph, you would have seen:

If you intend to transfer a Windows image to a different computer, you must run sysprep /generalize, even if the computer has the same hardware configuration. The sysprep /generalize command removes unique information from your Windows installation, which enables you to reuse that image on different computers. The next time you boot the Windows image, the specialize configuration pass runs. During this configuration pass, many components have actions that must be processed when you boot a Windows image on a new computer. Any method of moving a Windows image to a new computer, either through imaging, hard disk duplication, or other method, must be prepared with the sysprep /generalize command. Moving or copying a Windows image to a different computer without running sysprep /generalize is not supported.

I've used sysprep in this way for nearly a decade without any problems, and it's much faster than reinstalling and updating Windows.

Fortunately he can move his hard drive over without that command. He also doesn't need to buy a new license.

 

[hydranix]

\
Fortunately he can move his hard drive over without that command. He also doesn't need to buy a new license.

By reinstalling Windows. I hope that future readers of this thread realize that you don't need to reinstall Windows just to boot new hardware.

The latest licensing updates for Windows 10 is quite nice though.

 

[aquielisunari]

\
Fortunately he can move his hard drive over without that command. He also doesn't need to buy a new license.

By reinstalling Windows. I hope that future readers of this thread realize that you don't need to reinstall Windows just to boot new hardware.

The latest licensing updates for Windows 10 is quite nice though.

This is true. That was the OP's choice. Doesn't have to pay for another license either. Takes a community raise a PC master. We all do our little part.