Old(better) HDD in new laptop. Activation with OEM key?

[philapeter]

Hello, I have a Momentus XT (didn't have money for a real SSD) that had a OEM copy of windows (I guess it was OEM, since it was from my school) along with a lot of other programs I want. Can I somehow use my new laptops OEM WIN7 key to activate windows again. It'd be nice to get 7200rpm with a little extra SSD in there instead of the loud 5400rpm this thing is running. I know that these questions are asked a lot, and I've done my homework, but the a definitive answer eludes me. Or I'm just trying to get the answer I want.... Cheers and Thanks Tom's Crew!

 

[Brett928S2]

Hi

We are NOT allowed to help with ILLEGAL windows here at TOMS...BUY a legal version....

All the best Brett

 

[philapeter]

It's bothersome that I have two+ legal copies of Windows and I have nothing to show for them when I want to mx and match my hardware. Honestly, I'm disgusted by it all. Authentication technology is in the dark ages.

I was thinking I might wait a week before switching HDDs and use my windows 8 upgrade on the old harddrive. Anyone reckon that that might work?

 

[rgd1101]

try the laptops key, it should work with a new hard drive. if not call microsoft to activate it.

 

[nbelote]

If you're taking one hard drive out of a laptop and putting a new one (or old one, in this case, that happens to be better) in, that is perfectly legal. If, for example, the laptop has a Windows 7 Home Premium COA on the bottom, you can use that key to activate that install of Windows 7. What you cannot do, however, is use one from another computer.

For instance, if your laptop has a Windows Vista COA on it, you cannot use another COA OEM key from a Windows 7 laptop that you don't use anymore to install and activate Windows 7 on that laptop. Sorry, but that's not what you paid for.

The comparison would be this: Imagine that you own a junk yard, like the ones people drop their busted up cars at. Someone leaves a busted up Honda Civic there, and you take possession. As a junk car, you do not need to insure or register it. Your daily driver is a Corvette Stingray. While you can't drive the aforementioned Civic, it stays there, something dawns on you: you can claim it as your daily driver instead of the Stingray and save a ton of money on your car insurance! Guess what, you can't, because that's illegal (insurance fraud).

 

[The_Prophecy]

Hello, I have a Momentus XT (didn't have money for a real SSD) that had a OEM copy of windows (I guess it was OEM, since it was from my school) along with a lot of other programs I want. Can I somehow use my new laptops OEM WIN7 key to activate windows again. It'd be nice to get 7200rpm with a little extra SSD in there instead of the loud 5400rpm this thing is running. I know that these questions are asked a lot, and I've done my homework, but the a definitive answer eludes me. Or I'm just trying to get the answer I want.... Cheers and Thanks Tom's Crew!

Like what nbelote said, as long as your Momentus XT drive is going into your new laptop, you can change the key within the copy of Windows to match that of your laptop (actually you should do this as soon as possible, as the key you seem to currently be using is tied to your school and not likely allowed to be used by you on a private machine). You cannot put that hard drive into another system and use the key from your laptop, since that key is tied to the laptop. The laptop's key must also not be in use on any other system.

Edit: The key on your laptop MUST be for the same edition that is installed on that hard drive or it will not work. If this is the case, you will have to wipe the drive out and reinstall Windows from scratch in order to activate it.

 

[coolbiker]

Are you asking if the other harddrive can be used in the same laptop that's already been registered?

If so, clone the new drive from the old one and put it in. As long as it's in the same device you shouldn't need to reactivate. If your taking windows to another device with an oem disk key...you "Will" need a new key.

Keys are as far as i know locked to the motherboard and within reason swapping anything else will not[should not] cause you grief.