Swapping HD between Systems with two dentical Mobos

[mbow902]

I built (2) Win 10 home systems using IDENTICAL motherboards. Only real difference is one has SSD and the other a mechanical HD. Mobo with SSD got hit with power surge. Drive and PSU fine...board fried. Can I take out the mechanical drive and swap in for the SSD and it work.

Board: MSI Z270-A Pro

Thank you

MB

 

[Barty1884]

Shouldn't be any issues that I can think of. CPU/RAM changes should not impact an OS install - it's MB and chipsets that (can) cause issues.

It should certainly "work"... the only potential downfall I can think of would be your OS activation..... BUT, given its the exact same motherboard, that should probably be fine too.

 

[timmoseus]

Yes you can, you may lose your Windows license though. Typically, although there is some debate about this, the Windows license is tied to the serial numbers of the MoBo, CPU, and HDD/SSD. Change one, usually OK. Change more than one, expect license issues. Apart from that, you may need some drivers, but it should work fine, being that they were identical MoBos to begin with.

 

[USAFRet]

I built (2) Win 10 home systems using IDENTICAL motherboards. Only real difference is one has SSD and the other a mechanical HD. Mobo with SSD got hit with power surge. Drive and PSU fine...board fried. Can I take out the mechanical drive and swap in for the SSD and it work.

Board: MSI Z270-A Pro

Thank you

MB

Opertionally, it will *probably* work. I give it a greater than 50/50 chance of working.

Licensing:
Read and do this before you change any parts:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/20530/windows-10-reactivating-after-hardware-change
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-3164428/windows-build-1607-activation.html

However, since the one board is dead, you can't do this.

 

[Barty1884]

Licenses *used* to be tied almost exclusively to the motherboard, opposed to much else. Changing the motherboard (historically) without a "Retail" license could never be reactivated without purchasing a new key.

BUT, even then, "changing" the motherboard usually meant another motherboard alltogether. I'm not convinced it was ever down to a serial number level, but more of a model number - so changing the motherboard with an identical, could be activated (infact, I don't believe you needed to do anything - it was plug & play).

Windows 10 changed it a bit - where you can now link to your MS account and make "significant hardware changes", including changing the motherboard - and (potentially) reactivate. I've had one case where it worked, another where it didn't and I used the "troubleshooter" and "live chat" function in W10 - and it was activated for me.


Because this is the same model of motherboard, I'm fairly confident (like 75%) that your OS activation will be fine regardless.... and 100% confident that the troubleshooter or Live Chat functionality will get you back activated in the worst case.

 

[USAFRet]

Because this is the same model of motherboard, I'm fairly confident (like 75%) that your OS activation will be fine regardless.... and 100% confident that the troubleshooter or Live Chat functionality will get you back activated in the worst case.

Even among the same make/model motherboard, Activation will probably fail. It is a different serial number.
A call to MS, though, would probably set things right. They are generally very good about a replacement board in the case of actual fail.

 

[Barty1884]

I've only ever done it once with the same board... but it activated just fine.
I'm not 100% convinced it ties to something as granular as a serial number, but maybe it does.

As for the call to MS, absolutely. You don't even need to call anymore as there's a live chat feature (found in the default "get help" app).

 

[USAFRet]

I've only ever done it once with the same board... but it activated just fine.
I'm not 100% convinced it ties to something as granular as a serial number, but maybe it does.

As for the call to MS, absolutely. You don't even need to call anymore as there's a live chat feature (found in the default "get help" app).

It's worth a try, but yes...it is as granular as the serial number.