Used old Boot drive in New build and old system works..HOW?

[_dawn_chorus_]

I just finished my new build and had not wiped my boot drive as I didn think it would start until I reinstalled windows. . but when I hit power for the first test boot, I got a few flashes of the new motherboards logo than a windows loading circle then voila my old system is running fine.

I will definitely do a fresh install, but I was under the impression changing that much hardware would cause windows not to boot. Was I wrong? This cant be very stable I imagine.

Thoughts?

 

[Gam3r01]

It is possible for it to work, as you can see.
In almost every case it dosent, and in the rare cases it does there are typically driver issues, poor performance, and other "hidden" issues.

For these reasons its generally stated to be "impossible"

 

[Colif]

There is always the chance that windows will boot and recognise the hardware and work, but it may not be stable. This isn't the 1st time its happened. Good chance windows would deactivate itself after a few days once it notices the hardware on PC doesn't match old one.

Is windows license linked to your email address? Its not related to this behaviour, just curious if it is so you can move it to this new PC. This could help if it isn't - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/20530/windows-10-reactivating-after-hardware-change

 

[dshort01]

Not a wise approach. Anytime you change out your system. You should do a clean install of windows. Otherwise you can run in to all kinds of interesting problems.

 

[USAFRet]

3 possible outcomes:
1. It boots up just fine
2. It fails completely
3. It boots up, but you chase down issues for weeks.

I've seen all 3.

You've found 1 or 3.

And then you run into the licensing/activation issues.

 

[_dawn_chorus_]

There is always the chance that windows will boot and recognise the hardware and work, but it may not be stable. This isn't the 1st time its happened. Good chance windows would deactivate itself after a few days once it notices the hardware on PC doesn't match old one.

Is windows license linked to your email address? Its not related to this behaviour, just curious if it is so you can move it to this new PC. This could help if it isn't - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/20530/windows-10-reactivating-after-hardware-change

I never link my windows to an account but I own the usb and have the password. I figured I would get as far as BIOS and go to sleep happy all the hardware worked and then do the reinstall marathon tmrw. Firstly of course boot from the windows usb.
Because it started though can I just do a system wipe from within windows now? or should I do it from the usb again?

 

[_dawn_chorus_]

3 possible outcomes:
1. It boots up just fine
2. It fails completely
3. It boots up, but you chase down issues for weeks.

I've seen all 3.

You've found 1 or 3.

And then you run into the licensing/activation issues.

Ill direct this at you too USAFRet:

I never link my windows to an account but I own the usb and have the password. I figured I would get as far as BIOS and go to sleep happy all the hardware worked and then do the reinstall marathon tmrw. Firstly of course boot from the windows usb.
Because it started though can I just do a system wipe from within windows now? or should I do it from the usb again?

 

[USAFRet]

3 possible outcomes:
1. It boots up just fine
2. It fails completely
3. It boots up, but you chase down issues for weeks.

I've seen all 3.

You've found 1 or 3.

And then you run into the licensing/activation issues.

Ill direct this at you too USAFRet:

I never link my windows to an account but I own the usb and have the password. I figured I would get as far as BIOS and go to sleep happy all the hardware worked and then do the reinstall marathon tmrw. Firstly of course boot from the windows usb.
Because it started though can I just do a system wipe from within windows now? or should I do it from the usb again?

"and have the password"
You're referring to the license key?

If so, where did this come from?
What OS is this?

 

[_dawn_chorus_]

3 possible outcomes:
1. It boots up just fine
2. It fails completely
3. It boots up, but you chase down issues for weeks.

I've seen all 3.

You've found 1 or 3.

And then you run into the licensing/activation issues.

Ill direct this at you too USAFRet:

I never link my windows to an account but I own the usb and have the password. I figured I would get as far as BIOS and go to sleep happy all the hardware worked and then do the reinstall marathon tmrw. Firstly of course boot from the windows usb.
Because it started though can I just do a system wipe from within windows now? or should I do it from the usb again?

"and have the password"
You're referring to the license key?

If so, where did this come from?
What OS is this?

Yeah, I mean the key. Its a Windows 10 usb store bought. Should I do a "reset" a "fresh start" or a clean install from the usb again?

 

[USAFRet]

Yeah, I mean the key. Its a Windows 10 usb store bought. Should I do a "reset" a "fresh start" or a clean install from the usb again?

Full wipe and reinstall.

 

[Colif]

if key not used before, you fine to use it.

If it was used on previous install, and you never linked it to email, then its linked to hardware still. You know the key so may need to contact Microsoft to get it moved to new PC