Can I change the Hard Drive and reinstall Vista OEM?

Kirth Gersen · 3 Sep 2007 at 16:00

Quick preamble:.. I have googled for this, checked the stickies above and done searches on the forum. So apologies if this has been mentioned before, I presume it has, but can't find any, and I've seen some serious flaming when people have asked similar questions. So please bear with me

.

My family PC has an OEM copy of Vista Home Premium.

The hard drive has started to go on the blink. It's an IDE and one of the pins has broken off by about a half (yes I tried to connect it upside down

), and now it is only working intermittently.

So will I be allowed to operate Vista if I replace the hard drive and reinstall it on a new one?

I know that mobo changes are a no-no. But I can't find a definitive answer for hard drive changes. The best I can get is that I may have to reactivate with a human operator, but I get the picture that it is a bit of a lottery.

A definitive answer would be nice!

Ascendancy · 3 Sep 2007 at 16:06

Yeah you can replace the HD.

Kirth Gersen · 3 Sep 2007 at 16:14

Phew - not even the hint of a flame

. Would it require a reactivation with human operators?

Daniel · 3 Sep 2007 at 16:21

Kirth Gersen said:
Phew - not even the hint of a flame . Would it require a reactivation with human operators?

It should activate the same way as you first installed it as you are only changing the hard drive. I think the human operators thing only comes in when you have made several hardware changes and the operating system thinks it's a different PC.

Ascendancy · 3 Sep 2007 at 16:21

Dunno really. I'd guess not since it's not a major hardware upgrade.

Kirth Gersen · 3 Sep 2007 at 17:45

thanks both - seems safe.

stoofa · 3 Sep 2007 at 18:02

With an OEM license you can:

Add any new Hardware you like
Remove any Hardware you like
Replace any piece of hardware you like with a single exception - the motherboard.
This is the piece of hardware the license is tied to.

The need to speak to a human operator when it comes to activation is really irrelevant to what you are actually doing.
I've known some people who had to call up the very first time they tried to activate an OEM license, likewise I've known people who have been able to do 3 or 4 activations online.
People with retail licenses reinstaling having to call - even if you do its 5 minutes to a freephone number.

Kirth Gersen · 4 Sep 2007 at 08:02

stoofa said:
With an OEM license you can:

Add any new Hardware you like
Remove any Hardware you like
Replace any piece of hardware you like with a single exception - the motherboard.
This is the piece of hardware the license is tied to.

The need to speak to a human operator when it comes to activation is really irrelevant to what you are actually doing.
I've known some people who had to call up the very first time they tried to activate an OEM license, likewise I've known people who have been able to do 3 or 4 activations online.
People with retail licenses reinstaling having to call - even if you do its 5 minutes to a freephone number.

Nice and definitive - thanks stoofa

Burnsy2023 · 4 Sep 2007 at 10:14

Kirth Gersen said:
Phew - not even the hint of a flame .

You're perfectly legal, why should we flame you?

Burnsy