Hi everyone I'm building a new PC and I know I'll have to buy another windows key but I want to transfer my m2 from my old PC that I'm giving to my daughter to the new one so hopefully I don't have to reinstall everything. I plan to clone the m2 onto a hard drive that will become the boot drive on the old PC then move the m2 over but if I do that will it invalidate the windows I have now ? Meaning I need to buy two new keys. Thanks for any help.
Changing PC's
- Thread starter RizlaKing
- Start date
Soldato
- Joined
- 13 Sep 2010
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- 2,544
I definitely don't think you need to buy 2 new keys, if the current one is an OEM key then it should activate automatically from the motherboard with the cloned HDD.
In fact in my experience I've had windows automatically activate when moving a drive to a new system (retail key), as well as (separately) a new install with a motherboard I'd bought second hand with all other components being different just activated itself! (YMMV obviously)
If you're happy to do so, linking your key to an MS account might make things smoother
In fact in my experience I've had windows automatically activate when moving a drive to a new system (retail key), as well as (separately) a new install with a motherboard I'd bought second hand with all other components being different just activated itself! (YMMV obviously)
If you're happy to do so, linking your key to an MS account might make things smoother