Moving Win 7 to my new SSD

Termin8tor

Termin8tor

Termin8tor

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Joined
27 Apr 2012
Posts
29
Hi

I have Windows 7 Home Edition.
I added my new Solid State Drive this evening, then unplugged my original HDD (C Drive) which still has Win 7 on, rebooted from DVD Drive so I could install Win 7 on my SSD using the original Win 7 Disk.
I was happy to leave Win 7 on my C drive for now.

Unfortunately when I was asked to enter my product key, it said the key was invalid (already in use on this same PC!)

So it looks as tho I will have to move Win 7 from C drive to my new drive rather than putting another Win 7 on my computer.

Is there an easy way to go about this? Will it say my key is still invalid?
 
What type of licence do you have upgrade, OEM, retail?

The Windows 7 disk you're installing from has no way of telling whether your product key has been used before. Even if it has it shouldn't matter as you're allowed to swap hard drives with both OEM and retail.
 
It should definitely let you install Windows, regardless of whether or not your key has been previously activated. Try again and see what happens - if you get through the install and it complains about activation later on, that's another issue.
 
If you do choose the move route use Macrium Reflect Free as it will sort out the alignment on the SSD also, it's rather important to get the alignment right so do not just use any old tool.

Macrium Reflect is actually a very nice product (and free) so no reason not to use it really.
 
Sin_Chase said:
If you do choose the move route use Macrium Reflect Free as it will sort out the alignment on the SSD also, it's rather important to get the alignment right so do not just use any old tool.

Macrium Reflect is actually a very nice product (and free) so no reason not to use it really.
Click to expand...

That's good to know, does it just detect that you're moving to an SSD automatically and make the appropriate alignment change or does it just give you the ability to make said change?
 
When I met with the "Invalid Key" problem, my reason was because I entered an OEM Home Premium key on a Professional install. Redid the install with a Home Premium ISO and the key was accepted.

So just to check, you're using the right ISO to install Windows right?
 
sorted it guys,
well sort of..
I didnt realise that you can actually skip the product key and it will install for 30 days!

I rang microsoft today then they rang me back and after about an hour on the phone, they gave me a new key.

I now have Win 7 on 2 drives!

Tell you summat tho, the SSD drive loads windows in a flash compared to my HDD!
 
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