0

I own an Asus X53S and I have put in it a SSD drive (1 Tb) that contains both the operative system (Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit) and the personal files. I have recently bought an Asus N551JW-CN068H with Windows 8 Home 64 bit. I want to replace the HDD in the new pc with the SSD without reinstall all the programs, but when I try the PC gets stuck in apio setup utilities.

What can I do?

m0nhawk
  • 3,643
  • 3
  • 23
  • 25
user458441
  • 1
  • The OEM version of Windows cannot be transferred to a different PC. You'll need to wipe the SSD, install it in your new laptop, install Win8 Home on it and then your programs. – Karan Jun 13 '15 at 10:41
  • If you are talking only specifically about the OEM Version then you should clarify that you are stating a legal thing about OEM version rather than answering the technical question of can he dod it and how, and that would apply if it wasn't an OEM too. – barlop Jun 13 '15 at 11:49
  • Yes it is possible. Lots of links on this http://superuser.com/questions/417256/move-system-disk-to-a-different-pc you might (with at least one or some methods) have to keep the old computer around to prepare the image prior to writing it onto the destination computer though – barlop Jun 13 '15 at 11:55
  • 1
    barlop: Yes, I was talking about the legality of it. If I wanted to write an answer on how it can technically be done I would have, but I'm not interested in aiding someone circumvent licensing, unless the OP specifically confirms that that is not the case here. – Karan Jun 13 '15 at 13:17

1 Answers1

2

Technically: Yes, ofcourse you can put the SSD int he new system.

There are two problems though:

  1. Will it boot the OS?
  2. Are you allowed to?

Will it boot the OS?

It might, it might not. Windows does not like to be moved to different hardware. If you have a very similar system it might work. In some cases uninstalling all drivers helps before moving to a new similar system (and then installing the drivers for that new system). Coorporate environments do this all the time, but usually with a relative clean windows installation and they use something called sysprep. This basically cleans several windows settings to a similar state as 'windows is booting for the first time`.

Are you allowed to?

if you bought a regular windows licence (probably for somewhere between 100 and 200 Euro) then yes. You are allowed to. If the old system came with a limited licence for that specific laptop only then no.

I am not up to date enough with windows 8 licences. YOu will have to look up how windows got into the SSD in the first place and with which licence.


Lastly: There is nothing stopping you from moving the SSD and simply reinstalling (a legal) windows. Just make sure you leave the partition with all your data alone and that you only do a clean reformat and reinstall on the C:\ volume.

Hennes
  • 64,768
  • 7
  • 111
  • 168
  • You write "Lastly: There is nothing stopping you from moving the SSD and simply reinstalling (a legal) windows." <-- He knows that. But it takes a long time to then install all his programs too, as he said. He doesn't want to. He hopes there is a better way. – barlop Jun 13 '15 at 11:50
  • Aye, but there might not be.OP is free to check for legal stuff, backup the SSD, locate and use sysprep and move the SSD over. – Hennes Jun 13 '15 at 11:56
  • I notice that in the paragraph where you mentioned sysprep, you begun with the words "it might, it might not". What do you think his chances are? Is sysprep really hit and miss / that hit and miss for a system that isn't that clean? – barlop Jun 13 '15 at 11:57
  • I never tried it on a old (software wise dirty) system. My coworker did and he had problems with it. My own work was all on almost clean corporate installs and with due care that worked. (Human errors were plenty though. E.g. allowing the system to reboot before capturing the image). – Hennes Jun 13 '15 at 12:30