Restoring a backup to another identical laptop -- license question


  1. oao
    Posts : 117
    Windows 10
       New #1

    Restoring a backup to another identical laptop -- license question


    I have two identical laptops, identically configured, except that one runs Win10 1511.679 and the other 1511.494.
    Each has a valid Win10 license. The 494 had been upgraded in place from Win7, which has corrupted the user mgmt component.

    I want to restore the backup of the 679 laptop to the 494 laptop using Macrium Reflect. The question is if there will be any license problem and, if so, what? Is there a way to change the license before, during, or after the restore to prevent or solve the problem
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  3. storageman
    Posts : 1,020
    Windows 10 Pro 20H2 19042.572
       New #2

    Have you tried to fix the User mgmt component ? DISM Restore heath ? SFC /scannow ? Should be repairable.
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  4. Samuria
    Posts : 8,108
    windows 10
       New #3

    Its simpler theupgradeto 1803 which would hopefully fix any problens
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  6. oao
    Posts : 117
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       New #4

    Neither is an option -- they are exactly what I want to avoid by doing this restore.
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  7. Bree
    Posts : 31,660
    10 Home x64 (22H2) (10 Pro on 2nd pc)
       New #5

    oao said:
    ..two identical laptops, identically configured, except that one runs Win10 1511.679 and the other 1511.494. Each has a valid Win10 license...

    I want to restore the backup of the 679 laptop to the 494 laptop using Macrium Reflect. The question is if there will be any license problem and, if so, what? Is there a way to change the license before, during, or after the restore to prevent or solve the problem
    The license isn't stored on the PC. Each one has a digital license stored on Microsoft's activation servers and linked to the unique hardware ID of the PC. Your two laptops are not identical, each will have a different serial number for things like the motherboard or cpu. These are the sort of things that go into the hardware ID that uniquely identifies each PC.

    Windows periodically checks with the activation servers to see if this PC is licensed to run Windows 10. If the hardware ID of the PC matches the license on the activation servers, then windows is activated. It does not matter how windows got onto the PC, as a restored image or a clean install, the only thing that matters is whether or not this particular PC has a digital license stored on the activation servers.

    The one caveat is that a digital license is for only one edition, Home or Pro. Provided both your laptops run the same edition, Home or Pro, then an image from one will run and be activated on the other.
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  8. oao
    Posts : 117
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       New #6

    Thanks for the info.

    They -- let's call them 1 and 2 -- have different licenses. If I understand you correctly, the license of 2 is stored on the MS server, not the computer, so the server has it associated with 2. The restore will have no effect on that association, so no issues. Right?
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  9. NavyLCDR
    Posts : 18,432
    Windows 11 Pro
       New #7

    oao said:
    The restore will have no effect on that association, so no issues. Right?
    That is correct, there will be no issues with activation so long as the edition of Windows 10 is the same (Home to Home, Pro to Pro.....)
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  10. oao
    Posts : 117
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       New #8

    Thanks for the help.
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