Move Boot drive between 2 identical computers.

Fafhrd · 26 Sep 2016

I don't think the primary concern is Microsoft licensing rather than the potential loss of functionality due to activation problems, caused by repeatedly switching hardware bases using a retail product.

I think the solution is called "Windows to Go" (WTG): I believe it is a feature using Windows Enterprise or Windows Education editions, rather than Retail. These editions are effectively equivalent to Windows Professional. Since the WTG is designed to be portable and for use on a range of hardware, the configuration of device drivers and any updates are handled when the base computers and the WTG storage device are put together for the first time, and subsequently by the routine WUAU technologies.

It would be worth comparing rates for MSDN Subscriptions with Enterprise costs, or whether your situation would qualify as an Educational use.

If your basic portable unit is an SSD (or two SSDs in case of a failure or other loss) these could either be hooked up by USB or external SATA connections.

If you are looking for 2x high end base units at either end of your journeys and something you can use during your travelling, WTG solutions would only consume a single licence - the cost of the license in this case would be negligible compared to outlay on hardware.

I have to say that having your data and system files moving around with you sounds like a more risky strategy than having your data backed up via a secure cloud solution, and accessing it through a VPN, but that is just my opinion.

cereberus · 27 Sep 2016

orlbuckeye said:

But the Anniversary Update now links your MS account on hardware changes to activate without having to make a call to MS.

That works for digital licences. It is not the same for a retail licence product key activated version. Having said that, it may well work now for OP if on AU as it seems you get a digital licence as well now if you install with a retail key.

Simple traditional telephone activation will always work using slui 4 if you have a retail key.

To be honest, it is no big deal if it fails to activate anyway, as Windows 10 does not ever go into reduced function mode as far as we can tell. It just goes into notification mode, which is seemingly less intrusive than on 7/8 which starts to nag you after a period. MS seem to have softened it to just a watermark. I have run one in a vm for nearly six months without a single nag -all I cannot do is personalise it.

tacchan23 · 27 Sep 2016

Thanks a lot for the replies so far everyone.

About the concerns on Safety of data while traveling, of course I would also have a Cloud backup (as well as physical backups at every location). But in both locations (particularly in the one in south east Asia) internet speeds are pretty bad still so I would prefer it to be just a safety solution over using it actively (as also the overall size of my data is quite large with many big graphic files)