Cloning Win 10 PC to another PC

I currently have my main Win 10 PC running well. I has over 50 application running on it plus all my tweaks and modifications.

It would be almost impossible to reinstall manually these apps and modifications to a new PC.

I have 2 identical (same identical motherboard, CPU, RAM, etc.) PCs, my main PC, and the spare PC.

If I place a cloned HD of my current main PC in the spare PC, it boots fine and functions the same as the main PC, but warns me that it will only function for 30 days due to hardware changes. Which makes sense as no two PCs should have the same Win 10 license.

My question is can I use the cloned HD in the spare PC and change the Win 10 license to a new one (purchase $$) without affecting the Win 10 setup in the spare PC? If so how do I do that?

fussybob said:

My question is can I use the cloned HD in the spare PC and change the Win 10 license to a new one (purchase $$) without affecting the Win 10 setup in the spare PC? If so how do I do that?

Yes. get a license from somewhere and enter it.

you can use win7/8 license if you have any lying around.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/..._a_product_key

SIW2 said:

Yes. get a license from somewhere and enter it.

you can use win7/8 license if you have any lying around.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/..._a_product_key

Why does a Win 7/8 license work for a Win 10 install?

Yes I have a Win 7 license available.

why not ?

Samuria said:

No problem but are you siging in with MS account sometimes if you do that it then activates

No I'm not signing in with a MS account

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SIW2 said:

why not ?

Just asking as I thought the license is tied to the Windows version.

I'm not a expert with this.

you need the corresponding edition, win7 pro or ult key for win10 pro

SIW2 said:

you need the corresponding edition, win7 pro or ult key for win10 pro

I do have a Win 7 Pro purchased license/product key.

Thanks!

fussybob said:

I but warns me that it will only function for 30 days due to hardware changes. Which makes sense as no two PCs should have the same Win 10 license.

That's interesting because you are first person in the history of Tenforums and Elevenforum to receive that notification. There has never been a 30 day time bomb in Windows 10 or 11 unless you downloaded and installed a trial version of Windows 10/11 Enterprise.