Hardware change during upgrade

Hi

Over the weekend, I carried out the free upgrade to Windows 10, followed by a clean install. This was on a laptop with the manufacturers OEM licence, and it all worked fine, with Windows 10 being activated correctly after the clean install.

I plan on carrying this out on one of my PC’s (which has a Technet licence), but also want to change the Hard drive for a SSD after the initial upgrade but before the clean install. All other hardware will remain the same.

I have heard that the licence is tied to the motherboard, but my concern is that due to the hardware change, will Windows 10 automatically activate after the clean install ?


Thanks

The safest is to clone your current drive to the SSD before the upgrade. Windows 8.1 will deactivate because of the disk change. Activate them again. Now you should have no problem upgrading to Windows 10 and activating. You may also have a look at my suggestions at this post to avoid compatibility issues.

spapakons said:

Windows 8.1 will deactivate because of the disk change.

That's strange that Windows 8.1 will deactivate because of a disk change but Windows 10 won't.

I suggested to clone the drive while still at previous Windows version. After cloning to SSD, he should use the SSD to boot into earlier Windows again and activate them. Now with Windows activated on the SSD, he can safely proceed with the Windows 10 upgrade on the SSD. The old hard disk should not be used again. It should be installed as a second drive for data or formatted and used for backup. It can also be used in another computer. I think this is safer to do (clone previous Windows version) than upgrade to Windows 10 and then clone. If he has any issues, he can use the old hard disk to try something else, but I don't think it will be becessary.

As far as I understand, the OP wants to install WIndows 10 first and then, possibly weeks later, change the HDD.

This should work without problems. From my experience, in this case Windows 10 should activate automatically. I think you won't even have to activate via phone.

Yes, he should not have any problems upgrading to 10 and later changing to SSD. While reading at his post I thought he hasn't yet upgraded and he has the SSD already. That's why I recommended to clone with previous Windows and then upgrade. If he hasn't yet the SSD, there is no reason to postpone the upgrade.

Thanks guys, that sounds good :)

Hi,

Basically, once you're machine is in MS's database you can upgrade just about all hardware bar the MB and it will activate as soon as the machine is connected to the internet.

Cheers,