New Hard Drive & Windows OS Question

[Lothair]

Do you have to repurchase Windows OS when upgrading a Hard Drive within a PC? It's a netbook to be precise.

[dr.walrus]

No. Just give them a call, they'll normally give a new key

[mDust]

Generally, the current key should be written down in some documentation somewhere. You should be able to reuse that online or over the phone to activate the OS. I've reinstalled windows several dozen times with the same key...unfortunately, they're suspicious of me doing so now and I have to talk to a rep every time as both the online and phone methods fail for that key.

[x88x]

/\ This. The official line is that the license is tied to the MBB. Personally, the rule I follow is only have each license installed on one working system at a time. I've had to call in re-activations more times than I can count, and after the first few times spending a long time on the phone, explaining what exactly happened, I came up with a simple solution. If they ask you if it's ever been installed on any other systems, say no. Don't try and explain, just say no. Keep it simple. They don't need to know the whole story, and more likely than not, they don't really care. Just give them answers that will fill in their boxes and let them give you the new key. :P

[Lothair]

How do you even install windows on a netbook? And what if the key on the bottom of the netbook is worn down so much that it's not entirely readable?

[SXRguyinMA]

right click on my computer and click on properties, your key should be in there. If now search at how to geek (www.howtogeek.com) and I'm certain they've written an article about it there somewhere

[BuzzKillington]

Try "Belarc - Advisor" It should find the license key used on the machine.

[slaveofconvention]

The problem you'll have there is that the key on the sticker on the bottom of pretty much ANY mass-produced PC is NOT going to be the same as the key which is installed. Manufacturers use a mass-install key to get the OS installed and very rarely change it to the one on the sticker. If you can't read the sticker, a call to MS may be the only option as the key stored in the registry is likely to be problematic at best....

As regards the key being tied to the motherboard - that's not strictly true - it's tied to the hardware of the PC - each part being awarded a different level of performance. I've changed motherboards in the past and had no problem convincing MS that as the drives, ram, cards, case, psu etc are the same, it is technically the same computer, just with one or two parts changed... It's often easier if you say the old board died instead of saying its an upgrade tho - if you fess up to an upgrade, your activation basically comes down to the mood the person you're speaking to is in :s

[Lothair]

New hard drive doesn't have windows installed on it. That would defeat the point of this question if it did.

[x88x]

Do you still have the old drive that you could put back in and pull the key from? Another useful tool for pulling keys off is..I forget the name, but it's one of Nirsoft's tools. It's free, and iirc, you can even point it at an install directory (say, if you have the old drive hooked up over USB to another system). I'd give you a direct link, but I can't get to the page right now...stupid corporate internet filters. :P

As for installing it, I know there are tutorials around for installing from a USB drive..or, if you're feeling adventurous, you could install it on a desktop, then just drop it in and see if it picks up everything fine. With XP it seems about 50/50 whether it'll work or BSOD. :P


As regards the key being tied to the motherboard - that's not strictly true - it's tied to the hardware of the PC - each part being awarded a different level of performance.
I say it's technically tied to the MBB because that's what the EULA says (or it might be the TOS..idk, one of those stupid legal documents). I'm pretty sure that's there to keep people from pulling license stickers off EOM systems and putting them on other systems. Like I said though, as long as I only have one working install for each license key, I have no moral problems with it. And yeah, the reasons you mentioned are exactly why I don't bother telling MS the real reason why I'm reactivating. No matter what, I always say it's a reinstall. :P

[farlo]

magical jellybean finder works good for getting your key as well, only for xp though.

[SgtM]

Here's the go to line.. "I had a hard drive problem and had to reinstall. This license is only being used on one computer." M$: "Your activation key is... Thank you, have a nice day...."

[Lothair]

I don't have an external drive (netbook) so I have to use USB (thumbdrive). So how do I get windows? I don't have a cd or anything. :/

[dr.walrus]

I don't have an external drive (netbook) so I have to use USB (thumbdrive). So how do I get windows? I don't have a cd or anything. :/

Oh hai (http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=installing+windows+usb&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a)

[Lothair]

So do I have to pay for windows again even if I get the key from a rep? A key without software is kind of useless was my point.

[dr.walrus]

The key is the bit that costs money, it represents your licence. You'll need to hunt down a replacement disc though

[Konrad]

Or you could just ghost a complete image from one drive to the other. Not a clean install, but a free one, plus it sort of gives you a "backup" ... though HDD storage devices rarely (if ever) need to install non-Windows drivers to work these days, you shouldn't have any software problems upgrading HDDs, your system should just see lots more free space than before.