Old HP pavillion PC - using the Windows license?

Lesthegringo · Apr 23, 2024

Hi all, my wife's old HP Pavilion PC is essentially dying, so I was going to recycle a load of my old stuff to make her a PC. However I will need a Windows installation, and her HP has one, and it has a removable HDD.

I have heard that sometimes the user key is in the BIOS, and not stored on the hard drive, so I am not sure if simply moving the hard drive will move the Windows installation. Can anyone advise?

It's Win 10, although I believe when first purchased it came with either Win 7 or Vista

Les

simracingfanatic · Apr 23, 2024

I'm not sure if moving the HDD to a new PC will work seamlessly, but from my experience you can input the key into a fresh install of Windows and it will work fine.

Lesthegringo · Apr 23, 2024

I'll have to see if I can the key

Cheers
Les

Novopaine · Apr 24, 2024

If it's an OEM key for a pre-built computer, I doubt it's transferable. The OEM product keys are usually locked to the Motherboard/CPU that it was registered with on install.

You can however install Windows 10 without a product key. The downside is that you won't be able to personalize your PC (like your desktop theme), and you will have a windows watermark in the bottom right of the screen that says "Activate Windows - Go to Settings to activate Windows". Other than that it's fully functional. You can always buy a cheap windows key from one of the many resellers of bulk OEM licenses online.

You can download a copy of Windows (without a key) from Microsoft directly using their Media Creation Tool. You can then create an installation DVD, or even create a USB installer (much faster that a DVD!)
You can start here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...-windows-99a58364-8c02-206f-aa6f-40c3b507420d

Lesthegringo · Apr 24, 2024

Thanks. I wondered about the locking in thing, as I repurposed one of my sons old school laptops. I fitted a new SSD, when I loaded Win 10 (the way you point out above) it obviously found the original Widows Key because it was a fully authorised install straight away

Cheers

Les

blekenbleu · Apr 25, 2024

Lesthegringo said:
it obviously found the original Widows Key

My understanding is that M$ stores a PC "fingerprint",
probably based on serial numbers embedded in CPU and perhaps motherboard,
linked to Windows key.

Durge Driven · Apr 25, 2024

Lesthegringo said:
Hi all, my wife's old HP Pavilion PC is essentially dying, so I was going to recycle a load of my old stuff to make her a PC. However I will need a Windows installation, and her HP has one, and it has a removable HDD.

I have heard that sometimes the user key is in the BIOS, and not stored on the hard drive, so I am not sure if simply moving the hard drive will move the Windows installation. Can anyone advise?

It's Win 10, although I believe when first purchased it came with either Win 7 or Vista

Les

I have W10 and W11 in both OEM and Retail.

1. Put HDD in new build.

2. Run setup.

3. If HDD only has C:\ delete all partitions

Press NEXT don't press NEW !

4. If HDD has more then 1 partition only delete C:\ and the 2/3 small partitions ...leave D:\ E:\ as they are.

Press NEXT don't press NEW !

Windows will use the old partitions which will retain your credentials.

P.S. Doh sorry, if the OS came with Dell or other brand I have no clue as I have never owned 1.