Timeline for Is it possible to install Windows on a hard drive on one computer, then activate it on another?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
11 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 5, 2022 at 17:59 | comment | added | Ramhound | @MichaelMacha - In my experience, you will not have success, unless you use sysprep which is a pain to use even for an experienced administrator. | |
| Jan 5, 2022 at 15:36 | comment | added | Michael Macha | @Ramhound That's a little off-topic, I generally presume that SO users have a legitimate reason for whatever they're trying to do, and often a reason that may not be my business. Let's get back to the basic discussion of whether Win10 will allow installation on one machine and activation on the other. | |
| Jan 5, 2022 at 3:09 | comment | added | Ramhound | @MichaelMacha - I haven’t restarted my machine in 3 weeks. What does the uptime of a Windows machine have to do with anything? Windows 10 restores the state of compatible applications when restarted. Sounds like your making the process harder then it needs to be. I have work systems that have been up for a year. | |
| Jan 5, 2022 at 2:31 | comment | added | Michael Macha | @Ramhound I used to install Windows 8, later W10, for a living, along with computer repair, in my last job. I could generally have it done in ten minutes. It's not so much the time, but the lead-in and lead-out, that bothers me--with Mint, you can go weeks without a restart. However, I'll need to shut down every multimedia, software, and web app I'm using, and remember, half an hour later, how to boot them all back. It's a real problem. So, I'm putting my old machine to use. We'll see if I have driver issues and how much of a problem they are to fix, though. | |
| Jan 5, 2022 at 2:02 | comment | added | Ramhound | "Can I install Windows on a hard drive while it's in that machine, remove it, install the drive in this one, and then simply activate it on the final machine?" - It might but it likely won't. You will probably get drivers issues out of the box. It shouldn't take more than 20 minutes to install Windows. | |
| Jan 5, 2022 at 0:18 | vote | accept | Michael Macha | ||
| Jan 4, 2022 at 22:15 | comment | added | Anaksunaman | You can use Windows 10 indefinitely with minimal restrictions (essentially some minor annoyances regarding customization). There is no real need to activate it. | |
| Jan 4, 2022 at 22:14 | answer | added | Yorik | timeline score: 1 | |
| Jan 4, 2022 at 20:38 | comment | added | Michael Macha | I do use a virtual machine! However, VMs generally have indirect access to graphics cards, which is very relevant to the work I do. So, I like to have a standalone instance available, all the same. | |
| Jan 4, 2022 at 20:14 | comment | added | Daniel B | Why not use a virtual machine? | |
| Jan 4, 2022 at 20:11 | history | asked | Michael Macha | CC BY-SA 4.0 |