Booting PC with Windows 10 drive from another PC

Aside from how improper it is for a computer repair shop to offer a Core 2 Duo machine for sale in 2019, two possibilities come to mind:

1. The drive wasn't imaged properly
2. The old, old, OLD computer doesn't support booting from UEFI boot sources

Go back to the drawing board and offer an acceptably modern computer for 2019 and make sure you image the drive properly.

Hey! Take that back! I still sale core duo with Win 10 32bit. With no warranty of course. I get them for free all the time and sell them to my budget customers.
 
core duo with Win 10 32bit.

Ouch! That's pushing it quite a bit (a lot?). You should never use "32-bit" and Windows 10 in the same sentence. :p (The memory limitations are terrible.) My bottom line is a fast Core 2 Duo (dual core 64-bit) with an SSD.
 
Eeeeh. We'll still put the occasional Core2Duo system out there in places that need something that's basically a terminal, but I've been pushing back hard on that for the past year or so. We had one beautiful Core2Quad that I stuck back in the recycling area because when I checked the motherboard I found multiple swollen or leaking caps - I'm not in the business of putting in substandard equipment then going back to do maintenance on it later.

I found that my convenient spot for pushing back is USB3, which IIRC is generally around 3rd generation i5.

I may have to see if I can pull that C2Q back out though, I want to check how many SATA connections it has.... Originally a full tower workstation, even if it's flaky it might not be a bad drive wiping system if it has 8-10 SATA ports.
 
Last edited:
OEM licenses non transferable, live and die with the hardware they were purchased with. I'd wager that HP that the hard drive was originally in had an OEM Windows license (if not also Office), not a Retail or Volume license.
When I move a drive to a replacement computer (Win 10) you activate the install with the license of the replacement computer not the previous computer.

I know with one look at the partition layout if it is MBR or UEFI. (experience ) ;) Depending on which year of Office (if installed) it will usually reactivate on first launch(I warn clients it might not).

Most of the time I am dealing with a consumer machine and I replace them with business class refurbs. To this date most of the dead compyters are 10 Home. I have had no issues doing an inplace upgrade to Pro to match the license of the replacement computer using the generic Pro key and then activating with the replacement computers COA key or bios key.

With the above being said, I still prefer backing up the data with Fab's and doing a clean install.
 
I'm sure they activate...years ago "moving" an OEM install to new hardware would often still "activate". but...
Speaking of windows 10 only, The moved computer drive is not using the original computers license, It is using the "new" computers key or digital entitlement.
 
OEM licenses non transferable, live and die with the hardware they were purchased with. I'd wager that HP that the hard drive was originally in had an OEM Windows license (if not also Office), not a Retail or Volume license.

To expand on that very valid point. Any OEM computer with an OEM OS install has a OS license that is with the OEM, with pass through provisions to the M$ license. That install will have the particular OEM additions which are not transferable. I suppose if the drive is moved to another box from the same OEM that falls in the grey zone if the OS type matches.

Technically a OEM machine drive upgraded to W10 will not be in EULA compliance if moved to different hardware, meaning not the original OEM, even if it activates even with a new OS license. The drive will contain OEM copyrighted material which may only be run/used on that OEM hardware platform.
 
The drive will might contain OEM copyrighted material which may only be run/used on that OEM hardware platform.
Riddle me this, The "old" computer has been clean installed in the past so no OEM software. You can't claim drivers because after the move Windows replaces them with generic drivers built into the OS.
 
Riddle me this, The "old" computer has been clean installed in the past so no OEM software. You can't claim drivers because after the move Windows replaces them with generic drivers built into the OS.

Of course if it was nuked and paved with a retail/vlk license then it can't be an OEM install.

Edit: and by copyrighted stuff I wasn't really referring to drivers. Their proprietary bloatware and graphics is technically the issue.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top