Can I install Windows on 2 hard drives but the same computer with same key?

[Chops McGandhi]

I have Windows 8 OEM installed on my computer but I am thinking that I want to install it on a 2nd hard drive for trying out software that I don't want to run on my main installation.

Am I likely to have any activation issues since both installs are technically on the same computer, same motherboard?

 

[Matt1970]

If it is a name brand PC that came with Windows 8 the Windows license serial / CD Key is part of the BIOS/UEFI on the motherboard. You should have no problems and it will auto detect the Key. If you bought a copy of 8 you should be fine as well. I have only seen windows reject an activation a couple times due to too many activations. Either way you are still in compliance with the license agreement as it's only one computer you are installing it on.

 

[Chops McGandhi]

If it is a name brand PC that came with Windows 8 the Windows license serial / CD Key is part of the BIOS/UEFI on the motherboard. You should have no problems and it will auto detect the Key. If you bought a copy of 8 you should be fine as well. I have only seen windows reject an activation a couple times due to too many activations. Either way you are still in compliance with the license agreement as it's only one computer you are installing it on.

I actually put the computer together myself. Does that affect anything?

 

[Zaap]

I've run multiple installs of the same Windows on my machines for years, on self-built computers, never with any problem. So long as you have an OEM/system builders license you should be fine.

 

[corkyg]

I have three computers - two floortops and a laptop. Each one has two duplicated OS drives, the laptops are SSDs. Only one is used at a time. They are all fully functional and activated. One is XP, another Win7 and another is Win 8. No problem at all.

 

[zanejohnson]

yes, you'll prob have to call em, but just install like usual and when it comes to validation, they can help you change it...

(or you can do it yourself just read)

 

[JackMDS]

Yeah, it might run for a while and then one day (day, week, month and anytime in between) it will disable the activation on one of the drives.

 

[Matt1970]

I highly doubt you will have to call or have it disable your activation.

 

[corkyg]

Mine have run that way for several years now - no reactivation ever. As long as they are good, genuine retail installs. Actually I only install once - then I clone the drive and use the clone in the same computer. And, never more than the one drive is active. In my T510 laptop, I have two duplicate SSDs. I rotate them weekly. They are the same drive in the one machine - never a question. C0mpletely "Eulagized."

 

[Lifted]

Mine have run that way for several years now - no reactivation ever. As long as they are good, genuine retail installs.

The OP is using OEM, and I'd bet he will see the activation messages every so often. We do when reusing TechNet keys in our lab.

In my T510 laptop, I have two duplicate SSDs. I rotate them weekly. They are the same drive in the one machine - never a question. C0mpletely "Eulagized."

I'd expect that with the OEM verison on the OEM's hardware. I don't think the OP will have it so easy with a generic OEM installation disc on a self-assembled PC.

 

[Zaap]

It's been my experience that the difference of a hard drive is not going to trip the activation. If it were that sensitive, you'd have to reactivate every time you add a hard drive, or the difference between an external drive being present or not at boot.

I've run my systems for years with multiple clones of the same copy of Windows- all present at once by the way. It's only possible to be booted into one at a time obviously, and the others are seen merely as the same hardware that's present no matter which is booted.

In fact, I've come to view it as kind of silly to run a system without a bootable backup of the OS- drives are a lot less expensive than needless downtime/lost work and data.

 

[Daniel Jones]

Just do not activate your windows. You can use it on any number of drives/system.

 

[Raincity]

I believe the new windows activation that Win 8 and Office 2013 ties itself to the hard drive also. I swapped out a SSD for another one after cloning it first on a Win 8 home builder install. After two weeks both the Win 8 and Office 2013 needed to be reactivated again and I had to get a MS rep to generate another installation ID to complete activation.

 

[Billb2]

Been doing that for the last 20 years, never a problem.