OEM Win7 Pro (laptop question)

[tvfore]

I have a laptop with Win7 Pro OEM installed on its hard drive. I want to swap out the HDD and install a SSD in this laptop and I'm wondering whether or not this will invalidate my OEM key. I read that OEM is bound to the hardware it came with, but I'm wondering if this is the motherboard, specifically, or both the HDD and the motherboard.

Thanks for any info.

 

[corkyg]

I have done this several times. My solution is to clone the old drive to the new drive. Then replace the old with the new and it should boot right up. I first did it cloning the original HDD to a hybrid XT. Then, later, I cloned that to the current SSD. Should be no problem.

The OEM bind is to the unit, mobo, etc., not the HDD. Drives have always been replaceable and upgradeable.

 

[tvfore]

I have done this several times. My solution is to clone the old drive to the new drive. Then replace the old with the new and it should boot right up. I first did it cloning the original HDD to a hybrid XT. Then, later, I cloned that to the current SSD. Should be no problem.

The OEM bind is to the unit, mobo, etc., not the HDD. Drives have always been replaceable and upgradeable.

Thanks, corkyg.

That's the way I was hoping it works.

 

[Dstoop]

The only thing you might have to do is re-activate Windows. When you reinstall, as long as you have OEM media it will take the key, but it will not always tell you if it activated properly! Run "Activate Windows" once you're on the desktop, if there was a problem activating it'll give you an 800 number to call for an automated system. You put in the numbers from the prompt and it reads an activation code back to you, then you're all set.