You should be fine.

If your computer came with Windows 8+, the key should be embedded in the motherboard’s firmware. Windows Setup will pull that number directly into the installation.

Also, you can always put the original drive in if anything goes wrong to tie the key to a Microsoft account.

 

If the activation is handled automatically, that would be great. However, it probably requires the OEM installation media. If that's not available, it may be possible to create it from the original drive by using a utility supplied by the laptop maker. The Windows setup software should be on a hidden partition. It may be possible to access it and copy the installation files to a USB flash drive or other media.

Activation is with a digital license, so it looks like the installation may already linked to Microsoft login. The issue is figuring out which account. If that's not possible, it's easy to link an account by logging into a Microsoft account in settings. I created an Outlook/Live account just for that purpose. That will make it possible to activate a new installation by logging in, either during or after installing. I recommend after. It's possible to revert to a local login after activation.

If it's desirable to retain the current installation, the bigger issue may be the migration to an SSD drive. I've done this by cloning the disk but Windows, as usual, does not handle migrating to new hardware well. There are utilities that help with this. One is AOMEI Partition Assistant but it requires the paid version which is expensive. I've migrated Windows from HDD to SSD by cloning the drive and running Windows repair during startup a couple of times. The second time worked.

 

Thanks for those comments. That is helpful. If I recall when I got the laptop it was factory reset so I was presented with the Setup for Windows 10. This drive has 5 partitions. Not sure why there are two recovery partitions. Perhaps one is for repair and one for reinstall.

 

The 900MB partition was probably created by Windows. The 15.01GB partition was probably created by the laptop maker and contains software for resetting and reinstalling Windows.

 

I dunno if you have heard, it has been reported that Microsoft will stop using older windows activation keys to activate windows 10 and 11 installations. This means if you are doing a clean install and using the licence that came with your older machine (windows 7, 8, 8,1), even if it is embedded in the bios/motherboard, it may not work very soon. The only way to overcome this, is to tie the microsoft installation to your Microsoft account, your activation license will be stored on your account so when you format and re-install, you login to the same microsoft account and it will recognise the license and activate automatically.

Microsoft accounts are very popular, some people may already have one and not know it, If you have used Hotmail, MSN, Outlook, X Box, Skype, Bing, Microsoft Office, Office 365, you likely already have a microsoft account. If not, microsoft is a very popular service you would need an account to use those services so it should not hurt to create one even if u do not plan to use the email address it came with.

 

I would honestly just login with a microsoft account, that will convert the license to a digital licence, then you can remove your old hard drive, install new hard drive, then do a CLEAN install, you likely do NOT need all those partitions, microsoft will create the required boot partition and recovery partition that is required for your install, the others are often created by the computer manufacturers to restore it to the way it came from the factory, and if you do not want all that bloat ware, then get rid of it, you likely do not need that.

once you do the clean install of windows, you can log in with your microsoft account and your copy will be activated digitally. you can even move this license to another PC if you wanted to with this method

 

If your computer came with Windows 8+, the key should be embedded in the motherboard’s firmware. Windows Setup will pull that number directly into the installation.

That will soon be disabled for Windows 8. Microsoft posted this last month: Windows Ends Installation Path for Free Windows 7/8 Upgrade

 

That will soon be disabled for Windows 8. Microsoft posted this last month: Windows Ends Installation Path for Free Windows 7/8 Upgrade

That is true, however the OP is already on Windows 10.

Since the key would already been tied to a Windows 10 installation, this should not prevent a reactivation on the same device.

If you’ve previously upgraded a machine from Windows 7 or Windows 8 to Windows 11 or used one of these older keys, your activation status won’t change. You have a digital license that should continue to work. But if you were hoping to use this loophole in the future, it’s time to buy a legit Windows 11 key instead.

Microsoft has closed the free Windows 11 loophole — Windows 7 keys no longer work

No more upgrades from Windows 7.

www.theverge.com

 

I think you should just clone the drive if possible and then you have the same boot and OS. I am sure I did that with a laptop in the last few years when Win 11 really slowed things down. Going to the SSD by cloning sped up the boot and other access.
There are clone kits available. To plug in SATA to USB and duplicate.
I have cloned multiple times on multiple PC's over the years. First was using a kit from the defunct Fry's computer stores in the US that was probably $9.95 for the hardware and software.

Anyway one example of software(which I believe works as long as you have any type of Seagate drive attached to the PC(It used to anyway)...

Cloning a Desktop HD: How to Perform a Clone in Windows with DiscWizard | Seagate Canada

This operation migrates/copies the entire contents of one disk drive to another (e.g., when installing a larger disk) to get two identical drives with the same file structure. The "Clone Disk" tool effectively copies all of the contents of one hard disk drive onto another hard disk drive. The...

www.seagate.com

Or maybe...

Tech Takes - HP.com India

Find out about the latest in Consumer and Business Technology Trends on HP Tech Takes. Exploring today's technology for tomorrow's possibilities.

www.hp.com

 

I strongly endorse the recommendation of cloning the drive. It should be faster that a reinstall, no need to find the source for all the programs to be reinstalled, will have all your customized settings, and most important will have all the required drivers.

Suggest using Macrium Reflect Free. In addition to cloning functions it is also widely used for the regular backup and restore of your systems. It has been my #1 for many years and it made my move from HDD to SSD very easy.

Post if you need more details.

 

Thanks for all the posts.

To wrap up, I have no plans to upgrade this laptop to Windows 11. Mainly because my laptop does not support it, and bypassing the checks does not seem worth it, and I am only hoping to get another year or 2 max out of this one. By then it will be a 10 years laptop with a 10 year old OS with updates ending in late 2025. I got my money's worth.

I've done the disk cloning before. Evening resizing. But it's been a while so I appreciate the suggestions for software.

I also remember years ago when replacing a piece of hardware would trigger and licence check. I am guessing that has gotten more transparent.

I would honestly just login with a microsoft account, that will convert the license to a digital licence

It says it is already a digital licence. But my plan is to do this anyway. In fact I just signed into my Microsoft Account to see what what there. Under devices it does not show anything. But it has my old Skype profile.

Edit: Did the linking and now it reports this. Before it only said "Windows is activated with a digital license"

 

Your existing install has already been registered at Microsoft to get the digital license via their algorithm from it's hardware. So there's no need for the above.

If you want to move to a new SSD and do a "clean" install it's quite simple. Go to MS Install Windows 10 and pull down the latest version of what's on your PC => 22H2 onto a USB stick. (Using their tool to create installation media.)

Then just remove the old HDD and install the new SSD. Do not connect it to the internet when you are installing Win10 onto the SSD. Insert the USB stick before powering up. Then select the Boot device (usually by pressing F12 on a Dell Laptop, Esc and then F9 on an HP, Esc or F8 on an Asus, etc.) when powering up. Just follow the prompts if you want a single partition Drive. Tell it you don't have an Activation Key.

When it asks you, advise that you are not connected to the Internet. You can then set it up as a local account. Then when it finishes the setup, connect it to the internet and go to Windows Update. (Most of the time I find it's already connected and pulling down updates as soon as I connect the LAN cable or enable Wi-Fi.)

Upon the first reboot after Windows Update it will automatically register and you are good to go.

I've done this numerous times for friends and family who want to upgrade their PCs. This also leaves your old HDD untouched so you can pull files off it if needed.

I hope this is helpful.

 

I might be necessary to download some drivers from the laptop maker's web site. I've been in a position where I could not install or update Windows because the driver was missing from the Windows installation image. Newer versions of Windows are a lot better at including drivers so, hopefully, this will not happen. After the installation, open Device Manager and look for unrecognized devices. That's an indication that a driver needs to be downloaded.

The removed HDD can be installed in an external USB drive case. It can then be used to access personal data or make backups.

 

THere is 2 things here we need to discuss, when you use a computer after so many years, the computer slows down because a lot of files are copied to the system even if u stop using those programs or uninstall them, the files remain, when you update windows, more files gets copied and copied, some older files never go away and often are still loaded in memory, your registry gets bigger older entries does not get removed, this clogs down your computer over time. you can clone your files to a new hard drive, you might be a bit faster, but you will still have a ton of files from all the years bloating up your installation. Yes it is easier to clone drive than install a program but it is not necessarily the best and most efficient way to do it. formatting a computer clean and Installing the programs from scratch is often the best, if you purchased the programs from the microsoft store, you do not have to look for the installation programs or media, and a good computer owner should keep all the installation disks somewhere safe or make copies if them onto dvd or store them on an external hard disk drive.

 

^^^ I still disagree with this advice. Any theoretical speeds gains (and they'll really be negligible for a modern SSD) will be outweighed by the time needed to reinstall and configure your software, assuming the current system is performing as expected.

 

You can agree or disagree all you want, that is merely your personal opinion only.

We get our work computers re-imaged every 2 years or if the machine ever becomes corrupt and can not boot. We already have an SSD inside our computers and even though it's faster than an HDD the computers do slow down over time with all the software we use and all the bloat files created over time. Let me tell you, it makes a world of a difference to re-install it from scratch weather you replacing internal hardware or disk drives or not.

 

And as I've said previously, our IT clients would probably fire us if we forced them to start with fresh installs every two years because of negligible speed gains.

 

thats the thing, everyone has different reasons to do it, for us it is not just about speed gains, we have software that has licenses, over the years we have changed software vendors a few times, we have fixed all kinds of computer software conflicts and errors issues by doing that, your work may use the same software version for an entire decade and not have many issues, every situation is different, its not always about speed but a speedy computer is always present when we get the machine back, even for a hard drive replacement, they have re-installed the OS, we actually prefer it because some of the older software takes gigs and gigs of file space and can not be uninstalled efficiently.

 

formatting a computer clean and Installing the programs from scratch is often the best,

While I agree that Windows builds up a lot of junk with time, especially after many updates are done, it is not necessary to wipe the drive and start from scratch, though I usually do it when a major Windows upgrade is done (about every 5 years.) It's wise to store personal data on a separate drive or partition so it doesn't get lost when the system partition is reformatted or lost.

Windows 10/11 has a refresh feature that cleans out most of the Windows junk. It has the options of a clean install or keeping programs and data. I choose the latter but remove any programs with deep system ties first, such as A/V, system security, anti-malware and privacy programs. Those get reinstalled after the refresh. They often don't survive a refresh and may cause issues if they interfere with the refresh process.

 

Well then, when going from a Hard drive to a SSD, you are removing the drive with your operating system anyway right? so all those refresh features are useless, you might as well re-install windows 10 on the new hard drive, you will have a clean install and a New SSD drive which will be lightning speed fast.

 

The op was concern was re-installing it would not activate, but the op has digital license now so once you sign in, that is no longer becomes an issue

 

I don't want this thread to become a troubleshooting thread but one of my reasons is I have a few nagging errors that I can't seem to resolve. Some are related to Bluetooth even though I have Bluetooth disabled. I get occasional blue screens and I also get multiple DCOM errors that will lock up the machine from time to time for about 30 seconds. So I figure a clean install and while I am at it an SSD (since I have a one laying around) would be the way to go.

As surmised by @Dr.Dave I am not the original owner but I do think Windows 10 was the original OS since the reset produced a Windows 10 welcome screen.

 

@Jake , as I posted above, this is a simple process and you won't lose a thing as the data will all remain on the old Hard Drive unmolested. Give it a try and post back with your results.

 

As surmised by @Dr.Dave I am not the original owner but I do think Windows 10 was the original OS since the reset produced a Windows 10 welcome screen.

It's also possible that the laptop shipped with Windows 8 and the previous owner just installed or re-installed Windows 10 to clear out the hard drive. That might also explain why there are 2 recovery partitions, one from the PC manufacturer and one created by Windows 10.

 

you would be surprised how many recovery partitions get created while using and upgrading windows versions over time. Just a note, they do not automatically get cleaned up either. One of the recovery partitions contained the windows 7 system installation, another one contained windows 8, etc, if u never plan on using them again, why keep them? i get it that they no longer provide standalone media discs to recover your pc to factory default, new computers do not even have an optical drive to begin with either. so most poeple just leave it there taking up space

 

The recovery partitions created by Windows are quite small, typically about 250-500MB, which is insignificant on today's drives. It's less than 0.1% of a typical 500GB or 1TB SSD installed in most new PCs. PC makers' recovery partitions are much larger, probably to hold all the crapware they add. When upgrading to a newer version of Windows, it's only good for providing an upgradable Windows partition and even that is unnecessary if a digital license exists.