You do not have to activate by phone. Click troubleshoot. It will give you a list of computers you have on your account. You pick the one you are replacing.
I ran into some fun issues where that didn’t work for me and support told me I needed to get a new licence… luckily I had another computer that had a retail licence I didn’t use anymore on my account. They really want you to do the digital activation
One thing I always do too is go into Device Manager, Show Hidden Devices, and uninstall all of the old items from old board. I just find it cleans it up Device Manager and has prevented me issues later on at times. I have used the Activate Windows feature for so long now when switching hardware. Great video Jay!
never had any issue with old drivers except on like s775 era boards and drivers super specific, like some asus driver you install to enable charging current on certain usb ports. if you never installed any such special drivers, should be no issue. my current windows install has migrated like 5 times since s775 intel onto finally landing on ryzen 5600x. will likely be carried over to am5 as well. windows 7 was sensitive to cross-chipset (usually just between amd and intel, same vendor was fine) and then sysprep /oobe or /generalize would fix it. might not be the solution on win10/11 tho. never tried. cause I've never had to. for what it's worth I've migrated like 20 different installs so far over the last 5 years.
To remove the old rubbish from device manager I use a tool called GhostBuster, it's free and it's portable, it will show you all the devices in device manager that are no longer connected and remove the whole lot in one go if you want. Been using it for years and it works great even on Windows 11, such a time saver and it's nice to know all the old crap is gone. It will never touch active connected devices.
do you need to uninstall every driver before migrating? GPU, chipset etc? thinking of going over from amd to an rtx build with my drive. What do i need to do beforehand?
It needs to be said again; Jay, putting aside your own invaluable contributions to your channel, your production staff are simply fantastic. The little editing add-ons and clean production sure shows you have a great team. For example, that little fast forward in old-style format is a great touch. I know I'm blowing smoke up butts here, but so what. Sometimes people need to be recognized and not taken for granted by viewers.
I kept the same Windows installation (besides updating from 7 to 10) through three different builds on a spinny hard drive. Ten years of accumulated crap, and things were very slow at that point. I could turn the system on and go make a coffee while waiting for Windows to boot up. I finally moved to an SSD two years ago, and my goodness! Best upgrade I ever did.
I feel this in my bones. My comp wasn't nearly as slow as yours, but when I finally got an SSD, I was amazed at how fast my system could actually be. Kicking myself for not doing it sooner, but it took some time for the prices to come down and it just wasn't high on my priority list.
@@laowai2000 Worth it if the system is already SATA based, not so much for older pre SATA systems however as you will have to also get a converter to convert from IDE to SATA and they run somewhere between 16-20 dollars on top of the drive itself, and then you may have to go with an M.2 form factor to make it fit in the existing cage, however, it's moot as you are now running through the low bandwidth of IDE/PATA to begin with, so you won't get the speeds of even SATA with your SSD.
There is also a way to manually remove the windows key from the motherboard. it does involve using some commands, but i've done it and it works just fine. Just make sure to write down the key number BEFORE you remove it from the motherboard otherwise its gone.
@@_____alypticso you run command prompt as administrator and there’s a command called “slmgr. vbs /upk” you type that and hit enter and itll uninstall the key manually which deactivates windows on that pc. Then once you build and boot the new pc you can just put in that same key and itll work just fine, pretty much as if you were putting the key in for the first time
This is crazy, my teen son and I built a new PC last night and did exactly that, i. e. put the system drive from old PC destined for parts. I was getting ready for all the pain associated with the move but the PC loaded Windows 10 no problem. It did not even ask for reactivation (yet?) and Windows 11 installed during the update! Absolutely smooth relocation. And, thanks to you, guys, now I know what to do if it decided to ask for reactivation. You rock!
@@ZenAndPsychedelicHealingCenter Your comment as is is useless to anyone. The internet has a trillion pros and a trillion cons about going from Windows 10 to 11. What are your specific reasons for not going from 10 to 11?
@@raygernon9686 microsoft is a shitty company and anything they want you to do should be avoided as long as possible? seriously use your brain, do you honestly think it benefits anyone other than microsoft for everyone to update to windows 11?
@@masudparvejsani Every single game (152/152 of my library) runs perfectly fine. Yes, i don't play any battle royale shooters or games with anti-cheat, or use CAD software, no Adobe Suite. I am aware there are pending issues for those and even for them exist solutions, albeit more cumbersome ones.
If you setup a profile with your microsoft account, the windows "license" will be attached to you microsoft account. If you go to "activation" in settings it will say "such and such a license attached to your microsoft account". Then when you move the drive to a new board/machine, you click "troubleshoot" then select the options for "i recently changed my hardware". Then it will ask you to select which device associated with your account this is. Chose the computer (by computer name), and boom should activate. I've had it take a couple tries, but should work just fine. Never heard an issue moving drives OEM or otherwise.
I do lots of these at work, and recommend running neowin ghostbuster to clean up drivers no longer needed. Its a good idea to delete your system restore points and create a fresh one too.
Im swapping over from i7-9700k to a amd 7800x3d and i have programs that are.... you know, and i dont feel the need for going through the hassle to reget those programs and reinstall them all. so for this do i run the ghostbuster after the windows install when swapped components is done ?
@@Kinetically616TTV never got an answer, I didn’t get anything ready on the drives and just did the swap, after booting up for the first time windows launched and got some stuff ready and installed AMD software on its own. Than I went in and manually cleaned any intel drivers myself it was very easy
Yes this is true however it will not always auto migrate the license and if you have too many devices registered with the same key you'll have to contact MS to get that sorted out.
@@ThatMetalheadMan not true my oem digital license worth 3$, still working for 7years from am4 build w/ w10pro to am5 new build w/ w11pro. Still can transfer and activate windows.
@@MegatronEvo sweet I’m about to do the same, just gpu, psu and SSD’s are going over from intel to amd, did you prep anything before hand on the ssd with windows or just moved it and it took care of itself ?
@Off_The_Rail I literally just slotted them into place and went for the boot up and it got me to the login screen. All I then had to do was the activation bit and it was good to go.
You can also fix the raid support by loading drivers in recovery, not easy but doable. Similar things may need to happen when comverting a physical PC to a VM.
MBR2GPT is kind of a pain in the ass, but there's a way around it. If the old machine is 'legacy/MBR', make an image of the drive (all you need is the Windows partition; I use Lazesoft for this), then clean install on the new drive in UEFI mode. Restore the Windows partition over the new drive's Windows install. Boot from Macrium Reflect PE (rescue disk), repair windows boot. - Above, make sure you're in pure UEFI mode without any legacy enabled, or else Macrium will legacy boot and you won't be able to correct the GPT/UEFI boot sector. Reboot. Done. As for RAID, you can clone to a single drive and it'll just boot as long as you're similar chipsets, or if Windows at least knows what it's going on. I've done this with RAID 0, 1, 10, and 5 volumes without issue.
Still running off my Windows 7 key. Got the free 10 upgrade. Got the free 11 upgrade. On my 4th harddrive since 2010. Not sure how, not sure why. They just keep giving me free Windows when I change drives. Yes, I have a Microsoft account. All it does is ask if I'm changing to new parts. "Boom, here's a free Windows install."
few weeks ago , i tried swap my old NGFF ssd on laptop DDR3 with OS win10 inside to a new budget PC ddr4 build that support sata/nvme - NGFF ssd format , Thank god this method saved me recovery $5000 office documents , here the case my laptop the psu was short circuit its been 11 years i used the laptop maybe the power supply has reach it lifespan cycle , so i tried this method & it works so i could recovered my important files without problem. Who else got this problem you can tried this. Also i just recently ordered ddr5 budget build with win11⚡👍👾👍⚡ extra tips : i reformatted my old ngff ssd after i done recovered all files & backup , and reinstall fresh copy of win11 on new nvme ssd as my main OS. the old ngff ssd i made as extra storage.😅
@jaytwocents you have no clue how much this helps. I literally just finished a new build not even 72 hrs ago and just swapped over my drives and ran into the windows activate thing and have yet to figure it out. 🎉 I swear you read my mind with this video. Thank you thank you thank you.
I remember back in the PATA days we used a pci Promise controller card for this purpose. You'd install the Promise card in the current system and let the OS install drivers for the card. Then you'd change motherboards and connect your hard drive to the Promise card in the new system. At that point it would boot up because it recognized the Promise card. Then the OS could find drivers for the IDE controller on the new motherboard. Then you'd power off, move the drive over to the motherboard controller, remove the Promise card from the system, and power back on. Definitely easier now.
Jay you have no idea how much this helped me, I'm literally going to build a new computer today and use the same NVMEs form the old one (with windows 11 on it). So Thank you for the great video and keep up the great content!! New build I5 13700k, zotac 4080super (white), NZXT Kraken cooler (360, white), Gigabyte Z790, 1000w PSU and corsair DDR5 6400mhz, NZXT H6 Flow
For the ASUS RAM Aura glitch... What you have to do is go into your applications and delete Aura, then go to task manager and kill the processes for the lighting application(if it's still exists as a process) and immediately or simultaneously go into your program files under ASUS and Aura and delete all your HAL folders if those exist... Once you do that, restart your computer. Double check to make sure there's no more ASUS folders in either program folder. The same thing will happen on any RAM kit as soon as you either change the motherboard or if you move that RAM kit temporarily and then put it back into that same motherboard that has been run with another set of RAM. Aura will try to run the lighting profiles simultaneously, and the only way to get that to stop is to do a reset of the application in settings or to totally uninstall all components and reinstall. Oh way to make eight this is to turn off Aura before you do any sort of change to your hardware but that doesn't work all the time.......... Love you! And even though I hate ASUS for the same reasons you do, I bought all ASUS things before I really understood what I was doing to myself.. lmao
my digital window license tie with my Microsoft account outlook worth 3$ only, using for almost 7years from am4 w/ window 10pro to am5 w/ window 11pro. easy to transfer and activate.
What’s crazy is I recently upgraded my motherboard, slightly better chipset, and a different manufacturer; fully expecting this problem. It didn’t happen, even after a fresh install of Windows 11. My guess is that Windows could detect that all my other hardware was exactly the same, CPU, GPU, RAM, & PCI WiFi. I had secure boot disabled because of TPM 2.0 on my original setup too (not sure if that made a difference).
For anyone wondering you can also find the inf files and inject them directly into the windows installation ahead of time as well. Also make sure you disable Bitlocker and Data Encryption before changing boards as Bitlocker will trip due to new secure boot keys being generated when taking an old drive and putting it into a new board.
I've upgraded boards and CPUs before twice. The first time, I had to call Microsoft for the reactivation. Just told them that I upgraded my machine and did the confirmation ID process. Then I moved my hard drive again to another board, after the free W7 to W10 free upgrade. It worked seemlessly. Oh, a Pro license makes it does that. A Home version license might not. Of course, there's gonna be some need to update drivers and stuff, and some crumbs may be left in storage after the update. Though I never really had any major issues with the migration, I did end up doing a clean install a few years later, using the same Windows license. And lastly, if you have a Microsoft account, paid or free, and have your OS license tied to it, signing in to the upgraded machine will make the activation somewhat automatic.
As someone who has done this too many times to count, thanks for making this video. I've been making it much more painful than it needs to be (i scorch/salt and start clean each time because I'm always worried about pointers and under the covers stuff not being able to reconcile new hardware). Love this type of content yall!
Even easier if you just click troubleshoot. Won't work every time, but I've yet to have it fail. That will take you to an option to quickly transfer your license from old system to new system. EDIT: More specifically it will have an option for "upgraded hardware" to get to that license transfer option.
You should be doing clean installs of Windows regardless, the most frequent troubleshooting fallback in IT is always a reimage. It's usually not even Windows that gets fucked up, it's morons installing a bunch of garbage on their computer and failing to maintain it, plus programs leaving a bunch of garbage in the registry and file structure, as well as process and driver bloat. A clean install gives you a clean Windows that will always run better on the same hardware than whatever you were running before. DISM and Windows Updates can't remove all the garbage software and conduct a cleanup of your own mess.
Can you use the same method shown in the video to reuse the windows key when you do that? swapping out my CPU and motherboard soon and would rather do a clean install as well.
@@DrWuzer You can pull the Windows key from within the OS and try to enter it directly when you install at the Media Creation Tool screen. To be honest, mine didn't work when I reinstalled Windows after changing out my motherboard, but it's supposed to be transferrable. If you sign in to your Microsoft account, it should be tied to your account and be no big deal. Worst case scenario, you have a watermark if it fails to activate. There are plenty of resellers that sell legit Windows keys for a pittance if you want to try your luck there.
Activation Troubleshooter is all you will likely need unless you previously activated a new motherboard fairly recently. Phone activation is needed only when the Activation Troubleshooter doesn't work. I had to resort to phone activation a while back. A motherboard activated via Activation Troubleshooter turned out to be faulty and had to be replaced. The replacement board needed activating too soon after the faulty board was activated.
I would at least recommend going through and looking at hidden devices in Device Manager and uninstall the drivers that are greyed out. After you get back into Windows. You can ignore the shadow volume copies drivers and anything storage driver related. Doing this drops the likelihood of weird driver related issues popping. I’ve seen issues come up because someone didn’t go through and remove the old drivers from the system. 14:36
Whether or not Windows boots is highly dependent on where the installation took place. I have both a desktop and laptop. I have a custom built desktop and a Razer Blade 15 (2018). I tried to diagnose a problem with graphics drivers by swapping my desktop drive with my laptop drive and windows never booted. The drive booted to a separate windows screen that said "Unsupported Hardware". Reinstalled the drive back into the laptop and booted into windows.
I don't know that this is an "ethics discussion" as you state. You are not using that OS on any other system. You just swap the OS between different hardware combinations as you wish. I am fine purchasing license keys for software, but I do have an issue if I paid for a key and then the motherboard dies I need to pay again because I replaced the board. That is, to me also, the same system.
Can I just suggest that you 3-D print and extension off that test bench frame for? However long you need for the fans? It would not be difficult at all to whip something up in CAD to give you a few extra inches of clearance for the side fans to blow across the rig. Just a thought boys from another Jason Lange……vin
Okay, so the ram I assume is messing up because it was saved on the “starry night” mode or whatever it was called, if you installed any rgb software to control that rgb, aka gigabyte software (worst offender I’ve found) it will brick the profile on the ram entirely. If starry night is on it will do that, super niche issue but it happens really easy with any g.skill ram in personal experience. No fix other than to get new ram.
you need to make a videos explain how to install drivers for a new build at the start of the Windows installation? You can't install Windows on a new motherboard with the Intel platform unless you bypass the internet connection or install the drivers at the start. before installing windows
Or you can just forgo the ability to change Windows themes and still use Windows indefinitely. There will most likely be a watermark at the bottom right reminding you to reactivate, but other than that it functions perfectly fine. Or buy a retail copy license and that allows unlimited installs on one machine at a time. Avoid the OEM copies, which lock the activation code to the motherboard hardware ID that the OS was first installed on.
The more involved thing is moving your windows installation from one drive to another and then to a new computer. My old PC is still running a 1TB SATA SSD and obviously in the days of cheap 4TB M2 (and nearly affordable 8TB ones) that doesn't cut it anymore for a new system. Gonna be quite a thing, but i hope i will manage it in the end. Doubt it makes for a good video tutorial though.
just a heads up if you change too many components even a cloud MS key can trigger reactivation or new key requirement if too many components have changed. i went Z590 Asus strix to Z790 and bingo my electronic copies would not reactivate oem w11 pro time for £15 then :)
back in the windows 7 days I moved a OEM copy from a laptop that had a dead cpu socket, to a older dell latitude laptop that was it, no special thing required I AM a bit salty that Microsoft decided to de-auth the older keys, I had several waiting in the wings for builds
This video reminded me of the time that my dad tried to upgrade to windows 10 and thought that the UPC retail code on the box was the windows key and couldn't activate his PC until I went to visit.
I'm planning to build a "new" system soon, reusing most of my current parts except for the RAM, motherboard, and case. My biggest concern is transferring my current drive to the new system. Will it boot into Windows? Will I retain all my files? While I still have some doubts, watching this video has boosted my confidence in tackling the build.
Tried this once. All data on my drive became corrupted. I think the two drives in my old system had somehow created a partition map on the drive that wasn't ported, so the new motherboard couldn't read the drive. There were lots of files, but nothing made any sense. I had to wipe it and start again.
4:30 also Jay, if you felt comfortable, you could mount the AIO 280mm vertical, using just the middle set of screw holes, then fab some vertical mount, but then I guess it becomes a whole thing of changing what the case has available.
2 questions: (both using Dell as an example) 1: Does that work with OEM licenses that come with a pre-built? Like say you decide to take your HDD and move up from a Dell you used as your starter rig. 2: Conversely, can you get a used Optiplex for example, that obviously had a Windows license at the start, but someone else has previously "de-coupled" it from the hardware ID?
OEM licenses are tied to the motherboard. You can change everything but the motherboard and your key will keep working... switch MOBOs and kiss your functioning windows key goodbye. I don't really understand your second question. If you have an activated version of windows on a computer attached to the internet than all is well. If you have an activated version of windows on a computer not attached to the internet and then after attaching said computer to the internet it tells you someone else is using that key: you need a new key. For clarity the OEM key is physically on the hardware and self activates all other key-types snapshot your hardware at registration and moving the key means doing what Jay did--updating the hardware snapshot tied to the key with microsoft.
@@TurboLoveTrain I get that the OEM key identifies via the motherboard... But.. maybe I'll further the confusion: If Jay installed Windows on System #2, made the phone call verification and got it validated, does System #1 still have ownership? Would another Windows install on System #1 linked to the internet cause System #2 to then get told someone else is using that key? Or is System #1 now locked out?
@@douglasmurphy3266 The system key is valid only for the number of licenses you've purchased. Jay seems to have used a retail key valid for only one PC. A retail version of windows can be installed on infinite computers but only ONE of them can be valid/activated and the rest will run in a limited mode. As soon as he had microsoft move the key to the new system the old system became "non genuine." The scenario you seem to be alluding too obligates drive cloning. Jay MOVED the OS drive to a new PC--the old PC has NO operating system after the move therefore no windows key associated with the old PC at all. If Jay were to clone the drive; keep the old drive in the original PC and put the new drive copy in the new PC you now have TWO operating systems with the same key--as soon as you hook them up to the internet you're going to have windows authentication issues.
It does mostly works even when the chage is very big. I wen form a i78700k to a 14700k and everything worked like a charm then just installed the new drivers for everything and was 100% working
Not impressed with the RGB installation. But re-activating Windows, sweet. Would it charge you if you said 2. Only asking as I want to get my new 2nd hand system running BEFORE breaking my old one down.
I've done this before where it resulted in Windows not recognizing the new hardware fully. It worked and downloaded drivers, but when I would pull up MSinfo32, it would still say the old hardware there. It also led to some problems trying to download proper drivers (and I must have tried half a dozen methods), and Crucial still thought it was the old pc but corrupted, so I couldn't see what upgrades were possible that way.
I just buy retail keys for all my systems, not OEM, so the serial is not stored locally but on the Micro$oft account, reactivation with a click of a button after a hardware change. Yes I know some people have issues with using a Micro$oft account but I'm okay with it.
@@ZenAndPsychedelicHealingCenter Actually, at the key seller sites there are both OEM and Retail keys available. And they are not priced miles apart. Sometimes just 2-4 Euros more, and it gives me peace of mind.
so i originally watched this 3 months ago when it was posted but don't remember what was said/shown so I'm watching it again because I'm doing a platform upgrade from AM4 to AM5 and I REALLY don't want to reinstall Windows and all my programs. i am hoping to god that Jay has an easy way of doing this that doesn't involve 8hrs of work.
Thanks for the video! I've been doing this since Windows Vista / Windows 7 and it always worked fine but everyone always told me: "No you shouldn't, the OS will run worse after this!" but nobody ever could back that up.
Hard parts used to be migrating between two drives going ide to sata, sata to nvme, or BIOS to UEFI boot layout changes due to missing drivers & trying to spin up a valid boot change. Some motherboards had other incompatible chipsets from one to the next where attempting to load the old drivers bluescrened on the new hardware.
If you are moving from an older system it may have MBR format which means although it will work like you showed it won't allow you to turn on smart access memory in the BIOS. You'll need to convert it to GPT. My nephew has this issue and won't let me convert it for him because he's scared he'll lose all his stuff and he can't be bothered to sort it all out. Leaving performance on the table.
usually, there is a script/utility on windows (if anyone cares/wants to know which, let me know, I can edit this) that is INTENDED to be used before swapping system hardware, it will "uninstall" the Win key, exactly for that per-1-device registered win key, and then once you move over to different hardware, you just re-activate Win again with the previously used key. Also, the "flashed Win key to MoBo" is usually a laptop thing rather than a Desktop-style PC thing.
@@phillee2814 yeah I know, I meant the bought original Windows CD with a single-use key (from a so-called trusted vendor ofc), not the deal included when buying MoBo then ripped out using some tool or script.
(Note: I rebuild my own PC once every few years with new components and have never used any extra cooling other than some chassis fans so obviously I'm not as into it as you guys and am therefore no kind of expert.) With that clarified, why do you even need extra cooling when it's all out in the open? Or is it only to test the cooling too?
I tried this on my brothers PC transferred from an old i5 3000 series processor to AMD 5600 CPU, b550 mobo. The only thing I kept was power supply sata ssd, and graphics card. Long story short it did boot loop hell with black screens and errors. Would not even boot into windows.
Hey. Can you do a video on upgrading a laptop NVME drive to a larger drive while keeping everything from the original drive? No matter how much I know about computers, I always struggle with this.
I have changed boards a few times and its not always this seamless. Sometimes Windows will just BSOD and not be able to load. More often that not,in my experience, too. Almost every time I upgraded boards in the past several years on either Windows 10 or 11,it caused issues. Its way more likely if going from Intel to AMD or vice versa, I think. I have had to reinstall Windows from scratch on several occasions when changing boards.
I can confirm this works. Upgraded to a 7900 from a 8700K just copying the install to a new drive. One thing I did notice... When you look at your windows devices in the app, it will show you how many computers use that key. You can remove them though (it must remove the TPM data), and you can continue on as happy as Larry. Still doesn't beat a fresh install... which I should really do at some point! All data is backed up and ready to go though. Just another wee nugget of info.
I had a MSI delta 15, all AMD, I took the drive out and put it in an Intel/Nvidia desktop I built (after I had installed Windows but not activated it on a different drive) and when I booted it for the first time after installing my old laptop drive it boots into my old laptop windows, still activated, no warnings or notifications saying I changed anything, even still had a lot of AMD toolkits installed on it. Haven't had any trouble with it yet. Edit: To clarify, I still had all the new drivers installed from the inactive copy I had on my new drive and somehow it runs the drivers off my new drive on my old drive's copy of Windows.
Answer is yes but depends on the SATA Mode in bios if you had raid setup then nope but if its the other one then it should work, but not recommended due to drivers may be cause problems like blue screens even if you remove old drivers and install the new ones
Moved from a prebuilt HP pc, to my own picked hardware, only things made it over was my windows drive and a separate storage drive. Plugged everything in and windows started no issues. One small prompt of moving liscenced to new hardware, and boom done. This was after logging in with my windows account.
Be aware that transferring the key do not make it legal. Invoice proves you own the license and should state type of license. OEM licenses are not transferrable from the HW you bought it with, retail (box) are.
Older windows versions wouyld require a sysprep that basically tells the OS to go into OOBE (out of box experiance) and it is similar to what the Windows 10/11 does now
I wish I would've known this. When looking for what to do with a new motherboard an CPU install I was "told" I needed to create an MS account and the use digital activation to get Win 11 to reactivate on the new hardware. I also had to answer a question stating that I installed new hardware. It *did* activate but now it's a "digital license" and I have to enter a 4 digit PIN every time I restart my PC.
I've never attempted to move a Win11 install to another motherboard, but with previous versions, I would just remove all motherboard drivers and then transfer the install. Worked every time.
I moved drives between 2 computers under Win7, Win8 and Win10 without any problem... never understood why a lot of people think it can't be done...... had to reactivate only once btw.
You can also use command prompt to uninstall windows key then when you build and boot the new pc you can just activate the key like you would the first time around
14:30 what if step 2 doesn’t work and the new system doesn’t recognize the drive as a boot drive? Im pretty sure my boot drive now has 2 windows installs on it.
Last time I moved a drive, there was a "did you change hardware" selection, and I just clicked that and was off to the races. That was a while ago. I want to know how everybody handles using a data drive for their user items (Documents). In the past I used the OOBE with a script to move the ENTIRE user folder to the D drive. The last time I changed the data drive I learned that this wasn't a good idea as putting a NEW drive in resulted in a no-boot situation, and trying to "fix" it with the tools failed. Therefore I re-installed Windows, and used the and manually moved all the data from my spinning HD to the new nVME data drive. I want to know why MS just can't add in a "Where do you want your USER data to reside" if it sees that there is a 2nd (3rd, 4th, etc.) drive/partition installed. Default it to the system drive, but sheesh I don't want any of the USER info on the system drive, I'd prefer it on the DATA drive. Even with the standard "Right Click Directory->Location->New Location->Move", the actual "USER" directory still resides on the system drive. OOBE Method moves the entire USER directory to the DATA drive, but it causes issues if you want to change your data drive.
Interesting, however it would have been helpful with mention of what are the exceptions to the rule mentioned in the title. Or why would this not work for some of us. Still, could come in handy so thanks for the info.
Activating by phone only works for the latest release. A few months ago I had to replace the motherboard of my windows 7 professional PC and can no longer activate or use it. Not by phone, email, etc. Their response was always that I needed to update to the latest version. They made no effort to help me. The specific software I need to run does not work in windows 8 and above. Not even in compatibility mode. This is one of the many reasons I do not use *#%@soft products any more and never target their platform when releasing hardware/software I made.
So the way that Windows checks activation depends on a lot of stuff. Like it or hate it the easiest way to deal with this is to link your Windows license to your Windows account. I've never had any problems moving and cloning boot drives or clean installs and I've gone from Intel to Threadripper to Ryzen back to Intel back to Ryzen. I've also swapped between Gigabyte, ASUS, ASRock, MSI and SuperMicro.
It takes 9.29 minutes to get into the actual video lol
Thanks 😂
Thank you so much
Welcome to JayzTwoCents. We have ADHD
Not all heroes wear capes
Thanks bro
You do not have to activate by phone. Click troubleshoot. It will give you a list of computers you have on your account. You pick the one you are replacing.
As long as you attach it to your Windows account
Yeah. I'm pro local user and anti link with MS account
I ran into some fun issues where that didn’t work for me and support told me I needed to get a new licence… luckily I had another computer that had a retail licence I didn’t use anymore on my account. They really want you to do the digital activation
Funny, I've moved individual drives between multiple systems, and never had to reactivate.
maybe because I'm running Fedora.
Wow, thank you for this! I've been using the phone method for years and never knew this was a thing!
I remember the days when Microsoft was very skeptical that you 'replaced your motherboard'. So glad they wised up.
One thing I always do too is go into Device Manager, Show Hidden Devices, and uninstall all of the old items from old board. I just find it cleans it up Device Manager and has prevented me issues later on at times. I have used the Activate Windows feature for so long now when switching hardware. Great video Jay!
never had any issue with old drivers except on like s775 era boards and drivers super specific, like some asus driver you install to enable charging current on certain usb ports.
if you never installed any such special drivers, should be no issue. my current windows install has migrated like 5 times since s775 intel onto finally landing on ryzen 5600x.
will likely be carried over to am5 as well.
windows 7 was sensitive to cross-chipset (usually just between amd and intel, same vendor was fine) and then sysprep /oobe or /generalize would fix it.
might not be the solution on win10/11 tho. never tried. cause I've never had to. for what it's worth I've migrated like 20 different installs so far over the last 5 years.
To remove the old rubbish from device manager I use a tool called GhostBuster, it's free and it's portable, it will show you all the devices in device manager that are no longer connected and remove the whole lot in one go if you want. Been using it for years and it works great even on Windows 11, such a time saver and it's nice to know all the old crap is gone. It will never touch active connected devices.
do you need to uninstall every driver before migrating? GPU, chipset etc? thinking of going over from amd to an rtx build with my drive. What do i need to do beforehand?
@@delavardeheshjoo4269you don’t need to do anything before other than make sure things are backed up for your comfort. I use OneDrive so I am good.
It needs to be said again; Jay, putting aside your own invaluable contributions to your channel, your production staff are simply fantastic. The little editing add-ons and clean production sure shows you have a great team. For example, that little fast forward in old-style format is a great touch. I know I'm blowing smoke up butts here, but so what. Sometimes people need to be recognized and not taken for granted by viewers.
ball glazer
He ain't gonna hire you
I kept the same Windows installation (besides updating from 7 to 10) through three different builds on a spinny hard drive. Ten years of accumulated crap, and things were very slow at that point. I could turn the system on and go make a coffee while waiting for Windows to boot up. I finally moved to an SSD two years ago, and my goodness! Best upgrade I ever did.
I feel this in my bones. My comp wasn't nearly as slow as yours, but when I finally got an SSD, I was amazed at how fast my system could actually be. Kicking myself for not doing it sooner, but it took some time for the prices to come down and it just wasn't high on my priority list.
SSDs will transform a lot of systems you would almost consider ewaste. Great too for old laptops.
@@laowai2000 Worth it if the system is already SATA based, not so much for older pre SATA systems however as you will have to also get a converter to convert from IDE to SATA and they run somewhere between 16-20 dollars on top of the drive itself, and then you may have to go with an M.2 form factor to make it fit in the existing cage, however, it's moot as you are now running through the low bandwidth of IDE/PATA to begin with, so you won't get the speeds of even SATA with your SSD.
There is also a way to manually remove the windows key from the motherboard. it does involve using some commands, but i've done it and it works just fine. Just make sure to write down the key number BEFORE you remove it from the motherboard otherwise its gone.
So pull it using an app, delete it, and it's reusable after?
You can deactivate the key in the control panel under the activation section if you don't have an OEM key (OEM=key stored on motherboard).
@@_____alypticso you run command prompt as administrator and there’s a command called “slmgr. vbs /upk” you type that and hit enter and itll uninstall the key manually which deactivates windows on that pc. Then once you build and boot the new pc you can just put in that same key and itll work just fine, pretty much as if you were putting the key in for the first time
This is crazy, my teen son and I built a new PC last night and did exactly that, i. e. put the system drive from old PC destined for parts. I was getting ready for all the pain associated with the move but the PC loaded Windows 10 no problem. It did not even ask for reactivation (yet?) and Windows 11 installed during the update! Absolutely smooth relocation. And, thanks to you, guys, now I know what to do if it decided to ask for reactivation. You rock!
Going from Windows 10 to 11 is not a good idea.
@@ZenAndPsychedelicHealingCenter Your comment as is is useless to anyone. The internet has a trillion pros and a trillion cons about going from Windows 10 to 11. What are your specific reasons for not going from 10 to 11?
@@raygernon9686 microsoft is a shitty company and anything they want you to do should be avoided as long as possible? seriously use your brain, do you honestly think it benefits anyone other than microsoft for everyone to update to windows 11?
Oh this sounds like something I'm gonna need when I do a new build in a couple years *saved*
Or perhaps consider an OS that respects their user's privacy and freedom like Linux
@@whydoyouaskdude and risk being without the games you play and programs you need
@@masudparvejsani and live within the impending 'quality of life' updates cycle for the good part of your computer's life span
@@masudparvejsani Every single game (152/152 of my library) runs perfectly fine. Yes, i don't play any battle royale shooters or games with anti-cheat, or use CAD software, no Adobe Suite. I am aware there are pending issues for those and even for them exist solutions, albeit more cumbersome ones.
@@whydoyouaskdude There's no solution to not being able to play games with anti-cheat.
If you setup a profile with your microsoft account, the windows "license" will be attached to you microsoft account. If you go to "activation" in settings it will say "such and such a license attached to your microsoft account". Then when you move the drive to a new board/machine, you click "troubleshoot" then select the options for "i recently changed my hardware". Then it will ask you to select which device associated with your account this is. Chose the computer (by computer name), and boom should activate. I've had it take a couple tries, but should work just fine. Never heard an issue moving drives OEM or otherwise.
I do lots of these at work, and recommend running neowin ghostbuster to clean up drivers no longer needed. Its a good idea to delete your system restore points and create a fresh one too.
Im swapping over from i7-9700k to a amd 7800x3d and i have programs that are.... you know, and i dont feel the need for going through the hassle to reget those programs and reinstall them all. so for this do i run the ghostbuster after the windows install when swapped components is done ?
@@Off_The_Rail did you find an answer to this question?
@@Kinetically616TTV never got an answer, I didn’t get anything ready on the drives and just did the swap, after booting up for the first time windows launched and got some stuff ready and installed AMD software on its own. Than I went in and manually cleaned any intel drivers myself it was very easy
@@Off_The_Rail nice thank you very much
IIRC Windows Licence Keys are now attached or able to be attached to a Microsoft-Account, and when logged in itll activate it on its own.
Its the inbetween step to subscription-based windows licenses
Yes this is true however it will not always auto migrate the license and if you have too many devices registered with the same key you'll have to contact MS to get that sorted out.
this does not work if you have an OEM license key,which are usually cheaper. They bind to the board regardless.
There is no reason for Microsoft-Account to have/own or operate windows.
@@ThatMetalheadMan not true my oem digital license worth 3$, still working for 7years from am4 build w/ w10pro to am5 new build w/ w11pro. Still can transfer and activate windows.
Where was this yesterday when i needed it? 😂
Bro I was JUST going to be getting a new PC, this literally couldn't be more perfectly timed.
This is such perfect timing as I'm soon building a new rig with only my SSDs moving across. Thank you
Same here!
How did it it go ?
@@Off_The_Rail went good mate, thanks. All is working well
@@MegatronEvo sweet I’m about to do the same, just gpu, psu and SSD’s are going over from intel to amd, did you prep anything before hand on the ssd with windows or just moved it and it took care of itself ?
@Off_The_Rail I literally just slotted them into place and went for the boot up and it got me to the login screen. All I then had to do was the activation bit and it was good to go.
jay you can also just go to activate then go to troubleshoot and chose the licence you want to use
The only thing J forgot to mention is that the system has to have UEFI enabled on both computers and no raid.
It's an added pain but there are ways to convert the MBR to GPT if your old install was before UEFI.
@@EkiToji True, and this was intended to be the simplest way to do this. The phone activation is a good tip.
You can also fix the raid support by loading drivers in recovery, not easy but doable. Similar things may need to happen when comverting a physical PC to a VM.
MBR2GPT is kind of a pain in the ass, but there's a way around it.
If the old machine is 'legacy/MBR', make an image of the drive (all you need is the Windows partition; I use Lazesoft for this), then clean install on the new drive in UEFI mode.
Restore the Windows partition over the new drive's Windows install.
Boot from Macrium Reflect PE (rescue disk), repair windows boot.
- Above, make sure you're in pure UEFI mode without any legacy enabled, or else Macrium will legacy boot and you won't be able to correct the GPT/UEFI boot sector.
Reboot. Done.
As for RAID, you can clone to a single drive and it'll just boot as long as you're similar chipsets, or if Windows at least knows what it's going on. I've done this with RAID 0, 1, 10, and 5 volumes without issue.
Why on earth would anyone use RAID for a boot drive..?
Still running off my Windows 7 key. Got the free 10 upgrade. Got the free 11 upgrade. On my 4th harddrive since 2010. Not sure how, not sure why. They just keep giving me free Windows when I change drives. Yes, I have a Microsoft account. All it does is ask if I'm changing to new parts. "Boom, here's a free Windows install."
pretty cool
because every 'upgrade' has more spyware, so your steps up pay them in user data
I always do a fresh os on a new computer. I never migrate windows. Just feels wrong
few weeks ago , i tried swap my old NGFF ssd on laptop DDR3 with OS win10 inside to a new budget PC ddr4 build that support sata/nvme - NGFF ssd format , Thank god this method saved me recovery $5000 office documents , here the case my laptop the psu was short circuit its been 11 years i used the laptop maybe the power supply has reach it lifespan cycle , so i tried this method & it works so i could recovered my important files without problem. Who else got this problem you can tried this. Also i just recently ordered ddr5 budget build with win11⚡👍👾👍⚡
extra tips : i reformatted my old ngff ssd after i done recovered all files & backup , and reinstall fresh copy of win11 on new nvme ssd as my main OS. the old ngff ssd i made as extra storage.😅
09:19 Baby, this is what you came for.... Lightning....
I'm kinda sleep deprived right now so I thought the video was titled wrong till getting almost halfway through
Huh?
*lighting
thank you.
This feels like something that can be explained in a minute or two.
I dont need to waste 15 min to learn this.
Strikes every time she moves.. and everybody's watching her, but she's looking at..
@jaytwocents you have no clue how much this helps. I literally just finished a new build not even 72 hrs ago and just swapped over my drives and ran into the windows activate thing and have yet to figure it out. 🎉 I swear you read my mind with this video. Thank you thank you thank you.
Pls help me I Don understand I'm stuck on and mother board load up screen
wow. I'm doing this later today. great timing
Same Lol
Is moving drives over just as easy with windows 10?
Video starts here -> 11:20
I remember back in the PATA days we used a pci Promise controller card for this purpose. You'd install the Promise card in the current system and let the OS install drivers for the card. Then you'd change motherboards and connect your hard drive to the Promise card in the new system. At that point it would boot up because it recognized the Promise card. Then the OS could find drivers for the IDE controller on the new motherboard. Then you'd power off, move the drive over to the motherboard controller, remove the Promise card from the system, and power back on. Definitely easier now.
Jay you have no idea how much this helped me, I'm literally going to build a new computer today and use the same NVMEs form the old one (with windows 11 on it). So Thank you for the great video and keep up the great content!! New build I5 13700k, zotac 4080super (white), NZXT Kraken cooler (360, white), Gigabyte Z790, 1000w PSU and corsair DDR5 6400mhz, NZXT H6 Flow
For the ASUS RAM Aura glitch... What you have to do is go into your applications and delete Aura, then go to task manager and kill the processes for the lighting application(if it's still exists as a process) and immediately or simultaneously go into your program files under ASUS and Aura and delete all your HAL folders if those exist... Once you do that, restart your computer. Double check to make sure there's no more ASUS folders in either program folder.
The same thing will happen on any RAM kit as soon as you either change the motherboard or if you move that RAM kit temporarily and then put it back into that same motherboard that has been run with another set of RAM. Aura will try to run the lighting profiles simultaneously, and the only way to get that to stop is to do a reset of the application in settings or to totally uninstall all components and reinstall.
Oh way to make eight this is to turn off Aura before you do any sort of change to your hardware but that doesn't work all the time..........
Love you!
And even though I hate ASUS for the same reasons you do, I bought all ASUS things before I really understood what I was doing to myself.. lmao
my digital window license tie with my Microsoft account outlook worth 3$ only, using for almost 7years from am4 w/ window 10pro to am5 w/ window 11pro. easy to transfer and activate.
Yep been using the same Windows Licence since I upgraded from my Windows 8 laptop to my PC just remember to remove your old PC from the account
What’s crazy is I recently upgraded my motherboard, slightly better chipset, and a different manufacturer; fully expecting this problem. It didn’t happen, even after a fresh install of Windows 11. My guess is that Windows could detect that all my other hardware was exactly the same, CPU, GPU, RAM, & PCI WiFi. I had secure boot disabled because of TPM 2.0 on my original setup too (not sure if that made a difference).
For anyone wondering you can also find the inf files and inject them directly into the windows installation ahead of time as well. Also make sure you disable Bitlocker and Data Encryption before changing boards as Bitlocker will trip due to new secure boot keys being generated when taking an old drive and putting it into a new board.
I've upgraded boards and CPUs before twice. The first time, I had to call Microsoft for the reactivation. Just told them that I upgraded my machine and did the confirmation ID process. Then I moved my hard drive again to another board, after the free W7 to W10 free upgrade. It worked seemlessly. Oh, a Pro license makes it does that. A Home version license might not. Of course, there's gonna be some need to update drivers and stuff, and some crumbs may be left in storage after the update. Though I never really had any major issues with the migration, I did end up doing a clean install a few years later, using the same Windows license. And lastly, if you have a Microsoft account, paid or free, and have your OS license tied to it, signing in to the upgraded machine will make the activation somewhat automatic.
Screw you for not making this video a month ago when I needed it 😭
As someone who has done this too many times to count, thanks for making this video. I've been making it much more painful than it needs to be (i scorch/salt and start clean each time because I'm always worried about pointers and under the covers stuff not being able to reconcile new hardware). Love this type of content yall!
whats your triceps mass-gaining workout?
looks immense!
He plays video game a lot.
He can haz chzburgers
rude
@@themice42 I am black, I can say what i want!
make sure you have your bitlocker key or disable bitlocker if enabled
The stupid app option when activating by phone has never worked for me. It's like it doesn't see my cell phone as a real cell phone number lol
What area code? I worked at a phone company the past year and some area codes don't register properly
319
Even easier if you just click troubleshoot. Won't work every time, but I've yet to have it fail. That will take you to an option to quickly transfer your license from old system to new system. EDIT: More specifically it will have an option for "upgraded hardware" to get to that license transfer option.
I always do a clean install.
Yeah agree with you there. Certainly no downside and so easy to do these days off a USB!
You should be doing clean installs of Windows regardless, the most frequent troubleshooting fallback in IT is always a reimage. It's usually not even Windows that gets fucked up, it's morons installing a bunch of garbage on their computer and failing to maintain it, plus programs leaving a bunch of garbage in the registry and file structure, as well as process and driver bloat. A clean install gives you a clean Windows that will always run better on the same hardware than whatever you were running before. DISM and Windows Updates can't remove all the garbage software and conduct a cleanup of your own mess.
Can you use the same method shown in the video to reuse the windows key when you do that? swapping out my CPU and motherboard soon and would rather do a clean install as well.
@@DrWuzer You can pull the Windows key from within the OS and try to enter it directly when you install at the Media Creation Tool screen. To be honest, mine didn't work when I reinstalled Windows after changing out my motherboard, but it's supposed to be transferrable. If you sign in to your Microsoft account, it should be tied to your account and be no big deal. Worst case scenario, you have a watermark if it fails to activate. There are plenty of resellers that sell legit Windows keys for a pittance if you want to try your luck there.
Activation Troubleshooter is all you will likely need unless you previously activated a new motherboard fairly recently. Phone activation is needed only when the Activation Troubleshooter doesn't work. I had to resort to phone activation a while back. A motherboard activated via Activation Troubleshooter turned out to be faulty and had to be replaced. The replacement board needed activating too soon after the faulty board was activated.
So everybody, skip to the end at 14:37 and you will have your answer. Everything else in this video was useless
I would at least recommend going through and looking at hidden devices in Device Manager and uninstall the drivers that are greyed out. After you get back into Windows. You can ignore the shadow volume copies drivers and anything storage driver related. Doing this drops the likelihood of weird driver related issues popping. I’ve seen issues come up because someone didn’t go through and remove the old drivers from the system. 14:36
another tip: don't reactivate it until you updated the BIOS, or you'll have to go through all of it again!
Whether or not Windows boots is highly dependent on where the installation took place. I have both a desktop and laptop. I have a custom built desktop and a Razer Blade 15 (2018). I tried to diagnose a problem with graphics drivers by swapping my desktop drive with my laptop drive and windows never booted. The drive booted to a separate windows screen that said "Unsupported Hardware". Reinstalled the drive back into the laptop and booted into windows.
holy moly im early
Me 2
I don't know that this is an "ethics discussion" as you state. You are not using that OS on any other system. You just swap the OS between different hardware combinations as you wish. I am fine purchasing license keys for software, but I do have an issue if I paid for a key and then the motherboard dies I need to pay again because I replaced the board. That is, to me also, the same system.
first
Can I just suggest that you 3-D print and extension off that test bench frame for? However long you need for the fans? It would not be difficult at all to whip something up in CAD to give you a few extra inches of clearance for the side fans to blow across the rig. Just a thought boys from another Jason Lange……vin
There is also a way to manually go to the phone activation if you don't have it there, you just have to run "SLUI 4" as a command
Okay, so the ram I assume is messing up because it was saved on the “starry night” mode or whatever it was called, if you installed any rgb software to control that rgb, aka gigabyte software (worst offender I’ve found) it will brick the profile on the ram entirely. If starry night is on it will do that, super niche issue but it happens really easy with any g.skill ram in personal experience. No fix other than to get new ram.
you need to make a videos explain how to install drivers for a new build at the start of the Windows installation? You can't install Windows on a new motherboard with the Intel platform unless you bypass the internet connection or install the drivers at the start. before installing windows
Finally, an actual how-to video from JTC
Or you can just forgo the ability to change Windows themes and still use Windows indefinitely. There will most likely be a watermark at the bottom right reminding you to reactivate, but other than that it functions perfectly fine. Or buy a retail copy license and that allows unlimited installs on one machine at a time. Avoid the OEM copies, which lock the activation code to the motherboard hardware ID that the OS was first installed on.
The more involved thing is moving your windows installation from one drive to another and then to a new computer. My old PC is still running a 1TB SATA SSD and obviously in the days of cheap 4TB M2 (and nearly affordable 8TB ones) that doesn't cut it anymore for a new system. Gonna be quite a thing, but i hope i will manage it in the end. Doubt it makes for a good video tutorial though.
just a heads up if you change too many components even a cloud MS key can trigger reactivation or new key requirement if too many components have changed. i went Z590 Asus strix to Z790 and bingo my electronic copies would not reactivate oem w11 pro time for £15 then :)
back in the windows 7 days I moved a OEM copy from a laptop that had a dead cpu socket, to a older dell latitude laptop
that was it, no special thing required
I AM a bit salty that Microsoft decided to de-auth the older keys, I had several waiting in the wings for builds
This video reminded me of the time that my dad tried to upgrade to windows 10 and thought that the UPC retail code on the box was the windows key and couldn't activate his PC until I went to visit.
If you ever get a blue screen on install, what worked for me, was remove all additional drives before adding anything.
Man I remember back in the day when you had to activate Windows by phone. Had no idea that was still a thing.
I'm planning to build a "new" system soon, reusing most of my current parts except for the RAM, motherboard, and case. My biggest concern is transferring my current drive to the new system. Will it boot into Windows? Will I retain all my files? While I still have some doubts, watching this video has boosted my confidence in tackling the build.
Tried this once. All data on my drive became corrupted. I think the two drives in my old system had somehow created a partition map on the drive that wasn't ported, so the new motherboard couldn't read the drive. There were lots of files, but nothing made any sense. I had to wipe it and start again.
4:30 also Jay, if you felt comfortable, you could mount the AIO 280mm vertical, using just the middle set of screw holes, then fab some vertical mount, but then I guess it becomes a whole thing of changing what the case has available.
2 questions: (both using Dell as an example)
1: Does that work with OEM licenses that come with a pre-built? Like say you decide to take your HDD and move up from a Dell you used as your starter rig.
2: Conversely, can you get a used Optiplex for example, that obviously had a Windows license at the start, but someone else has previously "de-coupled" it from the hardware ID?
OEM licenses are tied to the motherboard. You can change everything but the motherboard and your key will keep working... switch MOBOs and kiss your functioning windows key goodbye.
I don't really understand your second question. If you have an activated version of windows on a computer attached to the internet than all is well. If you have an activated version of windows on a computer not attached to the internet and then after attaching said computer to the internet it tells you someone else is using that key: you need a new key. For clarity the OEM key is physically on the hardware and self activates all other key-types snapshot your hardware at registration and moving the key means doing what Jay did--updating the hardware snapshot tied to the key with microsoft.
@@TurboLoveTrain I get that the OEM key identifies via the motherboard... But.. maybe I'll further the confusion:
If Jay installed Windows on System #2, made the phone call verification and got it validated, does System #1 still have ownership? Would another Windows install on System #1 linked to the internet cause System #2 to then get told someone else is using that key? Or is System #1 now locked out?
@@douglasmurphy3266 The system key is valid only for the number of licenses you've purchased. Jay seems to have used a retail key valid for only one PC. A retail version of windows can be installed on infinite computers but only ONE of them can be valid/activated and the rest will run in a limited mode.
As soon as he had microsoft move the key to the new system the old system became "non genuine."
The scenario you seem to be alluding too obligates drive cloning. Jay MOVED the OS drive to a new PC--the old PC has NO operating system after the move therefore no windows key associated with the old PC at all.
If Jay were to clone the drive; keep the old drive in the original PC and put the new drive copy in the new PC you now have TWO operating systems with the same key--as soon as you hook them up to the internet you're going to have windows authentication issues.
@@TurboLoveTrain So Jay only got the option presented to him because his wasn't a one machine OEM copy?
@@douglasmurphy3266 yes
Nice timing! I just bought a new pc build and I need this guide badly! Thanks a lot!
It does mostly works even when the chage is very big. I wen form a i78700k to a 14700k and everything worked like a charm then just installed the new drivers for everything and was 100% working
Yeah, I just moved from an 11700k to 7700X, so everything but the drives are new and it worked perfectly on first boot
selling my rig and rebuilding a new one.., and this answers the question i been wondering.. thank you
Not impressed with the RGB installation. But re-activating Windows, sweet. Would it charge you if you said 2. Only asking as I want to get my new 2nd hand system running BEFORE breaking my old one down.
I've done this before where it resulted in Windows not recognizing the new hardware fully. It worked and downloaded drivers, but when I would pull up MSinfo32, it would still say the old hardware there. It also led to some problems trying to download proper drivers (and I must have tried half a dozen methods), and Crucial still thought it was the old pc but corrupted, so I couldn't see what upgrades were possible that way.
I just buy retail keys for all my systems, not OEM, so the serial is not stored locally but on the Micro$oft account, reactivation with a click of a button after a hardware change. Yes I know some people have issues with using a Micro$oft account but I'm okay with it.
Why on earth pay for retail keys lol? That hasn't been a thing in years.
@@ZenAndPsychedelicHealingCenter Actually, at the key seller sites there are both OEM and Retail keys available. And they are not priced miles apart. Sometimes just 2-4 Euros more, and it gives me peace of mind.
so i originally watched this 3 months ago when it was posted but don't remember what was said/shown so I'm watching it again because I'm doing a platform upgrade from AM4 to AM5 and I REALLY don't want to reinstall Windows and all my programs. i am hoping to god that Jay has an easy way of doing this that doesn't involve 8hrs of work.
Thanks for the video! I've been doing this since Windows Vista / Windows 7 and it always worked fine but everyone always told me: "No you shouldn't, the OS will run worse after this!" but nobody ever could back that up.
Hard parts used to be migrating between two drives going ide to sata, sata to nvme, or BIOS to UEFI boot layout changes due to missing drivers & trying to spin up a valid boot change. Some motherboards had other incompatible chipsets from one to the next where attempting to load the old drivers bluescrened on the new hardware.
Can you please do a new video of how to clone a drive. I want to replace my daughters hdd and add a nvme. Thanks!
If you are moving from an older system it may have MBR format which means although it will work like you showed it won't allow you to turn on smart access memory in the BIOS. You'll need to convert it to GPT. My nephew has this issue and won't let me convert it for him because he's scared he'll lose all his stuff and he can't be bothered to sort it all out. Leaving performance on the table.
usually, there is a script/utility on windows (if anyone cares/wants to know which, let me know, I can edit this) that is INTENDED to be used before swapping system hardware, it will "uninstall" the Win key, exactly for that per-1-device registered win key, and then once you move over to different hardware, you just re-activate Win again with the previously used key.
Also, the "flashed Win key to MoBo" is usually a laptop thing rather than a Desktop-style PC thing.
OEM keys can't be (legally) moved, only those bought separately, or "with media" if that is an additional cost when buying the PC.
@@phillee2814 yeah I know, I meant the bought original Windows CD with a single-use key (from a so-called trusted vendor ofc), not the deal included when buying MoBo then ripped out using some tool or script.
(Note: I rebuild my own PC once every few years with new components and have never used any extra cooling other than some chassis fans so obviously I'm not as into it as you guys and am therefore no kind of expert.)
With that clarified, why do you even need extra cooling when it's all out in the open? Or is it only to test the cooling too?
I tried this on my brothers PC transferred from an old i5 3000 series processor to AMD 5600 CPU, b550 mobo. The only thing I kept was power supply sata ssd, and graphics card. Long story short it did boot loop hell with black screens and errors. Would not even boot into windows.
Hey. Can you do a video on upgrading a laptop NVME drive to a larger drive while keeping everything from the original drive? No matter how much I know about computers, I always struggle with this.
I have changed boards a few times and its not always this seamless. Sometimes Windows will just BSOD and not be able to load. More often that not,in my experience, too. Almost every time I upgraded boards in the past several years on either Windows 10 or 11,it caused issues. Its way more likely if going from Intel to AMD or vice versa, I think. I have had to reinstall Windows from scratch on several occasions when changing boards.
I can confirm this works. Upgraded to a 7900 from a 8700K just copying the install to a new drive. One thing I did notice... When you look at your windows devices in the app, it will show you how many computers use that key. You can remove them though (it must remove the TPM data), and you can continue on as happy as Larry. Still doesn't beat a fresh install... which I should really do at some point! All data is backed up and ready to go though. Just another wee nugget of info.
I had a MSI delta 15, all AMD, I took the drive out and put it in an Intel/Nvidia desktop I built (after I had installed Windows but not activated it on a different drive) and when I booted it for the first time after installing my old laptop drive it boots into my old laptop windows, still activated, no warnings or notifications saying I changed anything, even still had a lot of AMD toolkits installed on it. Haven't had any trouble with it yet.
Edit: To clarify, I still had all the new drivers installed from the inactive copy I had on my new drive and somehow it runs the drivers off my new drive on my old drive's copy of Windows.
Answer is yes but depends on the SATA Mode in bios if you had raid setup then nope but if its the other one then it should work, but not recommended due to drivers may be cause problems like blue screens even if you remove old drivers and install the new ones
Never had this when I did it. Literally pulled out drive from old pc and installed on new one and always stayed activated
Moved from a prebuilt HP pc, to my own picked hardware, only things made it over was my windows drive and a separate storage drive.
Plugged everything in and windows started no issues. One small prompt of moving liscenced to new hardware, and boom done.
This was after logging in with my windows account.
Activating by phone often works if a purchased key doesn’t work via regular activation too.
Very informative, since here in the coming months I am looking to upgrade my motherboard and CPU.
Be aware that transferring the key do not make it legal. Invoice proves you own the license and should state type of license. OEM licenses are not transferrable from the HW you bought it with, retail (box) are.
Older windows versions wouyld require a sysprep that basically tells the OS to go into OOBE (out of box experiance) and it is similar to what the Windows 10/11 does now
I wish I would've known this. When looking for what to do with a new motherboard an CPU install I was "told" I needed to create an MS account and the use digital activation to get Win 11 to reactivate on the new hardware. I also had to answer a question stating that I installed new hardware. It *did* activate but now it's a "digital license" and I have to enter a 4 digit PIN every time I restart my PC.
I've never attempted to move a Win11 install to another motherboard, but with previous versions, I would just remove all motherboard drivers and then transfer the install. Worked every time.
I moved drives between 2 computers under Win7, Win8 and Win10 without any problem... never understood why a lot of people think it can't be done...... had to reactivate only once btw.
You can also use command prompt to uninstall windows key then when you build and boot the new pc you can just activate the key like you would the first time around
14:30 what if step 2 doesn’t work and the new system doesn’t recognize the drive as a boot drive? Im pretty sure my boot drive now has 2 windows installs on it.
Last time I moved a drive, there was a "did you change hardware" selection, and I just clicked that and was off to the races. That was a while ago.
I want to know how everybody handles using a data drive for their user items (Documents). In the past I used the OOBE with a script to move the ENTIRE user folder to the D drive. The last time I changed the data drive I learned that this wasn't a good idea as putting a NEW drive in resulted in a no-boot situation, and trying to "fix" it with the tools failed. Therefore I re-installed Windows, and used the and manually moved all the data from my spinning HD to the new nVME data drive.
I want to know why MS just can't add in a "Where do you want your USER data to reside" if it sees that there is a 2nd (3rd, 4th, etc.) drive/partition installed. Default it to the system drive, but sheesh I don't want any of the USER info on the system drive, I'd prefer it on the DATA drive. Even with the standard "Right Click Directory->Location->New Location->Move", the actual "USER" directory still resides on the system drive. OOBE Method moves the entire USER directory to the DATA drive, but it causes issues if you want to change your data drive.
Interesting, however it would have been helpful with mention of what are the exceptions to the rule mentioned in the title. Or why would this not work for some of us. Still, could come in handy so thanks for the info.
Just found your channel. Love it!
That World of Warships ad will never not be funny, especially the Phil "yeah" thrown in at the end of the beginning bit.
Activating by phone only works for the latest release. A few months ago I had to replace the motherboard of my windows 7 professional PC and can no longer activate or use it. Not by phone, email, etc. Their response was always that I needed to update to the latest version. They made no effort to help me.
The specific software I need to run does not work in windows 8 and above. Not even in compatibility mode.
This is one of the many reasons I do not use *#%@soft products any more and never target their platform when releasing hardware/software I made.
Great video Jay and perfect timing. Getting my son a new PC and he doesn't want to have to reinstall windows.
So the way that Windows checks activation depends on a lot of stuff. Like it or hate it the easiest way to deal with this is to link your Windows license to your Windows account. I've never had any problems moving and cloning boot drives or clean installs and I've gone from Intel to Threadripper to Ryzen back to Intel back to Ryzen. I've also swapped between Gigabyte, ASUS, ASRock, MSI and SuperMicro.