Move hard drive

[Ivan76]

I want to move my old is win 8.1 to a newer computer. I want to move the whole hard drive with the OS and the software included. The problem that I find is that when I start the computer it shows me the BIOS and after that a black screen with a cursor. I cannot access to the safe mode in order to check what happens. And I've tried F8, an external recovery drive and a software to tell the OS that it should start in safe mode. It always show me black screen with cursor.
The newer computer is good enough to to run win 8.1. Any clue??

[erico]

Your Windows 8.1 license is tied to the PC it was delivered in.  That was part of the license agreement. 

You will need to purchase a license key and perform a clean install to the hard disk on the new PC.

What is the brand and model of newer computer?

[Ivan76]

No brand, it's a model built with several components. How can I move that drive and software to the newer computer?

[WAWood · Accepted solution]

@Ivan76

If the Windows installation on the old drive is a preinstalled version from HP, then as @erico indicated, the Windows license for that version stays with the original PC and you can not LEGALLY move that to a different PC.  Retail licenses can be transferred from one PC to another, but OEM licenses (which is what you have with an HP PC) can NOT.

In addiion, the OS version on that drive was configured with drivers for the hardware in that PC.  When Windows starts, it loads those drivers automatically, and if the new PC has different hardware, Windows will not load properly.