Windows 10 activation from a third party HP Refurbed PC, that I changed a HD

[gwolfman]

I am researching / asking this now, before I do run into problems in the next couple of days.

Here is the story.

I bought a desktop from a internet auction site,  advertised as a  "Manufacturer Refurbished" from HP. 

Boxed up in a HP  ""Manufacturer Refurbished""  box.   This is the HP 500-539.  Nice tower,  still has the plastic covering

on the front.  Product date around Jan 2015. 

Anyways,  it was a original W 8 pro - - Hp 500-539,  Which shows a coa key for.

They had it loaded with W 10 pro,  which had a coa listed differed from the original coa of W 8 pro.

All this info I got from an internet svc Belarc.  From research,  the W 10 pro key is on the internet, along with two others.

Well,  started her up and checked her out, and found a small Toshiba HD,  which I wanted to change out.

Before I changed out the HD,  I get a msg from MS to upgrade to next version of 10 (1604 - 14393) which I did.

Then I did a USB ISO download of W 10,  to load on the new WD HD. 

So, long story short,   I wanted to change out the little Toshiba hard drive with a new WD2003FZEX 2TB.

I get on Belarc,  and the coa number changed for W 10 from the coa listed in belarc before I swapped HD.  It now shows

the original coa for the original coa for W 8 pro.

Am I going to run into problems here?   I contacted (California) the auction site, and they say they don't install or work on the refurbs.  They come that way from HP.  That I need to get with HP for the coa.???

Any thoughts on this???

With all due respect

and thanks in adavance

edit>  reason for my concern is,  the last HP I got from the auction site sent me a letter from MS with a coa and a disc for the HP they sold me.   Is there something different with the windows 10 OS ???

[Malygris1 · Accepted solution]

Hi @gwolfman,

I have brought your issue to the attention of an appropriate team within HP. They will likely request information from you in order to look up your case details or product serial number. Please look for a private message from an identified HP contact. Additionally, keep in mind not to publicly post serial numbers and case details.

If you are unfamiliar with how the Forum's private message capability works, this post has instructions.

[gwolfman]

---

@Malygris1 wrote:

Hi @gwolfman,

I have brought your issue to the attention of an appropriate team within HP. They will likely request information from you in order to look up your case details or product serial number. Please look for a private message from an identified HP contact. Additionally, keep in mind not to publicly post serial numbers and case details.

If you are unfamiliar with how the Forum's private message capability works, this post has instructions.

---

Thanks.  Sorry about the jpegs inserted,  exhuastion and over stressing caused engaging of the keyboard before brain was in gear. 

After my post,  with a little more rest and relaxation and more intensive research,  I found a command prompt and web posts that solved my curiosity and anwsered my question about the validity of my coa with my pc purchase.

Though,  I would like to hear from the HP team contact and maybe confirm what I have found. (via private message/email).  

With all due respect

Thanks

[mdklassen]

> Am I going to run into problems here?

Since Windows 10 was already installed and activated, Microsoft "knows" about your hardware,

and allows you to reinstall Windows on the "same" hardware without needing to enter a product-key.

Whether your swapping of the disk-drive makes it a "different" computer, or its still the "same" computer, is an interesting question.

[gwolfman]

---

@mdklassen wrote:

> Am I going to run into problems here?

Since Windows 10 was already installed and activated, Microsoft "knows" about your hardware,

and allows you to reinstall Windows on the "same" hardware without needing to enter a product-key.

Whether your swapping of the disk-drive makes it a "different" computer, or its still the "same" computer, is an interesting question.

---

Well,  I just remember when the free W10 was offered,  then it was stated that if you change hard drive out,  you would lose the free download.   But,  I was just trolling for confirmation that if the pc came pre installed,  the MoBo was the pc id and not so much the hard drive,  cpu,  cooling,  etc...

But,  then you have the oem and retail issue..

I just went ahead and downloaded the iso and did the swap,  and was not asked for a key,  which MS digitally does things now,   I believe anyways.  But, again,  I was not asked for coa or anything.     I did a command prompt and,  I not sure how to read all the info,  but, to me it looked authorized with no time restrictions.

In the long run I will see.

[gwolfman]

On another note on this,   I had a local computer store bought pc with W XP SP3,  and I would change the HD,  reboot to clean install, and other etc...fan,  cpu,  and with the installation disc,  just used the coa assigned sticker and never had any problems.  Never went as far as changing an MoBo on it though.

[mdklassen]

>  I had a local computer store bought pc with W XP SP3,  and I would change the HD,  reboot to clean install,

> and other etc...fan,  cpu,  and with the installation disc,  

> just used the coa assigned sticker and never had any problems.  

That makes sense.

In Windows XP, the "activation" process checked several items:

* the CPU,

* the RAM,

* the disk-drive,

* the CD/DVD device,

* the network card,

and stored that information on Microsoft's servers.

The fan has no "intelligence", so changing it does not matter.

For each item that you change, you get '1' point, except for changing the network card, for which you get '3' points.

So, each time you boot Windows, it counts the number of points for changed items, using the original hardware,

as activated, as a "base" score of zerio. I think that a score of '5', or more, would require you to re-activate Windows.

In your case, changing your new disk-drive scores just '1' point, which is OK with Microsoft.

> Never went as far as changing an MoBo on it though.

I imagine that changing the motherboard would score a bunch of points, especially with different RAM, a different CPU, and a different integrated network card.  After all, you clicked "I agree" that your license for XP is valid only as long as the hardware (with minor changes) is the "same".  Those terms state that when the hardware "dies", so does your software license.

[gwolfman]

When I got the 500-539 hooked up and did a system check, and found the HD was only a 1TB(Toshiba).  While I was system checking and basic set ups,  MS sent me a 10 upgrade msg.  I had build 10240 and then upgraded to 14393.  This was before I did the HD swap.

When I exchanged the Toshiba 1 TB that came in the 500-539 for the WD2003fz3x,  I still had the 14393 build for W10pro.

So,  I started this thread for this concern,  if I was able to legally to do this HD swap for this pc with the os 10 pro on the hp refurbished that I bought of from the auction site.  I did the swap anyways and I think all is good,   as I say,  for the time being.

 I was ,  in the back of my mind from the free upgrade period,  thinking that I would not be able to change HDs and still keep W10pro.