Swapping hard drive on HP Minis (2102/110-1025DX)

[bizwiz41]

I have two HP Minis; a 2102 and a 110-1025DX. Both are running Win 10 Pro, and have similar programs loaded.

For a few reasons I would like to be able to swap the hard drives between these two devices, but I'm not sure how feasible that would be. My questions are:

1. Would the Win 10 Pro OS be recognized by the new devices? Could I simply  change the Product Key after swap to "force" an acceptance?
2. Drivers: I do not know how the drivers might be loaded. They both use HP Assistant, could I simply run that to load the best drivers?
3. The "detail" issue here is my MS Office programs; one of my main goals is to move Office 2010 Pro Plus to the other Mini, but I have lost the installation media. I've been told Office 2010 Pro Plus cannot be downloaded from MS like other Office products.
4. Anything that I'm missing?

Thanks in advance for help on this question.

[banhien]

Hi,

I have not tested this kind of swap on HP machines (because I son't have 2 similar one) BUT I did a test few year back on two Identical Dell machines, namely Dell Latitute E4310 and this did not work.

Regards.

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

If both laptops are licensed to run Windows 10 i.e. are "activated" you should be able to swap the hard drives. Windows 10 is activated by Microsoft servers and they should recognize that the transplant host (I will use donor and host to refer to the original computer that had the hard drive and the computer where it ends up, respectively) is OK to run Windows 10. Just to be sure I would have the Key for the host handy but you should not need to use it. Drivers will likely not be an issue as netbooks all are essentially the same hardware. If you are worried, drivers for the host system are held in a C:\swsetup folder on the hard drive which you could copy to use if needed in the host system after transplant. 

The issue is the activation of the Office program. I am not as familar with how its licensing and activation works but I think there may be a copyright or EULA issue with what you are trying to do. 

You can buy MS Office 2010 Pro Plus for not much cost:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Microsoft-office-2010-Pro-Plus-licence-Key-download-link-digital-Edition-/15...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Microsoft-Office-2010-Professional-Plus-Full-version-For-32-64BIT-D-L-KEY-/2...

[bizwiz41]

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@Huffer wrote:

If both laptops are licensed to run Windows 10 i.e. are "activated" you should be able to swap the hard drives. Windows 10 is activated by Microsoft servers and they should recognize that the transplant host (I will use donor and host to refer to the original computer that had the hard drive and the computer where it ends up, respectively) is OK to run Windows 10. Just to be sure I would have the Key for the host handy but you should not need to use it. Drivers will likely not be an issue as netbooks all are essentially the same hardware. If you are worried, drivers for the host system are held in a C:\swsetup folder on the hard drive which you could copy to use if needed in the host system after transplant. 

The issue is the activation of the Office program. I am not as familar with how its licensing and activation works but I think there may be a copyright or EULA issue with what you are trying to do. 

You can buy MS Office 2010 Pro Plus for not much cost:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Microsoft-office-2010-Pro-Plus-licence-Key-download-link-digital-Edition-/15...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Microsoft-Office-2010-Professional-Plus-Full-version-For-32-64BIT-D-L-KEY-/2...

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Thanks again Huffer!

I thought this might be the situation, but wasn't 100%. 

As for the MS Office, I don't think there will be a licensing issue; as I've cloned the hard drive with no issue. I'm only allowed 1 laptop license w/Pro Plus, so hopefully this is not an issue.

Plus, if it doesn't work well, I can simply swap back!

Thanks again for the help.