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- HP Community
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- Notebook Operating System and Recovery
- How to move an old HDD to a new same model Notebook

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10-31-2021 02:35 PM
How do I install an old HDD with a non-transferable OEM Windows 10 Home OS on it that I cloned to an SDD into a new laptop r=that has a valid licensed Windows 10 Pro OS?
My motherboard was damaged in my HP laptop when dropped it last month and damaged the charger port. When I tried to plug the charger connector back in, there was some arcing before the laptop shut itself down. I replaced the port cable, charger and battery to no avail. The laptop will function normally with a fresh battery but the charging led does not light and the battery does not charge. I figured the charging circuit on the motherboard had shorting and was damaged. So, I decided to buy a refurbished same model laptop, HP 15-BA078DX. Besides the motherboard problem the case on my old laptop is basically destroyed from one too many drops and being opened too many times.
The old la has OEM Windows 10 Home installed and a 1Tb HDD. The new one has Windows 10 Pro installed and a 256Gb SDD installed. I want to clone my old HDD to a 1Tb SDD and install it in the "new" laptop without losing any of my settings, files, apps, or programs except the old OS because I want to use the Windows 10 Pro OS that is on the "new" laptop.
How do I accomplish this? PS: I have already saved the OS from the "new" laptop on a bootable USB drive.
10-31-2021 05:18 PM
You are up against two different issues trying to do this.
First, the OEM license is tied to the PC, so when moving a drive from one PC to another, you will then find Windows being deactivated since the license actually belongs to the old PC, not the PC owner (you).
Second, Home and Pro have different licenses. So if both PCs were home, then you could run a utility to record the Home license info using the current drive and after you swapped drives, then you could use the Windows function to change the product key to re-enter the license info. But that will not work, because the Home and Pro licenses are different.
And since HP does not sell licenses, I don't know of any way to do what you want to do.
I am a volunteer and I do not work for, nor represent, HP
10-31-2021 06:18 PM
I am not going to be trying to use the license from my old notebook. I would be using the license for the "new" notebook and the old drive clone from my old notebook.
Can't I just remove the SSD from the "new" notebook. Install the clone SSD from my old notebook. Boot the "new notebook with its Windows 10 Pro from the USB flash that has the "new" notebook's Windows 10 Pro OS on it and do Window update or upgrade using the product key from my "new" notebook.
Wouldn't that replace the OS on the SSD with the one that was on the "new" notebbook?
10-31-2021 06:54 PM
Unless I misunderstood what you have said, you have two licenses:
1) Win 10 Home
2) Win10 Pro
You can't "upgrade" from Home to Pro by BOOTING from a Pro version when a Home version is running -- because that is not upgrading per se; instead, by BOOTING from install media, you are forcing a Clean Install and most likely, nothing will be saved from the existing install.
If you are running the Home version, insert a Pro version on USB stick and try doing an in-place Upgrade, that MIGHT work, but I don't know if it will. If it prompts you for a license key and you enter the Pro key, that might just work.
I am a volunteer and I do not work for, nor represent, HP