Buying a new Windows 7 and installing it in place of an "Illegal" one.

As far as I know, you will find it very difficult to impossible to find a non-OEM version of Windows 7.

At one time, such versions were easily found, but they have been rare for the last year or two.

You could buy an OEM version and install it and be legal again and then upgrade that to Windows 10.

You could try phoning Microsoft & explain your situation with the mother board change. They will ask you for details of your current activation code & your upgrade from XP so you will need to have those handy.

Hi as explained the only thing illegal is the activation key replace that and your back in business again,
Not sure about pricing and availability of win-7 in the uk though or preorders for win-10 but in the u.s. they still exist
Win-7 is actually pretty cheap here about 85.us
Win-10 pro preorders are 140.us for either 32 or 64 bit.

As Greg says,the usual answer is call MS.There is a free phone number.
Not sure what they do for the hard of hearing.

It is not a lenient position. When you buy something, you own it, distribution rights pass to you. That is what buying means.

If you feel you must buy one, OEM will be fine, there is no difference.

would it be possible to remove the operating system from that second drive and buy windows 7 OEM and install it in that drive?

Yes, if it is an internal drive.

gregrocker;3111246]Changing motherboard does not make your Win7 install illegal so it's a good thing you did explain enough of what you thought was too complicated so that we can in fact help you.

If you change motherboard on any OEM version of Win7, it normally would mean that the license dies with the old motherboard. However we have reports that since all but OEM version of Win7 was taken off sale that if you attempt to activate and then use Activate Windows 7 by Phone - Windows 7 Help Forums that MS is taking a lenient position to often allow reactivation with the old OEM license even when the mobo changes.

It is certainly worth a try. Then if they flatly refuse you can buy an OEM version to match yours and change the Product Key at Control Panel>System..

Just have someone call for you before you spend money, if that still fails then, as Greg says, just buy an oem copy and enter the key, you do not have to reinstall windows again.

But with a new MB, windows should have been reinstalled anyway.