Solved What happens to old disc licence after new install?

[hazel123]

This might sound like a silly question but - if I put a new hard drive in my laptop and do a clean install with a retail Windows 7 disc I have, and then activate it (hopefully) with the OEM product code of the laptop, will the old disc with all the software and files on, become inactive if I then needed to put it back (ie if for some reason my laptop didn't run well with the new drive)?

I'm asking because I need to put a bigger drive in and have decided to do a clean install because cloning didn't work well, and it's a Sony Vaio and refused to let me install a system image onto a new drive. So it wouldn't surprise me if the new drive runs too hot or has some issue.

If that happened to be the case and I have then activated the new drive with the OEM product key, does that mean if I put the old drive back in, the Windows software will be invalid? Just confused myself!

What I can't work out is how I could have two copies of Windows on two drives with the same product code - which presumably isn't allowed - and so one of them must then become inactive I guess. I wouldn't want to risk my old drive becoming inactive before finding out if I have any issues with the new drive/install.

 

[Pauly]

You should be fine, the licence code is tied to the machine (in particular the motherboard) not the harddrive so swapping back or reinstalling at a later date will be perfectly legitimate

 

[hazel123]

Thanks! So if I keep my old hard drive with Windows and all my files on as a kind of back up drive, and then the new drive dies in say 3 months, I can just put the old drive back in again?

 

[Pauly]

You can do whatever you like as long as the motherboard doesn't change your licence key will activate any install on that machine regardless of what drive it is on

 

[DavidE]

I'm asking because I need to put a bigger drive in and have decided to do a clean install because cloning didn't work well, and it's a Sony Vaio and refused to let me install a system image onto a new drive.

I've never had a problem using Macrium or Acronis Imaging to restore/transfer an image to a new HD/SSD.
From what I've read, cloning is more "iffy" than imaging.
I don't have a Sony Vaio.

 

[hazel123]

Thanks - it probably needed a clean install anyway. Well that went well - it activated straight away when I changed the product key to the OEM one on the back of the laptop. So activation is fine. Windows updates didn't come up with the list of drivers I expected. Just Atheros - so I still have a stretched screen. Hope some more drivers come through. I have them all on an sd card but didn't expect to need them.

It was my first attempt at cloning a drive and all seemed to go well but still not sure if I used the right cable and something wasn't right afterwards so I gave up. Maybe something in the Sony firmware affected it, as it wouldn't accept a system image either. Anyway I've backed everything up and hopefully all will go well with the clean install. I've done clean installs before but every machine is different (and this one has its annoying things but isn't as bad as the old Packard Bell!)

 

[AddRAM]

Everything Pauly said is true, as long as you`re only using one install at a time you can use your key from the COA.

 

[DavidE]

Windows updates didn't come up with the list of drivers I expected. Just Atheros - so I still have a stretched screen. Hope some more drivers come through. I have them all on an sd card but didn't expect to need them.

Look in Device Manager to see if you have any devices with errors (you'll see an error icon for any devices with errors).
To get to Device Manager, in the Start Button / Search Box type in device manager and select it in the list displayed.

You can check your Driver Update settings using this tutorial:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2803-device-installation-settings.html

If the screen is not displayed correctly and you have the latest drivers WU offers, you might need to manually install a different video driver.

 

[hazel123]

Thanks - I did have an error in device drivers. I opted to let Windows install device drivers and icons straight away and an error came up, but then proceeded with Windows updates.

The error that came up was driver for Base System Device is not installed. Have done the troubleshoot on this and it's searching for device driver but couldn't install it. It's probably the card reader showing up as unknown device. I'll check it out.

Quite a few Windows updates failed as well but Service pack 1 is installed now.

 

[hazel123]

I have a list of four Sony things to install to get function keys operating as well - SPEF, Shared Library and so on but waiting till all Windows updates are done.

The driver seems to be Ricoh memory stick.

Just wondering if I should download Internet Explorer 11 before doing more Windows updates. It's currenly on IE8 and Windows Update searching for a long time.

Laptop is now running very hot. I had this problem when I put the new drive in before, when cloned - put the old drive back in and it stopped overheating last time. I have had this on an older Vaio laptop - I think the overheating ceased when everything was finally installed, so fingers crossed it settles down.

 

[DavidE]

Win 7 Windows Updates takes along time for many people now, especially after a clean install.
You might need to let it run overnight to see if it will download and install all the updates.

 

[hazel123]

Would it be the Nvidia graphics driver for the display? I guess so. So do I need to uninstall the VGA driver first?

Thanks - yes my last clean install on another machine took ages to do all the updates, so leaving it running overnight sounds like a good idea.

 

[DavidE]

Yes the Nvidia graphics driver is for the display.
It's probably using the default Windows VGA driver now, and i wouldn't uninstall that.

You can wait to see if WU installs the Nvidia driver.
If you manually install the driver now, you might need to re-boot, and that might interrupt the currently running WU process.
I don't think that would cause problems, but i wouldn't want to use the PC without the security patches installed, so i would wait.

 

[hazel123]

Ok thanks!

 

[hazel123]

Only real issue so far is the laptop is getting so hot it keeps shutting down. It was doing this when I put the cloned drive in as well so must be something to do with putting the new drive in I guess. It's nothing flash - just a Seagate 500GB 5400rpm drive. The original drive was a 320GB 5400rpm drive. I think this one has a 16mb cache instead of 8mb but apart from that it's just a bigger drive.

Am I missing some firmware re overheating or something? Or is this laptop just a pig that won't accept any drive except the one it came with!

As I can't do any more Windows updates without the laptop shutting down part way when it gets too hot, I tried installing the Nvidia graphics driver (copied it from my sd card onto the desktop so it should be safe) and the three Sony utilities for function buttons (Shared Library, Vaio Event Service and Setting Utility Service) in case that made a difference, but none of them did. Also checked that Windows had installed the SPEF driver, which it had.

So might have to give up on this install if the laptop keeps overheating and shutting down.

Started a new thread on the overheating issue.

 

[cornemuse]

My (bought used) Tosh 505 laptop hdd died, I had to buy disks (for same) & reinstall 7 to brand new hdd. I used one of those 'key' readers, # was different than key # on bottom of machine. fwiw, , , ,

-corne-

 

[AddRAM]

Yes, the key you found is the mass factory activation key, they are not going to put a different key on every pc they build. The key on the COA is for the end user to reinstall windows when they decide to.

There was no reason for you to buy any discs, you already owned the license to use windows, all you had to do was download the iso file of your version of windows and burn to dvd.

Download Windows 7 ISOs, Legally and for Free | PCsteps.com

Free ISO Burner

 

[cornemuse]

And this download would have everything needed (drivers etc) for specifically a Toshiba 505 laptop?? I paid $29.95 to toshiba, , , not too bad, I guess.

 

[AddRAM]

Windows contains 99% of your needed drivers, but it does not include every driver any pc might need, that would be impossible. If you are happy with your purchase, that`s great.

You were smart and did what you needed to do to get the job done Excellent work !!