Can I use a Windows 8 OEM COA to activate a Windows 7 OEM hard drive?

This is probably a dumb question but I'm going to ask it anyway.

If I put a hard drive with windows 7 into an almost identical laptop it'll know the keys don't match BUT the new laptop has a key on it that is matched to the BIOS, the trouble is that the key on the new laptop was for Windows 8.

What do you think the odds are that the key for Windows 8 that matches the new Laptops BIOS will be accepted by the Windows 7 hard drive and allow it to work?

No, definitely not, and would have been illegal even if it did.

NOT TRUE,
George
Some, not all OEM's do have have the option to downgrade from 8 to 7.
Just look up your OEM.

Roy

This I did not know torchwood, thanks.

It only applies to pro and enterprise versions of windows 8 though, and only OEM and volume license versions,

For a PC that has Windows 8 preinstalled by an OEM

OEM downgrade rights apply to only Windows 8 Pro and allow for downgrades for up to two earlier versions (to Windows 7 Professional and to Windows Vista Business).

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2832566

In the end the HD from the failed laptop would not boot in the new laptop, I couldn't get it to work because, I believe, I could not change the drivers without re-installing windows.

I bought a new MB on eBay and had it shipped and then I repaired the laptop and then used the old HD in it. It cost me as much as the new Laptop.

I can't say I was impressed with Win 7 or Win 8.1, the idea that I could have lost $6000+ worth of application software because Microsoft wanted to protect their $99 OS was enough to make me suggest my customer look into buying the Linux versions next time he renews at Allen Bradley.

This wasn't a hard drive problem, this situation was caused by a failed motherboard and would not have been prevented by any type of backup.

The hard drive was perfectly fine except that it will only work with one single model of motherboard because of Microsofts OS. I can take a linux hard drive and throw it into a different box with different MB, video, ethernet and sound cards and it'll complain but at least I'll get the opportunity to change the drivers and have it adapt to new hardware. With FreeBSD Unix all of my apps, data and personal stuff are within the /usr file system and that folder is portable between machines and between operating systems. I can pop a hot swap drive out of my FreeBSD 8, insert it into my FreeBSD 9 machine, reboot and my entire app catalogue, data and preferences is there for me.

I'm disappointed that there is no way to pay Microsoft and transfer a working hard drive to a new set of hardware. I would have gladly paid MS $100-$200 if I could have put the drive into a slightly newer laptop and got it running without having to wipe the drive and re-load the OS from scratch, plus they would have received the licensing fee for the OS that was on the laptop when I bought it even though I wasn't going to use it. Instead I had to find a replacement MB and they got paid for neither.

It's just frustrating!

Thanks Aplha, I'm not familiar with sysprep, I'll read up on it for next time.

I bought a retail box Win7 so I have a valid COA/key that could be used once the drive is moved and I was willing to completely abandon the Win8 OS if I could get the old drive to work on the new laptop. I didn't realize at first that the OEM embedded keys for 8.1 were so different from Win 7's method.

Jeff