In these days I debunked one of the computer taboos, that of moving the disk where Windows is installed, typically the C: disk, from one computer to another . Having been forced to change the motherboard and, forcibly, also the processor and RAM (for compatibility reasons), I decided in fact to buy practically everything new, everything except the disks of the old computer, including the main one. The fear I had was related to the fact that by looking on the internet for reassurances about the possibility of mounting the disk with a system already installed on another computer with a simple detach from the old and attach to the new and I had found only reports of problems of all kinds, a little 'related to the license, but above all related to hardware compatibility.
The problem is that if you move Windows from the computer on which it was installed to another completely different one, this does not find the drivers of the components from which it is made, with the high risk of crashing on startup.
Wanting to try anyway, I detached the C disk from the old computer (an SSD), connected it to the new one, turned it on and as if by magic everything worked as if I hadn't changed anything, smooth, smooth and without errors. This way I saved myself the trouble of installing Windows on the assembled PC again and continuing to work on programs and documents as I was doing the day before.
Going to analyze the situation better, let's see what are the conditions under which it is possible to move Windows to another PC without problems and when, instead, it is required to reinstall Windows from scratch .
First of all, the key to success was Windows 10 .
The Windows 10 system, compared to previous versions, includes within itself the drivers to make all hardware components work (at least the most popular)
When I started the new PC with the old disk, Windows 10 was therefore able to load the drivers to run the processor, the motherboard and all the changed parts, instead ignoring those that already had in memory related to the PC from which it came. This means that, if it is assembled desktop PCs and not laptops that have the system tied to the hardware, Windows 10 can be moved without problems .
The situation is different on Windows 7, which instead is easy to crash if moved to another PC, because it immediately finds the hardware conflict relating to the drivers and cannot load the new ones automatically. The drivers for the storage controller, which allows the motherboard to communicate with the hard disk, are particularly important and when Windows 7 starts on different hardware, it does not know how to manage that hardware as Windows 10 does instead (in the most cases, not always). In this case it may be necessary to start the computer in safe mode, remove the old drivers and install the new ones manually.
Even the Windows 10 license did not give any problems and the system remained activated and validated without the need to re-enter codes.
However, this is linked to a very specific condition, namely that my copy of Windows 10 is of the retail type, therefore not strictly linked to the computer motherboard. If instead it was an OEM license usually sold together with the PC, then this move would have required a new activation.
The same goes for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.
In this regard, I refer to the guide on how to transfer the Windows license to another PC .
If you prefer, after moving the disk you can remove all the programs at once in Windows 10, with the included Refresh tool, resetting it without deleting anything.
If you want to move the Windows installation to another PC with a new disk, the best way is to proceed with cloning. An exact copy of the old disk is then created on an external drive, which is then restored to the new one.
The best program to do this is definitely Aomei Backupper .
Installing Windows on an assembled PC without an operating system can be more complicated.
In this case, I refer to the guide on how to install Windows on a new PC to get all the details.
READ ALSO: Transfer Windows to another PC or disk, without reinstalling and losing data
