How to transfer and upgrade a copy of windows off of a damaged laptop.

Question

Ok, so here is the issue. I had a laptop that had a copy of windows 10 on it along with all of my software and data. The computer was damaged in a fire, but the hard drive is readable. I bought a new computer that has a smaller hard drive, but it has windows 11. I want to copy my old hard drive over to a SSD, and put that into my new computer, then upgrade that copy of windows 10 to windows 11. this way i can have all of my software and data just the way it was on the old computer. Only difference is that it will be upgraded to windows 11. Is this possible without having to obtain a new windows 10 license key for the old install due to the hardware changes. Will the upgrade work? I had everything right where i could find it on the old computer and it will be a huge pain in the rearend to have to find all the install files, and reinstall everything. I am already going to need to upgrade the SSD in the new computer because it is too small. It has 512 GB and my old computer had a 1tb mechanical hard drive.

So the plan it to get a new 2TB SSD and clone the 1TB drive to it and then expand the main partition once copied. Then do the windows 11 upgrade. Any help would be great. If it does make me buy a license key for windows 10 then I will just look into buying a windows 10 pro key so that I can get the upgrade to windows 11 pro.

Answer 1

Hi @Eric Kabel

Based on your description, you want to copy a copy of Windows 10 from your old PC to your new PC's SSD and upgrade it to Windows 11. According to Microsoft's license terms, if your computer hardware has undergone significant changes, such as replacing a motherboard or processor, then you will need to reactivate Windows. However, if you have just replaced your hard drive, then you can try to activate Windows 10 with a digital license for Windows 11. You can install Windows 10 on a new PC and then activate it with your digital license. Note that if your license key is an OEM license key, it cannot be used on a new computer. If you are not sure how to obtain a new license key, visit the official Microsoft website or contact Microsoft Customer Support （run the command "SLUI 4" as an administrator in Command Prompt) for assistance. You can then use the Windows 11 Upgrade Assistant to upgrade it to Windows 11. The upgrade process may take some time and there may be some issues during the upgrade process. Additionally, you'll need to make sure that the software and data on your old PC are compatible with Windows 11. Finally, we recommend that you back up all your important data just in case.

Hope it helps.

Lei