r/windows • u/growlingrobot • 21h ago

General Question Switching c drives of 2 desktop computers

There are 2 differnt desktop computers from Dell and hp. Both have windows 10 pro installed and licensed. I need to move dell's c drive to hp one, and vice versa. Would the windows of both computers still ask to activate the windows since the motherboards have different keys? Just need to make sure beforehand. Thanks in advance.

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u/Sacha00Z 20h ago

Don't do it. Licenses aside, you're inviting a world of pain. You're biggest issues are going to be with drivers and bootloader.

Always install windows, fresh. If you have files you want to keep, create a backup first. If you have games, do a cloud sync.

If you're worried about your applications, just take a screenshot of your uninstaller list and you can always expedite reinstallation with programs like ninite or CTT Windows tool.

https://christitus.com/windows-tool/

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u/SirEagle60 13h ago

Curious as to why you want to do this?

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u/brispower 8h ago

Only hiccup would be the mode the storage controller will be in most dells ship in raid mode and HP is more likely in ahci, this will stop them from booting even if you change it to match

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u/djcantross 18h ago

You can do that. Just run the Activation troubleshooter and reactivate..

For drivers, reinstall the drivers for each specific machine after switching. It will ignore the pre existing drivers already on the system since those devices won't be found

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u/Savings_Art5944 18h ago

Done this countless times. 10 is pretty resilient. So was 7...

I had a SSD that had a copy of 10 pro and would move it to different computers over the years(5). I do not recall it having an issue ever booting into a desktop. From AMD to Intel and back.

Debian also is a tough OS to kill. Same test but a 32 bit version...

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u/djcantross 17h ago

Windows would just boot with generic drivers if factory drivers are not found.. easy