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Install Windows 8 on a new HDD?

Hi, my sister owns an HP laptop that came preinstalled with Windows 7 Home Premium. Recently the HDD started to fail and she called me to help her replace it.  She then went out an bought an upgrade copy of Windows 8 as she thought she could use it since windows 7 was already installed on the old, failing drive.

Is there an easy way to get Windows 8 activated on her new HDD? She has already performed a clean install on the new disk but I do believe she has access to the old one as well.

See the following for instructions:

 

Best,
Andre
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groovypost.com

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To use the upgrade on a brand new drive, you have to install windows 7 on it first to qualify for the upgrade. Read this-- http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/why-activate-windows 
Win 8 upgrade must be installed on the boot drive, so having win 7 on another drive that is not installed in the computer won't work. Request a windows 7 disk from the computer maker if you don't have one.

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Her laptop has two available HDD slots. Would it be possible to connect the old HDD in the spare bya and then activate Windows 8 from it?

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See the following for instructions:

 

Thank you for your quick response and helpful link. I'd like to skim the batch file first as my sister isn't the most tech savvy person and I'd hate to give her something that might cause a security risk. I'll update this ticket if it does indeed work. 

Thanks again!

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Last updated March 24, 2018 Views 283 Applies to: