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cortman
March 29th, 2012, 08:29 PM
First, is it possible?
I just bought a new netbook that will come with Win7 Home Premium. I also bought an SSD for said netbook that I plan to install Crunchbang or Arch on. Would the old HDD with 7 work in another computer?
Second, would it be legal to sell it?

CharlesA
March 29th, 2012, 08:39 PM
It might work, but it would be a breach of the EULA, so that would be a "no no."

Just wipe the drive and sell it off.

cortman
March 29th, 2012, 08:45 PM
It might work, but it would be a breach of the EULA, so that would be a "no no."

Just wipe the drive and sell it off.

If it is actually a EULA violation, then yeah, I don't think I'll do it.
I'd as soon just keep the HDD for external, what gets me is that costly Windows license going to waste...

CharlesA
March 29th, 2012, 08:48 PM
If it is actually a EULA violation, then yeah, I don't think I'll do it.
I'd as soon just keep the HDD for external, what gets me is that costly Windows license going to waste...
Could always dualboot. ;)

jockyburns
March 29th, 2012, 09:17 PM
Apart from the EULA breach, there could be problems for someone installing this in another computer. About a year or so ago, my computers Mobo gave up the ghost after a power surge fried the PSU. A computer geek suggested buying a new Mobo and recovering what I could from the computer (peripherals etc) I did this and when I connected the HDD to the new Mobo, I ran into HP's infamous security software. Took my computer geek a few hours to work round and bypass the security measures.(don't ask me how he did it) Apparently, had I bought a new Mobo of the same type as the fried one, I'd still have had this problem as the HDD was quite literally tied to the individual Mobo by HP, when it was manufactured.

aysiu
March 29th, 2012, 09:46 PM
It actually might work, but I've swapped Windows installed hard drives only in like computer models, so I'm not sure if it would (EULA aside).

KiwiNZ
March 29th, 2012, 10:07 PM
I assume that the Windows license you have purchased is an OEM license. It is therefore machine specific under the EULA.

I will remind folks of this from the Forum Code of Conduct "We do not support circumventing TOS, EULA, etc here. Such threads will be closed and offending users will be penalised with infractions and warnings."

knight2000
March 29th, 2012, 11:53 PM
Nobody here is talking about intentionally circumventing any licensing rules. It's good that the community has been able to advise and help the user out without being too hostile. OEM Licenses are machine specific so cannot be transferred from machine to machine. However you can purchase a license from Microsoft that can be transferred, as long as it is used on only one machine. Most windows installations are the OEM version which cannot be transferred. So as others have suggested, if you're not sure about your licensing rights you should either wipe the drive or install an open source operating system on it before selling it. I think most buyers would prefer a blank drive for security reasons. Good luck with whatever you do with it :)

cortman
March 30th, 2012, 12:03 AM
I assume that the Windows license you have purchased is an OEM license. It is therefore machine specific under the EULA.

I will remind folks of this from the Forum Code of Conduct "We do not support circumventing TOS, EULA, etc here. Such threads will be closed and offending users will be penalised with infractions and warnings."

The whole point of this thread was to see if it WAS legal- I guess I could read through the whole Windows EULA, but I didn't have a year or two to spare. :)
If I find that it's not legal (which seems to be the way it is), I have no intention to try and sell it.

aysiu
March 30th, 2012, 12:16 AM
To be honest, I'm not sure whom your target customer would be.

Most people who buy a non-Apple computer will buy one that already has Windows preinstalled on it. I'm not sure why getting a hard drive with Windows preinstalled would appeal to those people. If they're tech-savvy, they can buy a larger drive and clone their old one. If they're not tech-savvy, how would they install the new hard drive, or troubleshoot the transferred Windows installation not working?

bnitch
March 30th, 2012, 12:28 AM
Keep it just in case, if you connect it to a different computer the software will see the difference and ask for the license key. If you even change the mother board in the same computer it will know and want you to reregister.

QIII
March 30th, 2012, 12:29 AM
In summation:

Could it be put into another machine and have Windows run? Depends.

Is it legal? Depends. But I think if one has to ask if something is legal, it's probably best to assume it's not without consulting an attorney.

Will someone buy it? Yes, for the price of a lightly used drive. Having Windows on it will likely not add to its market value in any case.

Is that about it, folks?

CharlesA
March 30th, 2012, 12:36 AM
In summation:

Could it be put into another machine and have Windows run? Depends.

Is it legal? Depends. But I think if one has to ask if something is legal, it's probably best to assume it's not without consulting an attorney.

Will someone buy it? Yes, for the price of a lightly used drive. Having Windows on it will likely not add to its market value in any case.

Is that about it, folks?
Yep.

HermanAB
March 30th, 2012, 12:16 PM
Windows isn't really worth anything. Someone would have to pay me to use it...

knight2000
April 1st, 2012, 01:06 AM
Its worth alot to me. I get paid to write Window ws software. Its worth alot to the company too as they use it on most of their desktops. Without a good IT infrastructure we wouldn't be as sucessful.

HermanAB
April 1st, 2012, 05:27 AM
The more I am paid, then less I want to use Windows, since every minute lost due to Windows problems is $$$ down the drain.