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My GF received a Macbook for free for work but she already had bought a new Windows 7 laptop a few months ago.
She's considering installing Windows 7 on the Macbook (for dual boot) by using the same license for Windows 7 on the laptop.. and she'll be wiping that laptop and installing Linux to use it from now on.
Is this possible?
Is the Windows 7 key directly associated with a particular computer or it can be installed on any computer (as long as it's only active on 1 computer at any moment)? I've not had problems transferring the licenses between computers back in the Windows 95 and XP days but I'm not so enlightened about the extra license security on Windows 7.
From a purely technical standpoint, I believe that OEM licenses are supposed to stay with the device that they are supplied with.
From a mechanical standpoint, it depends.
I moved my OEM license between towers without issue (retired the old hardware and built a new machine). It had been about 2 years since the original activation, and it activated without any problems.
I did have an issue when the new MB had to be RMA'd within a month. After swapping the MB, Windows deactivated itself and I had to call MS to reactivate, but it wasn't that big of a deal.
With that said; I have full Windows 7 media, not one of those all in one disks that typically come with laptops.
I did have an issue when the new MB had to be RMA'd within a month. After swapping the MB, Windows deactivated itself and I had to call MS to reactivate, but it wasn't that big of a deal.
I've had to do this once, when I reinstalled Windows 2003 server on a test PC for school a long time ago. It borked after an update. Called MS when I tried to reactivate, they gave me the third degree about why I was reinstalling it. I got p*ssed off and pretty much told them I was reinstalling because of their half a$$ed QC process. Didn't have a problem after that and I've never had to call them again.
I've had to do this once, when I reinstalled Windows 2003 server on a test PC for school a long time ago. It borked after an update. Called MS when I tried to reactivate, they gave me the third degree about why I was reinstalling it. I got p*ssed off and pretty much told them I was reinstalling because of their half a$$ed QC process. Didn't have a problem after that and I've never had to call them again.
At least with Office and Win7 it's all automated now.
An OEM license of Windows cannot per the license agreement be transfered to another PC, however the license agreement has never been tested in a court, so who knows. Can you actually do it, yes. You would need a generic Windows 7 installation DVD of the same version (home, pro, etc) as the product key you want to use from the laptop.
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