Can I move a Windows 7 license key from one PC to another?

Question

Possible Duplicate:
When reinstalling Windows 7, does the language, version, architecture (64-bit or 32-bit) or source (OEM, retail, or MSDN) matter?

If I uninstall Windows 7 from the first PC, will the serial number work for the second PC?

Answer 1

Yes, you can transfer the licence from one machine to another as long as it is a full retail licence.

You may have to phone up a Microsoft freephone number and answer the "is this copy of Windows 7 installed on only one machine?" question, which should be true when you activate it. I have done this in transferring my copy of Windows 7 to my wifes computer when I bought a new machine which had it installed already and aside from the phonecall it was no problem at all, just a long number that you type in.

If the machine had Windows 7 installed on it to begin with (i.e. from Dell or somewhere like that) then it may be an OEM copy and that licence is not transferable to another machine.

Answer 2

It depends. Did you activate Windows on any of the PCs? You might be able to transfer the license from the first to the second PC as long as it's not used on both (I've done this without any problems after upgrading my PC). If Windows complains when trying to activate the second PC, call Microsoft and you'll fix the problem in no time.

Answer 3

I've transferred/reinstalled Windows XP and Microsoft was quite reasonable. I phoned them and told them the original disk had crashed and I was re-installing on a new drive and in one case a whole new system. It took about 15 minutes and no subsequent problems.

As noted above there may be a problem if you have an OEM install as Microsoft may not allow you to install a Dell licensed copy of Win7 on an HP system (for example). As long as CPU is from the same manufacturer you have a better chance getting them to allow it.