moving OS drive to an identical computer

V

venm11

2[H]4U
Joined
Oct 6, 2004
Messages
2,236
So, if I move the OS drive to the same model computer, what problems should I expect? I've done this before with no problem, but there could be a security or licensing issue that wasn't present on older laptops or OSs.

I'm doing this to determine if some issues (windows crashes when resuming) are hardware issues; if they do not occur on the 2nd computer, I"ll stay on that machine. The only difference between these computers is the cpu. These are both business laptops on the same volume license, win 7 x64 pro.

The first problem I have experienced was that this computer does not connect to known secured networks with either wifi or ethernet. It accepts the wpa passphrase but fails to connect to the network. This could be a router issue if it is identifying the computer by more than just the mac address. Or it could be that some encryption keys derive from hardware IDs. Or maybe a driver issue is confused about the mac address change.
 
So long as the hardware is identical it shouldn't be much of a problem at all. CPU is hardly an issue, but the motherboard used with the CPU is and if they're the same then you're good. Only thing I can think you'd run into off the bat would be the actual Windows license failing forcing you to call Microsoft.
 
well, assuming it can connect to the license server (which it cannot atm) then.... i would assume it would resolve itself. or would it?

any ideas why the networking is failing? it connects to open hotspots but not secured networks. (or ethernet)
 
should go no prob. but if the license complains, call MS activation and select "one" when it asks how many pc its on. done deal.
 
License will most likely complain. Even if it's the same motherboard type, Windows uses a unique identifier on the motherboard for activation purposes (I think I read somewhere it was the MAC address of the LAN on the motherboard, but not sure). Just a quick call to Microsoft should solve the issue.
 
Thanks for your responses.

A little update- after 24 hours (it seems) the computer has been able to access the wifi. I'm wildly speculating that the router (dd-wrt) may have seen these mac changes as an attempt to spoof.

Also, the clock was off by an hour. Not sure what that could have affected.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top