Moving Windows 7 Enterprise

[raygg]

How do I move Win7 Enterprise to another pc using recovery disk or a similar method?

My thinkpad video died and I determined it was a hardware problem. I bought a same model refurb Thinkpad, swapped the HD with the old laptop and I am back in business, and I did not even have to reinstall a driver. The new one came with 32 bit Win 7 enterprise installed on the HD. The broken laptop originally had windows xp 32 bit which I replaced with win7 Pro 64 bit.

Now I have a dead laptop with the win7 enterprise on the HD that came with the refurb. I did nothing to the hd with the win7 Ent - I just removed the HD. Is it possible to create a recovery disk with the win7 Ent and install it on a desktop (not a Lenovo) that is currently running Vista so I can utilize the Win Ent7 in place of the vista on my desktop?

Now I know the Lenovo can handle either a 32 or 64 bit OS install. The pc where I want to install the Enterprise 7 has a 32 bit board.

The replacement PC came with no paperwork - how do I find out the installation key for the enterprise 7?

Is moving the ent7 possible without an ISO installation disk?

Is there anything illegal about this? I own all the PCs in question and none are being used commercially.

 

[goombawaho]

Curious, did this product ship from an Ebay reseller in ..................... China perhaps?

All very interesting, indeed. Evil thoughts and evil doings: Email them back and tell them you're going to tell Microsoft and see what they say (for fun). Maybe they'll sweeten your refund.

but I disagree that they are very forthcoming

I guess I meant that they were forthcoming that they were culpable in their reply but certainly not in the original sale.
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Regarding that Microsoft document - that's a bit too anal even for me. I wouldn't abide by those rules necessarily. What happened to motherboard replacement "as close as possible if not identical". I be in trouble.

 

[strongm]

Er ... those guidelines are for refurbishers, and how they qualify for a substantially cheaper refurbisher license rather than a new OEM license

Mind you, the OEM license has similar restrictions - generally, an end user can upgrade or replace all of the hardware components on a computer—except the motherboard—and still retain the licence for the original Microsoft OEM operating system software. If the motherboard is upgraded or replaced for reasons other than a defect, then a new computer has been created. Microsoft OEM operating system software cannot be transferred to the new computer, and the licence of new operating system software is required.

 

[Sympology]

Corporate licenses are for that company only and cannot be resold.
OEM licenses can only be used on that hardware and cannot be resold.
Refurb licenses (MAR programme) are the same as OEM's, just sold to authorised resellers.
Retail can be be transferred, but even this has to be done in a certain way (and is often country specific)

Now in the past MS have been pretty good with people that have bought "fake" licenses under the pretext they are genuine, with discounted and sometimes even free replacements.

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