Just curious.

[Carbonado]

So i was building a system the other day and got curious about something. 

Instead of doing a fresh install of Windows on the SSD, what would happen if i remove the boot ssd from my laptop and stick it onto the pc i'm building.

Will it boot into Windows with the correct version activated?

Or will it destroy my ssd and windows lol 

(or somewhere in between?)

[Slottr]

You'll most likely be met with BSOD's

[Senzelian]

It'll boot just fine and will most likely need to be reactivated, which can be done via the Microsoft account settings.

Drivers should auto-update, but this can still lead to issues. System crashes, lags, etc.

[Carbonado]

1 minute ago, Senzelian said:

It'll boot just fine and will most likely need to be reactivated, which can be done via the Microsoft account settings.

Drivers should auto-update, but this can still lead to issues. System crashes, lags, etc.

So it should be fine if I install the drivers myself from the Mfg. websites?

As that's not much of a hassle tbh

[Carbonado]

2 minutes ago, Slottr said:

You'll most likely be met with BSOD's

Ah yes the ever powerful bsod

[Slottr]

Just now, Carbonado said:

Ah yes the ever powerful bsod

It'll depend on what system to what system, but I would not be surprised if that was the case.

It could work and be ok, but it could still show instabilities here and there

[Carbonado]

Just now, Slottr said:

It'll depend on what system to what system, but I would not be surprised if that was the case.

It could work and be ok, but it could still show instabilities here and there

I personally am really skeptical. Mostly because it might be locked to the OEM (Lenovo, Asus, HP etc.) and might just give me the BSOD as it detects the "wrong" parts. Which is why i won't be doing it IRL, was just curious about what would happen as the title suggests lol

[Alexeygridnev1993]

22 hours ago, Carbonado said:

I personally am really skeptical. Mostly because it might be locked to the OEM (Lenovo, Asus, HP etc.) and might just give me the BSOD as it detects the "wrong" parts. Which is why i won't be doing it IRL, was just curious about what would happen as the title suggests lol

Windows will never BSOD simply because it detects mismatched hardware. It will just deactivate itself (in case your new system is too different from the old one) and you'll have to buy a retail license. But you will need to install missing drivers.

[Carbonado]

1 hour ago, Alexeygridnev1993 said:

Windows will never BSOD simply because it detects mismatched hardware. It will just deactivate itself (in case your new system is too different from the old one) and you'll have to buy a retail license. But you will need to install missing drivers.

Hmm well yeah that makes sense

[GoodBytes]

Slottr is partially correct.

Over the years, Microsoft has put a lot of work to make Windows not freak out on big hardware changes.

That said, the problem might still occur if you change the drive between a old legacy system (or improperly configured modern one) to a new system (assuming properly configured). Such as having the system SATA controller be set to IDE legacy more, and the other not (AHCI mode).

 

Also, the system will not boot if you pass from UEFI capable and enabled system to one that isn't, and vice versa. But this is a UEFI/BIOS limitation and has nothing to do with Windows or any OS. The UEFI can't work with MBR formatted drive, and BIOS can't work with a GPT formatted drive. So, if there is a miss match, it won't be able to detect the OS to boot it. It will act as if no OS is installed.