Gateway - HDD... issue...

[Wishiwasdead]

- do some pre-built PCs have stuff on them that lock the HDD to the MoBo / CPU... and if so is there anyway to unlock the HDD to use it on a different Mobo / CPU? 

 

- alil more detail... im in the process of upgrading my sisters PC (turning out to be a big headache) and i want to use her original HDD that she had in her old Gateway PC because it already has Windows on it, and i dont want to have to buy windows again... 

 

- so i took her original HDD and put it in her new system, and it would not boot into windows... i tried her original HDD in my PC and same thing, would not boot into windows, i put it back in her original system and it works fine

 

- i took two of my HHDs and put it in her new system to make sure everything else works fine and they do

 

- the only thing that doesnt work is her original HDD from her Gateway in systems other then her original Gateway system...

 

 

[Wishiwasdead]

or at least lock windows to the system... not necessarily the HDD its self...

[Captain_WD]

~snip~

 

Hey there

 

HDDs generally are not tied to the hardware and can be used pretty much anywhere as long as you have the same connection type on the motherboard (SATA, PATA, SAS, SCSI, etc.). 

Unfortunately you won't be able to use the same OS on different hardware due to driver incompatibility issues and you would have to reinstall the OS and with it all the applications and games (due to the new registry). 

 

If your OS is not a OEM type you should be able to reuse your original OS key to reinstall the OS. If you don't have it you could try the following to get it once you boot in it: 

Assuming you can boot your computer without any problems, you can easily create a simple VBscript that will read the value out of the registry and then translate it into the format that you need for reinstalling. Copy and paste the following into a Notepad window:

 

Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

MsgBox ConvertToKey(WshShell.RegRead("HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\DigitalProductId"))

 

Function ConvertToKey(Key)

Const KeyOffset = 52

i = 28

Chars = "BCDFGHJKMPQRTVWXY2346789"

Do

Cur = 0

x = 14

Do

Cur = Cur * 256

Cur = Key(x + KeyOffset) + Cur

Key(x + KeyOffset) = (Cur \ 24) And 255

Cur = Cur Mod 24

x = x -1

Loop While x >= 0

i = i -1

KeyOutput = Mid(Chars, Cur + 1, 1) & KeyOutput

If (((29 - i) Mod 6) = 0) And (i <> -1) Then

i = i -1

KeyOutput = "-" & KeyOutput

End If

Loop While i >= 0

ConvertToKey = KeyOutput

End Function

 

You’ll need to use File -> Save As, change the “Save as type” to “All Files” and then name it productkey.vbs or something similar ending with the vbs extension. Once you’ve saved it, you can just double-click and the popup window will show you your product key.

 

you could try contacting MS's support and ask for ways to use the same key on the different hardware if it is a OEM version. They might be able to reissue you a new certificate.  

 

Feel free to ask if you happen to have any questions!

 

Captain_WD.