Hello. I just bought a Dell Inspiron 7000 series, 17" 2 in 1 laptop with all the bells, and whistles, but came with a slow 5400 HDD inside, and I just got a new 256G Samsung 850 pro SSD, and want to transfer my genuine Win10 activation into a clean install of Win10 anniversary edition that I will install on that SSD. The copy of Windows 10 in that HDD is surprisingly not as bloated, and with some actual useful tools from Dell, so I wouldn't mind keeping it, and somehow transfer it to that SSD as well if possible (and ditch a clean install). Any tips to accomplish this?
All notebooks I've seen the Manufacturer provides a recovery tool to allow you to backup to USB/DVD/ISO. ie MSI use BurnRecovery. Just use the Dell tool to make a recovery key, swap/add the ssd, boot the recovery key & follow the prompts!
The tools from Dell can likely be re-acquired through the support page for that particular laptop. As for Windows activation; the laptop's key is embedded in the firmware. So any future Windows 10 installs will pick up on that key, and as long as hardware hasn't drastically changed (I imagine the only thing that could affect it would be a mobo swap, which would thus come with a totally different key anyway), the laptop should activate. If you'd want to test this, you could take the HDD out without wiping it, and clean-install 10 to the SSD.
I was under the impression that Win10 activations can detect hardware changes, and that the recovery would only work with either the original HDD, or an HDD provided by the manufacturer? I could be completely wrong with this, because I'm older, and thinking of XP, lol.
Transferring the activation --- not possible if the activation was done on another laptop... But who knows with MS --- a call to them may work to your favor... Cloning the OS shouldn't be difficult... I heard the software Samsung provides is good, but I haven't used it... Shut down, install the SSD, turn on and start the software, follow directions... Otherwise, any disk cloning software will do...
I would rather not clone disks. The only reason I asked in this forum is because I remember long ago a thread in this forum about keeping OEM activations somehow, and saving it for clean installs (and I assumed hdd swaps). I can't seem to find that thread in here though.
Your Key has been injected into your bios. You can swap SSD/HDD clean install & it will activate without issue (provided you install the correct edition).
HDD changes are not counted toward activation for OEM or DE. I use paragon hard disk manager to image my system disks and have restored the image to totally different drives and windows is activated without issue on the same system. Image backup is the same to me as cloning. Anyway activation on OEM systems is in the firmware and not related to the drive at all as Espionage has mentioned.
Sorry guys, I swapped drives just to test for a clean install, but no matter what boot media I use (USB pendrives of different sizes, and brands), or version of Windows I use (Anniversary edition or 1511), I always get a "PAGE FAULT IN NONPAGED AREA" error message. I tried disabling -secure boot- on the laptop, or using either legacy UEFI or regular BIOS option, and I also tried reformatting the SSD 850 Pro with MBR, but no dice... Most help online say that the error message is a faulty RAM stick, but no way, the laptop is brand new, and it works perfect with the original HDD. I will try an even olver version of Windows 8.1, just to see if it's some driver's fault, since the panel it's a touchscreen.
could very well still be ram, no matter how new the system is. Pull the memory out, put it back in well seated. Might be just that simple. If the fault continues, remove one stick if you have two in that system and try one at a time and see what happens. The Win10 install can be trying to access a portion of the ram that the 8.1 install isn't directly hitting on. Maybe give us an order of things you are doing. e.g. 1) Extracted ISO to USB drive with Rufus and made bootable media. 2) booted to USB drive to install Windows 10 3) etc. Give us an idea of what you are doing from the beginning. I've actually had one person extract an ISO to a newly formatted HDD and wonder why windows wouldn't work hehe. So doesn't hurt to see if you are missing something.
OK, thanks for your patience! Here it is: Used both Rufus, and Windows-to-USB-Tool from MS to create different bootable usb drives that work perfectly on other machines. Made bootable copies of different Windows versions, including Win10 64bit 1607, 1511, and Windows 8.1... Disabled Secure Boot on laptop... tried different USB inputs on new laptop... tried reformatting that SSD on a different machine... all to no avail, always end up getting the "PAGE FAULT IN NONPAGED AREA" error. I will try using just a single RAM Stick just to try it, but I doubt it will work since the original HDD boots up just fine. The SSD is a very reputable Samsung 850 Pro, and I have been using 3 SSD's 840 Pros for the past 3 years with no issues.
mine came with 10 core single language installed on the hdd, i put in ssd installed latest core single language and by the time i checked it was activated, just install same edition and let it connect to internet right from the start
Maybe no biggie, but you're sure the USB stick is first device in the boot order? I once had a stupid laptop that refused to boot from anything I threw at it, until I waited to insert the stick while I was in the bios settings, (Settings page and then F10 to exit) Somehow only then it showed up and successfully booted....
Try having just one stick of ram and test what happens... I have also seen defective ram modules on new laptops... Hmmm,,,missed where you said the original hd works... Try this...boot up using a Gparted iso... Click Gparted---Devices---Select your Samsung drive... If it's not listed, you can be sure it's not working... If listed, select it... Then do Device---Create Partition Table---msdos---apply This will delete everything on the drive !!! Then shut down and try Win 10 again,,,
Try the ram see how that goes, and yeah the 850s are very reliable. I use them myself. There is always the possibility of a fault on one as well though. BTW, Your drive settings in the bios are set to what?
Clone your disk! That's the obvious/faster/less problem prone way. Activation is not a problem given it comes from the bios, and was not a problem either in W7, given the bios was still the same and the key and certificate couple were cloned together with all other files
OK guys, I finally fixed it, but in a weird way... to recap: Have a shiny brand new Inspiron 7000 laptop 17" 2-in-1 with nice specs, except for a 1TB HDD. Bought a brand new Samsung 850 Pro SSD to swap it. I ended up using a very old HP laptop to install Windows 10 in it, and use the new SSD with it. It installed Windows 10 with no problems into that SSD, but added generic AMD graphics drivers, because that old HP laptop had AMD dedicated graphics in it. I took that SSD, and put it in the new laptop... it booted up to the loading Windows screen, and gave me a "KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED error, but when I restarted, it went into Windows 10 just fine, and downloaded the generic Intel graphics drivers off Windows Update because this expensive laptop has nVidia 940X in it, but I guess without that driver it install a generic Intel driver first... So... I guess the "PAGE FAULT IN NONPAGED AREA" error I had before had something to do with a graphics driver that it tried using during Windows installation. Maybe the correct way to fix this is to create a custom Windows 10 ISO, and add the correct drivers for this laptop in that image, kind of like I used to add extra generic drivers to a custom XP image in the past, but am too lazy to research how to do just that. Also, every Samsung SSD has something called Samsung Magician, and Samsung migrate software to clone disks I guess, but I haven't tried that yet, although I guess it would work just fine. I can use this SSD, and remove the drivers it installed from the old laptop, and just keep using it installing the correct drivers for this new laptop, or eventually give in, and clone it... btw, this copy of Windows 10 auto activated itself when I used it with the new laptop. I just made sure to install the same Home version.