Can I use a preformatted win11 HDD twice (one pc at a time)?Acer 1760

yosef99

ME: Acer 1760 win11/Ubuntu mate dual boot

I am buying a 1 TB SSD for my Acer 1760. This SSD comes with Win11 installed. If I install this SSD on my Acer win11 will activate. Now what if that computer dies? Will I be able to install SSD (win11) on another PC, or will Win11 only activate on the first computer I install it?

Thank you for your response.

[Edited the thread to add model name to the title]

KJN9000000

It should be dependent on the Product key and it is usually connected to your Microsoft account. You may have to do a clean/fresh install on the new system due to hardware changes but the product key should work just fine to activate the operating system on the new computer. In some cases logging in to your Microsoft account will activate the OS.

billsey

Typically with OEM installs of Windows, the license is held by the hardware, so you can't legally transfer it to a different machine. If it's retail version of Windows 11 you hold the license and you can run it on any machine you want, but only on one at a time.

Alejandro_AC

Hi @yosef99 I just want to provide one more information to that mentioned by colleagues, as Billsey says, you can only use it on another computer if the license is commercial and not an OEM, but if it is commercial, it will not be enough to remove the disk and place it on another computer, you must install again.
If you use the same Microsoft account from your old computer on a new computer, you may not be prompted to enter your commercial license key.

All the best.

joseph2020

Thank you to all responders…I think get it now. Topic is closed.

Alejandro_AC

Thanks to you, greetings.