Create a duplicate of the hard drive from the deceased laptop and transfer it to the new desktop.
Create a duplicate of the hard drive from the deceased laptop and transfer it to the new desktop.
I was surprised this would work and had never tried it before. I recently assembled a new PC with an i5 9600k processor, a dark rock 4 pro CPU cooler, an M.2 MGPZ Z390 motherboard, 16 GB of 3000MHz Corsair Vengeance RAM, a 1TB Samsung 860 EVO SSD, an EVGA 600W PSU, and an RTX 2070 graphics card. I opted not to buy a new Windows 10 license and instead used my old Acer Aspire E5-575 laptop with the Windows copy. After transferring the drive, the system recognized the hardware change and booted into Windows successfully. I performed a factory reset and cloned the drive to the SSD. Everything appears to function properly. Windows activated the key correctly. The only issue I’ve noticed so far is that the control panel still identifies it as an Acer Aspire E5-575, even when accessing my Microsoft account. My concern is whether this setup will cause any issues down the line.
It seems there are no significant issues expected. The Windows was set up as an official OEM by the laptop maker using a custom installer, which explains why it lists devices as laptops and shows a loading screen during boot. Win10 manages hardware updates smoothly, so you shouldn't face problems. Because you linked your key to your Microsoft account, you can simply reinstall and clear any remnants from previous laptop installations—it will activate again, or you can log in and re-activate it.
The system doesn't actually recognize it as an Acer Aspire. Only the laptop's name is saved in the registry. You can check all the right drivers for your device in Device Manager. This means you might be able to use it without reinstalling. Or, if you don't like that, switch your computer name and search through the registry for remaining entries.