New OS with upgrade?

[Robi_G]

Right, so I'm going to upgrade my motherboard, CPU and GPU (or should I say downgrade mobo + cpu for extra graphics).

The question is can I just plug in my existing hard drive to the upgraded system and everything will work? Or does microsoft have some mechanism to stop this happening?

(current OS is W8, only had it 5 months and don't want to buy another copy of it)
Thanks

 

[AMDFTW]

just reinstall the copy you have mate

 

[Robi_G]

Will reinstalling from the backup disk work? I got it as an upgrade from the release preview.

 

[Feronix]

I think the OS key is linked to the motherboard.
When I bought a new computer, but kept my harddrive, I had to re-install the OS.

If you're lucky, you can still find upgrade discs for Win8 for 40-50 quid. You can actually do a clean install with those.

 

[Andinet]

Basically you have to reinstall windows if you change hardware, unless it is the same make and model.

 

[Chris230291]

It seems strange that a copy of Windows can't be swapped between systems?