Win7 OEM disks

Many (most?) modern computers designed for Windows have their information embedded in ROM. That way when you do something like upgrade to Windows 10 from either 8.1 or 7 there is no need to verify that you have a license, it has been done automatically.

while not legal, it's often possible.

read your end-user license agreement, you did not "buy" windows with that original computer, you bought a license to run windows on that exact computer.

the only license that are transferable are retail (boxed copy for example) or volume-licensed (enterprise level stuff). oem and system-builder licenses are non transferable, been that way for a long time.

i point this out not to chastise but simply to highlight how ridiculous software licensing is/has become.

I had some dead HP laptops with 7 on them.. Since they would never boot up again, I installed 7 on some older Dell laptops that had xp one them and used the CD and keys from the dead hp's .. Activated just fine.

Mitch

I have recently done both .... installed same Windows 7 OEM disks onto new mother board, and installed Windows issued Windows 7 disks onto new motherboard. In both cases there was no problem doing an automatic (internet connection ) activation of the new installation.