OT/OT? Computer question

[Terry Coombs]

  Will a computer recognize an operating system that is pre-installed on a new hard drive ? Here's the thing - I have 2 comps that have identical motherboards , nearly-identical  processors and similar RAM installations . One comp is a "spare" right now , the other runs all my stored media and is hooked to my TV . And both have copies of W7Pro/64 that have popped as not genuine . I have copies of several flavors of Linux OS's but will likely go with Ubuntu 18-04 because it's most similar to Windows - the wife ain't happy about changing . I have new drives coming , want to install to a bare drive on the spare then install in the TV box . Not a problem if that won't work , I'll just have to install while she's at work .

[trader_4]

Was Windows 7 ever properly/legally installed and authenticated on either of them? If it was, then it should run on that system. But if you take that drive and try to boot it on the other system, I would not be surprised that it would not accept it. As I understand it, MSFT keeps track of key system components and if too many things change at once then it thinks you're trying to run Windows on a different system that it's not licensed for. If it's a legitimate thing, ie the MB failed and had to be replaced, etc, AFAIK if you have issues where it won't accept it, you can get MSFT support involved and they can help you get it resolved. But if you take a drive that has Win 7 installed and put it in a system that has a different CPU, diff memory, diff I/O cards, then it won't work because it thinks you're trying to run it on a totally different system.

[Meanie]

Depends.

EVERYTHING has to be identical, that means graphics card, network card and all other internal hardware and drivers. If not, Microsofts DRMM sub routine will lock the operating system and you "will not" be able to use it ANYWHERE again. It is suggested to clone that drive in case this happens.

Your best option is to install the pre-installed HD as a non-booting secondary HD and transfer the contents to the main drive, though, you would need a new booting drive.

[Frank]

I have 2 computers set up the same way that behave differently because they are not identical and one is 6 years older. Java upgrade was accepted on new machine but not old machine until I got rid of previous upgrade. New machine took Win 10 update but I had to do a fix to get the old one to take it. Pixels pop up on Google Earth on old machine but not on new one. That one I cannot fix and figure it is the graphics card. Wife's desktop is older than our 18 year old granddaughter and she wonders why some stuff won't work on it ;)

[Meanie]

Exactly why it's best just to use the original hardware and upgrade or purchase a new unit. Microsoft doesn't want interchangeable parts or everyone would be using their software for free.

[Terry Coombs]

  Perhaps I should have said the OS I'm pre-installing is Ubuntu 18.04 ... I'm betting that the DRMM thing you're talking about is what's screwing me with the Win7 installs ... The damn things will validate and run for several months then one day pop up as not genuine . These are licenses purchased on ebay ...

[rbowman]

On Windows you can run dxdiag. Save the output since the text file often has more useful information than the dialog. You can compare the two machines to see what differs in the DirectX support.

We've found that just because the card might support DirectX 11 or whatever it doesn't necessarily mean it supports some of the buffering or other features that might be considered optional.

It drove me crazy after I developed a program that used a third party library. It ran fine on my development machine and one other in-house machine. Only one machine on site had a video card that would support it.

[Terry Coombs]

  These machines were rebuilt within the last 2 years with identical motherboards , nearly identical processors - one is a 2.3 GHz Phenom quad 9650 the other is a 1.8 GHz Phenom quad 9150 - very similar RAM and the same OS . The problem is W7 that keeps popping up as not genuine - even though they validated it on install . Screw Micro$oft , I'm moving at least these 2 over to Ubuntu . I think it's just another attempt by M$ to move us all over to 10 ... and I ain't gonna do that . I'll go back to my old copy of 32 bit XP Pro before I go to 10 . Shit , I'd go to Vista before I's go with 10 .

[hubops]

I don't know what "popping up as not genuine" means ? I have a Win 8 laptop that needs to be reset every 6 months -

- with a fix that I downloaded - to " activate " the Win 8 . The laptop was once part of a business network that required activation < re-activation ? > from the business licence John T.

[dpb]

On 7/22/2018 4:06 PM, Terry Coombs wrote: ...

Any chance another copy of Windows was used to re-authenticate after the rebuild? That's one way to trigger the issue.

Whether it will work indefinitely I don't know but you can turn off the scan flag in the registry and it generally fixes it, at least for a while...updates may well reset it.

?HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE? ?SOFTWARE? ?Microsoft? ?Windows NT? ?CurrentVersion?

?SoftwareProtectionPlatform?, ?SkipRearm? change ?Value Data? to ?1?.

[Frank]

I've been happy with Win 10 but had to turn a lot of stuff off and try to keep it less intrusive. I need to use the computer but am not a computer person per se or I might go to a form of Linux.

When my old Win Vista machine went south my son could only recover it in Linux. He did it in his house with an Ethernet connection but when I got it home I could not get it to work on wifi so gave up and bought a new machine.

MS is a PITA and they are M$. I could not get proper documents prepared for an MS Office consulting client when I made them in Open Office or Libre Office and was forced to buy MS Office. I've got some very old Word documents that cannot be read with my current Word but can be read by the other free Offices. Now they piss us off by taking away the classic free games and giving them back free from their on line store with pop-up ads and commercials and if you don't like this you have to pay a buck a month ransom.

[Terry Coombs]

  The screen goes black and I get a popup that tells me that this copy of Windows is not genuine . It still works , but it nags , nags , nags , nags , you get the picture ? Oh , and they won't update it any more ! Support for 7 ended what , 3 years ago ? The bastards want us to all rent 10 from them , and "rent" all the programs they used to license "for life" , like Office . Buncha greedy bastards .

[philo]

Ubuntu will almost always work with different hardware and if it's essentially identical , no problem at all.

I do a lot of computer repair work.

In general XP will not work but it does sometimes.

Win7 will often work but not always.

Win10 thus far (and I've tried it often) will always work too...but will require a new license and activation.

[trader_4]

I have Win 10, put the update on it about 2 years ago when the free update had about a month to go. They haven't asked me for any rent payment, nor have I heard of any consumers paying rent. Works great for me, fastest most stable Windows I've used. The Microsoft Office starter that came with the PC under Win 7 runs too.

[Terry Coombs]

  Avoiding anything newer than 7 is the idea here . I've played with Ubuntu in the past , I chose it this time because the GUI is very similar to Windows . My wife is not happy about the idea of changing , her laptop will likely stay with W7 . It's seldom that comp has to interact with the rest of the network , and when it does I'm at the keyboard ...

[Wayne Boatwright]

On Sun 22 Jul 2018 04:44:20p, philo told us...

Win10 is the most reliable of any Windows OS and most software is designed to work witih it. I have no interest in an OS where limited application software is available.

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

I have the same. However, that's no longer than your machine lasts (would a backup of a VM work?).

[Mark Lloyd]

I'm like that too. Win7 still has the "activation" junk, but later versions are much worse.

I used Ubuntu for a couple of years, then changed to Xubuntu when they put in Unity (which make the desktop look like a Mac). Now, I use Xubuntu most of the time. Windows (almost always 7) is used for one program that requires Windows, and for MSIE (only to see how my website looks in MSIE).

[snip]

[Terry Coombs]

  I attempted to install Ubuntu 18.04 on one of the comps this morning , didn't work . I don't know yet what the problem is , but the BIOS doesn't seem to recognize there's a DVD in the player and will not install . It did recognize and read a DVD copy of Linux Mint though ...

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

I had one computer (IIRC, it was a Toshiba laptop) that would not boot from DVD until I turned off "secure boot". And even then it would install only on a MBR disk (this required reformatting the HD). I don't know why Mint would work but not Ubuntu.