Win10 activation/authentication experiments
Good and bad news. I tried to do a fresh install of Win10 v1607 on a new SSD with a system already running Win10 and it wouldn't activate. So I tried a fresh install using v1511 and that did activate (and updated to v1607).
Out of curiosity I then transplanted the SSD into other systems running Win10 and it successfully activated in each. Started off in a Lenovo C2D, moved to another Lenovo C2D, then a Lenovo i5 and finally a Toshiba i7. All the basic hardware worked out of the box (keyboard, trackpad, wireless networking and display with basic settings).
The caveat being you can't mix Home and Pro. I tried the SSD with Win10 Home in a system that was already running Win10 Pro and it failed to activate with "no digital entitlement".
Might be interesting when it comes time to upgrade to a new system - you might be able to clone your current hard drive to the new system, update a few drivers and resume normal service. Note that I've only tried it on systems that have been upgraded to Win10.
I should add that for each system Win10 was phoning home for activation so it wasn't being carried over from the previous system.
Last edited by le Pingouin; 29th Nov 2016 at 15:53.
Reason: Additional info