I work in a corporate environment and I have a laptop that had the screen shattered. I want to move the HDD from the one machine to a very similar machine, same make, model different SKU but chipset and processor are the same. Can I do this by simply switching the drives?

Probably. But you may have to re-activate Windows. You "work in a corporate environment". Is there any reason why your corporation's IT department isn't dealing with the problem for you?

We purchase and own our laptops. IT will remove the original HDD and replace with a company HDD complete with software load. Upon termination our original HDD is returned and the company removes the HDD with all the licensed software and data. I had a laptop screen get damaged and I found almost exactly the same laptop for less money than replacing the display so that is wny I am going to try this.

You can probably do it if the motherboard chipsets are the same.

If you are using Windows Experprise ed you should be fine. Other editions likely will want to activate due to the change in BIOS markers. Windows MVP, paid Remote Assistance is available for XP, Vista and Windows 7. My page on Video Card Problems is now my most popular landing page. See my gaming site for game reviews etc. Developer | Windows IT | Chess | Economics | Hardcore Games | Vegan Advocate | PC Reviews

Hi, You can switch it to the new laptop, but you need to re-activate this Windows 7. If you are using a KMS server to activate this laptop, please re-connect the server. Also, you may refer to the manners in the following link to make a call to Microsoft Support for the License question. http://support.microsoft.com/ Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread. ”