Question from Todd J.: My company has just informed us that they’re going to replace all of the 3 year old Dell XPS 15 laptops in our division with new machines by the end of the year.
They’re going to remove the hard drives from all the old laptops and destroy them, then give the laptops to us to keep.
I’ve been told that computers running Windows 7 qualify for a free Windows 10 upgrade, but only if Windows 7 is currently installed on the hard drive. The problem is our IT guys are going to remove the hard drives before they transfer ownership of the laptops to us employees.
My question is will I be able to install a replacement hard drive and then download Windows 10 and activate it using the Windows 7 product key that’s printed on the bottom of the machine?
From what I’ve heard it sounds like I’m going to have to buy a copy of Windows too, but I’d like to know for sure so I’ll know what all I need to do in order to get the laptop back up and running again.
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]