You know how it goes, just want to CoverMyA as they say. Don't want my key blocked for miss use.
Hi there.
I've never had a key blocked for running Windows like this -- you also won't even have to activate more than the original time - you are running on the SAME machine with IDENTICAL hardware.
As I said -- is it illegal to SWAP HDD's and run windows -- absolutely not --if it were I don't know how many people would be running Windows illegally --what about all those swapping HDD's for SSD's. !!
If you really want to be 100% CERTAIN then run Windows ONLY from an HDD (or better) connected via an external e_sata port - simply switch to the HDD/SSD you want to run from at boot time and wipe any Windows 8.1 installations off your purely INTERNAL HDD's.
If I'm fitting a new SSD / HDD to a computer I certainly want to see if it works before deleting the OLD installation - so there's nothing "irregular" about booting up the SAME windows from another HDD to see if it works and if it doesn't re-boot again from the old HDD until you've sorted the problem out.
Running multiple concurrent copies on Virtual machines DOES count as DIFFERENT MACHINES - you need a license for each concurrent instance of windows you boot up. However it's perfectly legal to have several DIFFERENT VM configurations under a SINGLE license so long as only ONE of these is ever running at one time. (If the virtual hardware is very different then you will have to re-activate again - however minor changes in VM configurations don't usually require a re-activation of Windows).
If you have access to a University / college or Work program you might be able to get a Multiple activation version of Windows - that should ease any lingering doubts as you could then run as many as the multiple activation system allows -- probably somewhere between 100 and 1000 copies. !!!! Should be enough even for the most avid tester,
Cheers
jimbo