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Question

Using hard drive from last laptop

Aug 2, 2017 3:09PM PDT

My last laptop died but the hard drive is ok. I put it into an external case and attached it to my new laptop which has Windows 10 Home V. 1703. I can't figure out how to tell what the old drive is.

I can access documents and other files on the old drive. MS Word files open in OpenOffice which is installed on my new laptop.

How can programs and games from the old hard drive be copied onto my new one? MIcrosoft Office is the most important program.

Can I run programs directly from the old one? If so, how? There are no obvious .exe files that I can find.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
The short answer is files are OK.
Aug 2, 2017 3:16PM PDT

But games and apps need reinstalling. Some ask why and the history of Windows takes us back to Windows 95 where Microsoft came up with a new system to stop what is caused "casual piracy." No longer could you copy apps from machine machine. They need to be installed.

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About Microsoft Office.
Aug 2, 2017 3:38PM PDT