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Cloning a HDD to M.2 , but not bringing the OS?

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Quick questions: I've used True Image to clone a drive before, but in that case....I wanted to bring the OS over as well.

I need to clone a drive from another PC, but I do not want to bring the OS over with it as I want that PC to still use that license of Windows and be functional. Is there a way to clone the entire drive but not carry over the OS and just get a new OS license from Windows bootable media? Will True Image give me the option to leave off the OS in the transfer? Thanks for your time.

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Michael, welcome to these public User Forums.

Quick answer here is no!  A clone duplicates the whole drive, you cannot leave out individual components or folders etc.

Please see KB 19296: Acronis products cannot be used to transfer applications to different system or upgrade OS

Michael,

has this other PC had Windows installed previously?  If yes was the install of Win 8 or later?  If yes than you can simply download from MS the media creation tool and create a Windows 10 install media, run it on the PC and get a new installation that will activate on its own.