OP here again. Could I upgrade my laptop to win 10 then clone it to a brand new ssd and use it as the boot drive on the desktop? or would it detect a different mobo and give me those stupid notifications?

>use my legit windows 10 upgrade from the laptop on the desktop
no
>upgrade my laptop to win 10 then clone it to a brand new ssd and use it as the boot drive on the desktop
no

the different uuid will make in invalid.

>>142325
>>142347
Basically this. Windows installations are tied to MOBOs. If you want new windows, you're going to have to buy a new OS

>a desktop with a questionable copy of windows 8.1.

just upgrade that (assuming you mean its activated) using the media creation tool from ms. you'll get a legal activated win10. but do it soon since time is running out on the free upgrade (next month).

>>142351
>>142325
Depends.

If the laptop has a legitimate *Retail* Windows 7, you can just use the newest version of the Windows 10 installer and enter the 7 Retail product key when prompted.

If the laptop came with 7 preinstalled, it's OEM Windows and not transferable.