restore windows 10 disk image to different dell hardware?

[Light]

Is it possible to use Window's 10 backup -> create disk image and then restore that to newer dell hardware?

1. Will windows 10 adapt to different driver requirements of the new hardware?
2. Will the windows 10 license/activation cope with the laptop hardware changing from dell to different dell?
3. Will other software typically detect a hardware change and invalidate its license requiring reinstallation?

[Etern4l]

You can certainly restore at it should be fine driver-wise, but the license won't work if Windows came pre-installed, as this is locked to the original motherboard.

[Aaron44126]

Let's see...

1. I've done this many times and it works fine.  Windows will do a hardware discovery at first boot on the new system.  You will be on the hook to install needed drivers.  If the disk controller driver is not present then Windows will fail to boot.  With Dell systems, for best chance of success, switch the target system out of RAID mode in the BIOS setup before you make the transfer.  RAID mode requires a specific disk controller driver to be installed and this is typically done with the Windows install.
   • The disk image function built into Windows is a little picky about recovery.  The target disk must be equal size or larger to the original disk.  If it is one byte smaller then it will not allow you to complete the restore.  I personally use Macrium Reflect to do disk image backup & restore; it's a bit more flexible, and it is free.  You can create bootable USB media to use to execute the image restore.
2. As @Etern4l said, if your Windows license came bundled with your system then it is tied to your hardware.  If the target system came with a license, then you can use that, as long as it is the same edition of Windows or an edition that you can upgrade to.  Use ProduKey to grab the product key from the BIOS if you need it.  (ProduKey may trigger antivirus alerts but it is safe to use.)
3. Yes, other applications that require hardware activation (MS Office, Adobe, etc.) may notice that you are on new hardware.  If possible, "deactivate" these products before you switch and reactivate them afterwards.  My experience has been that even if you don't deactivate them first, you'll be able to reactivate them on the new hardware without too much hassle.  It may say it's going to deactivate the other version for you, or send you to a website to do something... it depends on the product and how they have it set up.