Can I move an HDD with retail Windows 7 to a new machine without reinstalling?

Solution 1:

You can probably do this if you sysprep the old windows installation before you move to the future computer.

First, make a backup. Just in case.
Test the backup
run %windir%\System32\Sysprep\Sysprep.exe as an administrator
Select OOBE, generalise and shutdown.
After the computer has shut down, move the HDD to the new computer. It should boot without installed drivers.