Exchanging Motherboard/CPU, exact same installation kept.

Hello guys and girls,

I had asked a similar question before, however that time I ended up performing a clean installation, this time I have way too much software that relies heavily on configuration that took me a while to get right, and I would like if there was an option to keep my operating system as is and swap the motherboard/cpu, they will be a different chipset/socket so I can't just do something simple as swapping it.

I remember there was a method with sysprep.
And there is also the system image, however I don't know if it would be highly advisable to do either of those methods, or just suck it up and go through the whole configurations all over again once I perform the clean install.

Any ideas would be highly appreciated.

If it's a Retail copy, then we can go ahead with figuring this out. If it's OEM, then we can't.

Anyway, sometimes you can do this without any problems and sometimes you can't. So, I recommend at least preparing to format and start over just in case.

In the meantime, there may be ways to back up all of your configurations so that you can format, start over, install the software, reapply the configurations somehow, and be back up and running with no problem. A simple example is Firefox: all I have to do is copy/paste the contents of the default profile folder to a safe place, format and start over, install Firefox, open Firefox, close Firefox, and then copy/paste those contents into the new default profile folder. Then when I open Firefox, everything is back to the way it was, including all of my Extensions. The only exceptions are the Plugins because those need to be installed into Windows.

TwoCables said:

If it's a Retail copy, then we can go ahead with figuring this out. If it's OEM, then we can't.

Anyway, sometimes you can do this without any problems and sometimes you can't. So, I recommend at least preparing to format and start over just in case.

In the meantime, there may be ways to back up all of your configurations so that you can format, start over, install the software, reapply the configurations somehow, and be back up and running with no problem. A simple example is Firefox: all I have to do is copy/paste the contents of the default profile folder to a safe place, format and start over, install Firefox, open Firefox, close Firefox, and then copy/paste those contents into the new default profile folder. Then when I open Firefox, everything is back to the way it was, including all of my Extensions. The only exceptions are the Plugins because those need to be installed into Windows.

It's a MAK key for Windows 7 Professional and Enterprise.
Anyway, most of the configurations are not profile configurations such as firefox, but load orders within other applications and things of the like.

Layback Bear said:

Could your I.T. Department give you advice and help on doing this.

No, since the key was granted as being an employee that does work for Microsoft.
The key is for personal use until the activations are exhausted.

Layback Bear said:

Take a read here from Microsoft.

MAK Activation

https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/...ctivation.aspx

Using MAK Activation

It is the key I've been using to reactivate my copy of Windows 7 whenever it is needed.
Is there any other inquiries you have about my license.. or could you please help me with my actual question?

Thank you.

Layback Bear said:

Well I'm sorry I bothered you but I thought the information would be helpful once you replaced the motherboard. Guess not.
Have a nice day.

Well, it isn't the first time I have performed the change with this same license, I guess I did mention that in the first post.