Windows 7: Existing hard drive on new motherboard.

Hi. I am planning to replace my motherboard and memory on my Win 7 Home premium 64b.

I've been updating MBs for 25 years and now I am getting conflicting answers regarding booting existing hard drive on new MB. My present Win 7 installation was installed on my present MB. Before I have always been able to use an existing hard drive and OS on a new MB.

Now when I asked Gigabyte if a reinstall would be required they said no, but the registry may be full of unneeded drivers etc which would affect performance. This seems a solvable issue using registry cleaners and editors.

But I am also getting opinions that Win 7 will not boot up on a new MB and reinstall OS would be required. Considering the number of programs, some on disks others from downloads. activation keys etc, this is a major problem. Has MS gone bananas? Who would benefit with this approach?

Does anyone have a definitive answer? Thanks.

Bill

First, Windows 7 is a lot more flexible with hardware changes, but at the very least, you should run Sysprep before moving to the new board. I would greatly recommend a clean install, especially if you plan ahead to cut down on how long that would take. However, Sysprep can remove some of the drivers to allow the system to be a little cleaner.

As for the copy of Windows 7, that all depends on your license. If you have a retail license, then you are fine. It should activate on the new system without issue, and it will be legit. If you have an OEM license, then that opens the door to a whole lot of gray areas, in terms of what is considered to be a new computer, and how legit your license will be, assuming you can activate it.

I agree with all the points made by DeaconFrost. A clean install is always better, but it can be done easily if you run Sysprep. The legality of transferring to a new computer is a good question to find answers to also.

When replacing a motherboard you should reset the bios and do a clean install. This will elliminate driver and settings related problems. But it is possible to just pop the hdd in and it boot up. Just you might find lots of driver related problems. If you are completely decided you want to not reinstall windows then run the program suggested above and if you can you should restore the bios to default settings. If you want to keep your files documents only then copy the user files over to an external hdd and once it has finished copy them back in

The BIOS doesn't come in to play here, because the motherboard is changing.

However, it brings up a good point. You would be wise to back up your data before making the switch...which leads back to the point of just doing the clean install. If your data is backed up, there's no reason to fear the clean install, and you'll be left with the most efficient system possible.

Yes thanks about that, i somewhat assumed that he was putting the hdd in a already in use mobo, i got confused because the minute before that i was reading a thread about it

To start off it would be nice to know whether you have a Retail or OEM Windows 7 disk. The rules and methods are different for each.
Microsoft checks whether it's operating system is being installed on the same or different computer by the motherboard.
The basic Microsoft rules.
Retail Microsoft operating system (COA) is allowed on one computer at on time. You can install the Retail on as many computers as you care as long as it is one computer at a time.
OEM Microsoft operating system (COA) on one computer. The OEM (COA) is tied to the motherboard. When you change the motherboard Microsoft considers it another computer. Their for another (COA) would have to be purchased. If you don't change computers or motherboards often OEM works just fine. If you do a lot of replacing I would recommend a Retail version.
Either way I would recommend backing up everything you want to save and copy down all authorization codes for other programs you may have. Then I would do a clean install with the proper COA as per our Tutorials.
Clean Install Windows 7

Thanks for all the comments. Certainly it tells me what I need to consider. I have an OEM license and now recall I changed a failed MB with another different model board and no problem with the license. I don't recall speaking to anyone at Microsoft. I believe it happened automatically.

The clean install is always preferable. I am just having a problem getting my arms around reinstalling many many programs. I have too many hobbies. Maybe I can come up with the plan.

Bill

re download all your current apps onto an usb drive and then it will make it much easier

Make a backup with the application installers.

I am going through the same decision right now, I just bundled up all of my installation files, and mods/application customizations and backed them up to load them into my system after I make a motherboard upgrade.