Solved New MotherBoard need advice on how not to reinstall windows??

[JLAF5150]

Hi Guys,

I am entertaining the idea of getting a new Motherboard and CPU. Now I seen older guides on how to switch over without reinstalling Windows from scratch..

I was wondering are there any new ways of doing it or newer guides I can follow.. I don't remember everything I need to do so I would like to reread a Guide on How to do it that is more uptoo date or still Good to use..

I know there may not be a way to reactivate DCSWorld.. But could a swap be good still or would it be better to just reinstall Windows.. Just to let you know I don't mind reinstalling Windows but since I had a run of doing it like 4 times just a few days ago I would rather just keep this install if possible..

I am still not 100% on getting the new hardware, this is a just incase

Thank you
JLAF5150

 

[Layback Bear]

Please remember if you are going to use a different motherboard you can only legally transfer Windows 7 Retail.
Windows 7 OEM of any kind is locked to the motherboard it was first activated on.

My advice would be, if you have a OEM Builders or any OEM Windows 7, is to buy another copy of Windows 7 and do a Clean install.

This tutorial by Brink has always worked for me doing a Clean Install.

Clean Install Windows 7


Jack

 

[JLAF5150]

Well I do have a win 7 Retail so I am not locked.. I was just curious on if there are any new ways to switch over without reinstalling as I have done this dance already 4 times in the last week..

I know how to do a clean install but thnx for the guide..

 

[samuria]

It all depends how different the new hardware is to the old one if its simliar it may boot find new part install them and work or it may fail to load

 

[AddRAM]

Windows 7 Installation - Transfer to a New Computer

System Preparation Tool - Use to Customize Windows

But as suggested, it`s always best to do a clean install.

 

[Megahertz07]

Generation 6 (skylake) and 7 (kabylake) chipsets needs some drivers (USB3 , SATA, NVMe) that aren't on Win 7 installation disk.
Most motherboards manufacturers (ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI) provide a program to load those drivers to Win 7 installation disk.
Read my tutorial to learn more about. Create a Windows 7 USB flash installation with new drives for new MB's

Also, Intel says kabylake isn't compatible with win 7, as there is no specific graphics driver for it. If you intend to use internal graphics, you will have to use one from skylake.

I've upgraded my system from a generation 2 (sandybridge) to a gen 6 (skylake) and haven't seen any huge improvement. I did it more to use M.2 PCIe SSD. It was disappointing. Sata=RAID and PCIe M.2 drive problems

 

[AddRAM]

Ya you could save yourself a lot of grief by just installing Windows 10, and using your Windows 7 key to activate.

 

[JLAF5150]

Ya you could save yourself a lot of grief by just installing Windows 10, and using your Windows 7 key to activate.

Well one small problem with that, I use a curved screen and use nThusim that win 10 and Elite Dangerous don't play well together.. so basically win 10 is out for now..

EDIT: wel it seems kabylake only will install on Win 10?? I will have to relook into this big time..

 

[AddRAM]

No, another member installed 7 on an MSI board using a Caby Lake.

Reply #19 in this thread.

Bootable USB for i7 kaby lake

 

[JLAF5150]

So the only problem I am seeing is that the Keyboard or mouse if plugged in the 3.0 ports will not work if you do not install 3.0 drivers. I also see that is you are going to use the intel Graphics there are no drivers for kaby lake..

Other then that I too don't see why a kaby lake with new Asus Z270 Motherboard will not work with win 7.. Perhaps a bunch of hot air to scare the masses into Windows 10??

I am going to try it and I will report what happened either success or failure.. I am thinking this will work no problems as the new motherboard has 2 2.0USB Ports to plug the mouse and keyboard into..

I do have 1 question tho, I have a 2.0 USB Powered Hub If I plug the keyboard and mouse into that and the Hub into the 2.0 USB slot it should still work the keyboard and mouse I mean??

 

[AddRAM]

Which Asus board are you gonna get ?

Access Denied

I would love to get one of these 2.

Access Denied

Access Denied

 

[JLAF5150]

Access Denied

I think it will install Win 7 just fine I think everybody panicked mostly

 

[JLAF5150]

Well with Kaby Lake and the Z270 Boards Win 7 is a Bust.. you can get it installed. it is the behavior when in windows that makes it unusable..

I had no USB Drivers installed, Mouse Very irattic and jumping and opening windows when moving around uncontrollable.. I also had massive freezes when doing things not related to OC as I DEclocked it and it still Froze up.. I just installed Win 10 for now.. Maybe I should have gotten a Skylake CPU..

 

[AddRAM]

It must be the board.

I seriously doubt it has anything to do with W7, as others have installed it.

Yep I would`ve gotten a Skylake, Kaby Lake is no improvement.

Has it been 30 days ? Maybe you can return it.


Windows 10 is ok, you`ll get used to it, in about a year :roflmao:

But seriously, it`s not so bad, just customize it and you`ll be fine.

 

[JLAF5150]

Well funny thing is under Win 10 I am not having any issues like before when I was on Win 7.. I still think something was going on either way I'll just suck it up and use Win 10

Thnx..

 

[AddRAM]

Ya it`s not bad at all, I have it on the other Samsung and use it every now and then, no dual boot, I unplug 7 when I wanna use 10. But it`s mostly 7 for me

 

[johnhoh]

fwiw I just upgraded two older (one amd. one intel) win7 machines to Z270 motherboards with i7 7700k cpus with zero issues. Prior to the swap I just manually changed the device driver for the boot drive to the standard AHCI driver, and put the new motherboard's drivers on the desktop before shutting down the old machine. In each case it booted right up. I don't like sysprep generalize because it resets too many of my customizations. As mentioned, did not use usb 3.0 ports at first bootup either.

 

[AddRAM]

You`re saying you hooked the OS drives from those 2 older machines to the 2 new Z270 boards and you had no issues ?

Although it worked for you, Just me, but I`d never do that.

This further proves W7 will work fine on Kaby Lake, it`s just getting it installed that gives some people problems.

 

[johnhoh]

yes that's what I'm saying. Windows 7 is more boot/upgrade tolerant than previous versions just as long as it can load the hard drive controller, you just have to remember to set the bios to ahci on the new machine (assuming you don't use raid) and load the generic drive controller in device manager before shutting down the old machine for the final time. If it had not worked, I would have gone back and rebooted the hard drive while attached to the old motherboard and then done a sysprep generalize.

 

[AddRAM]

The only issue with that is your license/s (Technically) would have to be Retail or possibly even System Builder to move them to a new board.

Or if you had new oem keys you could just use them.