Reinstalling Windows

[ag123]

I have a lot of programs and games installed on an external drive, if i reinstall Windows on the SSD drive would everything work OK with the external drive, or would it just point to empty shortcuts etc

 

[Karln]

I have a lot of programs and games installed on an external drive, if i reinstall Windows on the SSD drive would everything work OK with the external drive, or would it just point to empty shortcuts etc

If you reinstall windows you must reinstall all your applications.

 

[Bill2]

Standalone exes would work fine. But most programs write info to the registry and many also create startup menu items and system services or modify some windows settings. The new windows install on the ssd will not have all those. Basically depends on the particular app.

 

[ag123]

Thats what i was thinking, is there anyway to get around this. I thought Windows only has the shortcuts and maybe registry entries that point to the stuff on the external drive

ok thanks

 

[Orbital Shark]

Hi,

You could try

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/11470-windows-easy-transfer-transfer-computers.html

it can save user settings and files. If your games and stuff are on an external drive it could be what you're after and can be used to transfer from/to the same computer after a re-install.

   Note

Please make sure to save the transfer file on your external HDD and please read all info fully before proceeding

OS

 

[Shootist]

I have a lot of programs and games installed on an external drive, if i reinstall Windows on the SSD drive would everything work OK with the external drive, or would it just point to empty shortcuts etc

If you reinstall the OS to a New/Clean/Freshly Partitioned/Formatted drive there won't be anything pointing to anything on any other hard drive installing inside the case or externally.

You will need to RE-Install all your programs no matter what type they are or whether or not they are still on some other drive, internally or externally.

 

[ag123]

thanks shark looks like what im after

 

[gregrocker]

Reimporting User AppData into a clean reinstall is a corruption path, defeating the purpose of starting fresh with a clean reinstall.

Tips for getting a perfect reinstall - use the ones which apply: Reinstalling Windows 7 - Windows 7 Forums