# Changing motherboard without reinstalling windows ?



## quicky008 (Mar 30, 2017)

I'm thinking of changing the motherboard of one of my older pcs and i don't want to go through the hassle of reinstalling windows in it all over again.Its currently running windows 10-will changing the motherboard necessitate reinstalling windows or can i continue using it without any issues?Cpu,ram,gpu etc will stay the same.


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## ico (Mar 30, 2017)

You might want to take a few precautions if your Windows 10 is genuine. Ex, take a back-up of your license.

Otherwise everything will be just fine after a couple of initial driver installation quirks.


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## Nerevarine (Mar 30, 2017)

I have an ext hard drive with original Windows installed in the form of Windows to Go. I can boot it in different systems without any problems to licence. Is it a better way to install windows ? [MENTION=26711]ico[/MENTION]


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## whitestar_999 (Mar 30, 2017)

^^Windows to Go is supposed to be used only by enterprise users with valid license(not the serial/key but actual license consisting of terms & conditions) to run windows to go.Also every time windows to go is used on a new device it is supposed to be activated via MAK key or KMS so I don't see how you are able to use it on different devices with no issue(maybe because you haven't used it for long periods,say 1-2 weeks,for activation issues to come up).


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## ico (Mar 30, 2017)

Nerevarine said:


> I have an ext hard drive with original Windows installed in the form of Windows to Go. I can boot it in different systems without any problems to licence. Is it a better way to install windows ? [MENTION=26711]ico[/MENTION]



This is the only thing I'm aware of. How to re-activate Windows 10 after a hardware change | Windows Centra


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## quicky008 (Mar 30, 2017)

ico said:


> You might want to take a few precautions if your Windows 10 is genuine. Ex, take a back-up of your license.
> 
> Otherwise everything will be just fine after a couple of initial driver installation quirks.


thanks,i'll give it a try and report back if anything goes amiss.


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## whitestar_999 (Mar 31, 2017)

Taking a backup of license is redundant now for win 10 consumer editions(taking backup is only meaningful in case of MAK key activation) as MS servers store activation info based on hardware ID of a system.


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## quicky008 (Mar 31, 2017)

after changing the motherboard windows automatically detected it and reconfigured itself to work with the new hardware-i haven't had any issues with it so far.


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## Zangetsu (Mar 31, 2017)

was it OEM version of windows ? or retail version


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## quicky008 (Mar 31, 2017)

pirated version


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## whitestar_999 (Mar 31, 2017)

Only difference between OEM version & Retail version is in terms of license,no technical difference.OEM key can not be transferred to new hardware & comes with no free MS support.


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## ZTR (Mar 31, 2017)

whitestar_999 said:


> Only difference between OEM version & Retail version is in terms of license,no technical difference.OEM key can not be transferred to new hardware & comes with no free MS support.


Well if you link your key to your digital account I don't see why you can't transfer it 
Even if it's OEM 

Sent from my Redmi Note 3 using Tapatalk


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## Zangetsu (Mar 31, 2017)

ZTR said:


> Well if you link your key to your digital account I don't see why you can't transfer it
> Even if it's OEM
> 
> Sent from my Redmi Note 3 using Tapatalk


AFAIK OEM are bound to Motherboard model by the Manufacturers.

Well I have a Laptop with OEM version of Windows 10 Home Edition.

and the Manufacture has provided me with Windows 10 Recovery Disc which contains both Pro & Home Editions.

As, I paid for only Home Edition only so it came preinstalled with it.

Once I tried to install the Pro Edition from the Disc...but later found that activation was required for Pro.
So, I switched back to Home Edition and no key input required for activation (as it was activated automatically on connecting to web).




quicky008 said:


> pirated version



then why bother about transferring..u won't loose license


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## whitestar_999 (Mar 31, 2017)

ZTR said:


> Well if you link your key to your digital account I don't see why you can't transfer it
> Even if it's OEM
> 
> Sent from my Redmi Note 3 using Tapatalk


Because linking to digital account is meant for retail keys & most probably this procedure will fail for OEM keys as retail keys & OEM keys are different(aka in terms of sequencing,characters etc). Earlier when linking to digital account was not there even a retail customer had to call MS support to transfer license to new hardware which involved explaining circumstances,reading original cd serial etc.To simplify this procedure for retail customers,the procedure of linking keys to MS account was established.


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## ZTR (Mar 31, 2017)

whitestar_999 said:


> Because linking to digital account is meant for retail keys & most probably this procedure will fail for OEM keys as retail keys & OEM keys are different(aka in terms of sequencing,characters etc). Earlier when linking to digital account was not there even a retail customer had to call MS support to transfer license to new hardware which involved explaining circumstances,reading original cd serial etc.To simplify this procedure for retail customers,the procedure of linking keys to MS account was established.


This is weird

The laptop at my home came with win 8 and was upgraded to win 10 in the free upgrade period
Now this windows should be OEM right as it came with the laptop?
But it isn't
It shows as retail version
Also it's linked to a digital account

Sent from my Redmi Note 3 using Tapatalk


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## Zangetsu (Mar 31, 2017)

ZTR said:


> This is weird
> 
> The laptop at my home came with win 8 and was upgraded to win 10 in the free upgrade period
> Now this windows should be OEM right as it came with the laptop?
> ...


No that's not an OEM version and its not necessary that preinstalled Windows OS will of OEM type.


OEM versions are modified by the manufacturers.
e.g: an HP OEM windows OS will have HP logo in the windows version details.

I remember I had HCL windows XP OEM CD long back and it had some background music running during windows XP install wizard.


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## quicky008 (Mar 31, 2017)

Zangetsu said:


> then why bother about transferring..u won't loose license



Transfer what exactly?I don't remember mentioning anything about transferring.I was only afraid that windows might crash or stop working,thereby forcing me to reinstall it from scratch if i changed the motherboard of my pc(like it happened with older iterations of windows such as XP)-fortunately this didn't turn out to be the case as windows seamlessly detected the new hardware and started working without a hitch.


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## ZTR (Mar 31, 2017)

Zangetsu said:


> No that's not an OEM version and its not necessary that preinstalled Windows OS will of OEM type.
> 
> 
> OEM versions are modified by the manufacturers.
> ...




Well this windows was preinstalled with the Dell laptop so .....


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## whitestar_999 (Apr 1, 2017)

[MENTION=34930]Zangetsu[/MENTION], Don't get confused,any windows edition not sold directly by MS is OEM(all laptops pre-installed windows are OEM). It is the choice of the PC manufacturer how to customize the windows(e.g.HP,Dell putting their own logos). Those old XP OEM install CDs were more like automated system image restore CDs.

   [MENTION=163350]ZTR[/MENTION], How to Transfer your Windows 10 License to a New Compute


> with the release of Windows 10 November Update, 1511, Microsoft made modifications to the channel license. Previously, you could identify the channel from which, the license was derived by issuing a particular Windows command. *The November Update, now describes all licenses upgraded, whether full package or OEM as retail.* Even though your free upgrade to Windows 10 from an OEM Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 is now identified as retail, in spirit, it is still an OEM license.


Also in case of laptops,OEM license is as good as Retail because if your laptop motherboard gets replaced under warranty & it came with win 10 pre-installed then after replacing motherboard the laptop manufacturer still has to provide you win 10.So manufacturer will ask MS to re-activate win 10 on a new hardware with new motherboard as only serial no. of mobo will be different(one can't upgrade laptop motherboard,only repair or replace it with new unit). Of course this only holds true within warranty of laptop.


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## TigerKing (Apr 1, 2017)

when i boot up my new computer for 1st time, installed 1 old hdd and 1 new hdd.
It was not booting up with old hdd, which has windows 10 in it.

If the motherboard is same as old model, no need to worry. Otherwise it won't boot up.


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## quicky008 (Apr 1, 2017)

^I changed my motherboard to a new one based on a different chipset but my system booted up with the old copy of windows 10 that was already installed just fine-it just took a while to detect and reconfigure itself to work with the new hardware and after that it started functioning normally.

I suspect you didn't adjust the boot sequence for your hdds in the bios properly and so it probably failed to load windows 10,or your hdd's boot sector might have become corrupt and so it couldn't start the OS.


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## TigerKing (Apr 3, 2017)

quicky008 said:


> ^I changed my motherboard to a new one based on a different chipset but my system booted up with the old copy of windows 10 that was already installed just fine-it just took a while to detect and reconfigure itself to work with the new hardware and after that it started functioning normally.
> 
> I suspect you didn't adjust the boot sequence for your hdds in the bios properly and so it probably failed to load windows 10,or your hdd's boot sector might have become corrupt and so it couldn't start the OS.



ok. thats nice..
windows 10 on my old computer's hdd was also 1-2 year old, 2015-2016 version. may be thats why it didn't worked and reconfigured itself.

Yep for the 1st boot, I didn't checked bios setup. then I corrected it and installed 10 on new hdd.
May be your right, old hdd boot sector may be corrupted..

anyway I formatted old hdd.


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## kunnusingh (Apr 9, 2017)

If you have a genuine windows and even If it ask you for key after changing hardware then you can re-enter your key and activate your license.

I never face this type of issue, I simply make a clone of HDD with new disk and nothing happened even If I change hardware, etc. (Volume license on server however windows ask for key on ever 3 to 6 month because of my license is Volume license otherwise normal windows home license does not ask this frequently.)


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## whitestar_999 (Apr 9, 2017)

The above is only true for Retail license key,it will not work if key is OEM license(irrespective of cloned hdd).


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