# Change motherboards without reinstalling Windows 7!



## stinger608 (Jan 27, 2011)

Okay, maybe this has been done to death, the thread type anyhow. 

With that said, does anyone know of a way to change the motherboard in a system running Windows 7 without reformatting, and reinstalling Windows 7? 

The system I am referring to is a system that is getting a motherboard upgrade. Of course it is a different chip set, so naturally Windows will want to install different drivers in order to operate correctly. 

Back in the day, one could completely delete the "ENUM" entry in the registry of Windows XP, shut down, change the motherboard, boot and away ya go. I have not found anything solid with Windows 7 however, and wondering if anyone has knowledge of this, or knows where to go to find knowledge on this.

Thanks in advance to all TPU members


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## sneekypeet (Jan 27, 2011)

best chance at it is to:

1 boot to safe mode
2 remove all drivers
3 restart back into safe mode
4 run Ccleaner reg clean
5 turn off 
6 boot new rig and see if the OS clears.


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## JrRacinFan (Jan 27, 2011)

Don't even need to go through all those steps. Once you got into safe mode,windows 7 will rebuild it's drivers automatically. Boot normally and then install chipset drivers if not already in. 

Edit:
One thing though, it gets hectic with RAID and you will NEED to reinstall/rebuild the array. Only circumstance where you will find driver conflicts.  

Edit2:

See edit 1 peet.


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## sneekypeet (Jan 27, 2011)

I just dont like taking the chance of even having the old drivers to trip things up. Only reason I posted the longer version


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## stinger608 (Jan 27, 2011)

Good points Sneeky and JR. I have often wondered if Windows 7 would build drivers correctly for the new motherboard. 

Trying to talk this fellow into just reformatting and reinstalling, but you all know how people are LOL.

@JR: Crap, didn't think of that! He does have a Raid setup. Dual 320's. Crap, that might not work at all then. I told him to back everything up that was important in the event that it does not work without reinstalling.


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## sneekypeet (Jan 27, 2011)

stinger608 said:


> Trying to talk this fellow into just reformatting and reinstalling, but you all know how people are LOL.



Just tell him it wont work That is the better way to go anyways.


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## JrRacinFan (Jan 27, 2011)

sneekypeet said:


> I just dont like taking the chance of even having the old drivers to trip things up. Only reason I posted the longer version



Did my method 4 times over the past 2 years. Until just recently reinstalled a fresh Windows 7 x64 to clean up odds and ends, basically "spring cleaning".


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## sneekypeet (Jan 27, 2011)

JrRacinFan said:


> Did my method 4 times over the past 2 years. Until just recently reinstalled a fresh Windows 7 x64 to clean up odds and ends, basically "spring cleaning".



I wasnt saying it wouldn't/shouldn't work, just that he will likely have to clean out the drivers anyways, unless he just wants them lingering, taking up space


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## stinger608 (Jan 27, 2011)

Thanks guys, that has been most helpful!!!! I think your right Sneeky, just tell him that it will not work LOLOLOL


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## JrRacinFan (Jan 27, 2011)

Yup in the case of raid it definitely will not work.


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## Completely Bonkers (Jan 27, 2011)

Can't you just run sysprep, then shutdown. then swap hardware. then boot.

Or was sysprep removed from w7?


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## sneekypeet (Jan 27, 2011)

JrRacinFan said:


> Yup in the case of raid it definitely will not work.



agreed! I mean unless you can get the raid drivers in via USB or floppy, you will never have a chance to see the OS


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## stinger608 (Jan 27, 2011)

Completely Bonkers said:


> Can't you just run sysprep, then shutdown. then swap hardware. then boot.
> 
> Or was sysprep removed from w7?



Sysprep?


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## stinger608 (Jan 27, 2011)

JrRacinFan said:


> Yup in the case of raid it definitely will not work.





sneekypeet said:


> agreed! I mean unless you can get the raid drivers in via USB or floppy, you will never have a chance to see the OS



The guy wants me to install a single 1tb drive and give it a try. Hmm, will try to do an image backup using Acronis 2011 on a empty disk, change the motherboard, and hard drive, and then attempt to bring the image back on the single drive. Then reboot into safe mode.................Jeez, this seems like it is going to be a long process

I guess he is currently backing up everything that is important to him, and this will happen probably Friday afternoon or Saturday morning...............Well I am sure all said and done it will be about a fricking 10 hour ordeal.


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## Completely Bonkers (Jan 27, 2011)

http://benosullivan.co.uk/windows/how-to-image-and-deploy-windows-7-a-complete-guide/

And google sysprep.

Sysprep will allow you to change hardware and maintain windows install and all installed programs.  HOWEVER it resets user data... so backup anything/data in /users/. It will not harm other directories on the drive, or other partitions.  So backup user data to a D: partition and you are good to go.


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## sneekypeet (Jan 27, 2011)

Completely Bonkers said:


> http://benosullivan.co.uk/windows/how-to-image-and-deploy-windows-7-a-complete-guide/
> 
> And google sysprep.
> 
> Sysprep will allow you to change hardware and maintain windows install and all installed programs.  HOWEVER it resets user data... so backup anything/data in /users/. It will not harm other directories on the drive, or other partitions.  So backup user data to a D: partition and you are good to go.



Good call for a single drive, but with raid, there wont be an OS to boot to

@ Stinger   I would think, as long as the 1TB is bigger than his raid array, he could clone out of raid, then re-clone back to the raid after the drives are configured?!?!


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## stinger608 (Jan 27, 2011)

sneekypeet said:


> Good call for a single drive, but with raid, there wont be an OS to boot to
> 
> @ Stinger   I would think, as long as the 1TB is bigger than his raid array, he could clone out of raid, then re-clone back to the raid after the drives are configured?!?!



No he wants to get away from the Raid setup and just go with a single drive, I guess.


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## JrRacinFan (Jan 27, 2011)

@Stinger

Give maxblast a try if you get a maxtor/seagate. You can clone his existing to the 1TB and then Safe mode boot.



sneekypeet said:


> @ Stinger   I would think, as long as the 1TB is bigger than his raid array, he could clone out of raid, then re-clone back to the raid after the drives are configured?!?!



Possible to do that but, rather save time and just reinstall. EDIT: No wait, not possible unless you install the raid drivers before cloning, which Windows won't see RAID involved and poof, no drivers installed, catch 22.

On 4th thought, reinstall windows on his raid after a backup of his current stuff is made on a single drive. Keeping his raid array but rebuilding it for the new board.


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## Formula350 (Jan 27, 2011)

Um... I just plugged in the drive with Win7 32Bit, from a Socket 754, Sempron 2800+ with 2x1GB DDR1, onboard SiS video all on a HP by ASUS Motherboard RIGHT into my 890FX rig (specs to your left) and have yet to experience a problem 

Now. Was it the best thing to do? Naw. Am I worried about performance? Not really given it's a 5400RPM 44pin IDE drive lol (don't ask). 

All you need to do is make sure the drive you're booting off (which needs Boot Manager) has been set in the BIOS to boot from first


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## JrRacinFan (Jan 27, 2011)

Formula350 said:


> Um... I just plugged in the drive with Win7 32Bit, from a Socket 754, Sempron 2800+ with 2x1GB DDR1, onboard SiS video all on a HP by ASUS Motherboard RIGHT into my 890FX rig (specs to your left) and have yet to experience a problem
> 
> Now. Was it the best thing to do? Naw. Am I worried about performance? Not really given it's a 5400RPM 44pin IDE drive lol (don't ask).
> 
> All you need to do is make sure the drive you're booting off (which needs Boot Manager) has been set in the BIOS to boot from first



I agree but RAID is involved and I am 99.99999% sure the array will break when moved to a different board.


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## Formula350 (Jan 27, 2011)

JrRacinFan said:


> I agree but RAID is involved and I am 99.99999% sure the array will break when moved to a different board.



Yea, if you want to boot off a RAID or use AHCI, you'll have to reinstall :\ I've tried getting around that and that pooched the registry far enough to make Safemode not even work  Had to boot up my custom Win7Lite (meh, it's just 158mb WinPE3 with complete GUI, internet, HDAudio) and restore the .bak registry file...


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## stinger608 (Jan 27, 2011)

JrRacinFan said:


> I agree but RAID is involved and I am 99.99999% sure the array will break when moved to a different board.



Not really caring if the raid breaks down. I am pulling his raid configuration and installing a single 1tb drive in place of the raid setup. I will be doing an image backup on a empty drive that I currently have, and then restoring the image to his new 1tb SINGLE drive. Can't remember what motherboard he has now, but he has had issues in the past with the raid being seen, therefore he wants to get rid of the raid at the same time as upgrading his motherboard.

Does that make any sense? He will not have a raid setup anymore.


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## JrRacinFan (Jan 27, 2011)

Makes sense. Just boot up on the new drive into safe mode.


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## stinger608 (Jan 27, 2011)

JrRacinFan said:


> Makes sense. Just boot up on the new drive into safe mode.



That is what I was thinking bro!!!

I am thinking that getting rid of the Raid setup will enable me to boot to his new drive? Hope so, I am already tired of hearing him whine about having to possibly reinstall Windows

Jeez, he has called me about 5 or 6 times in the last half hour whining!


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## Formula350 (Jan 27, 2011)

stinger608 said:


> Jeez, he has called me about 5 or 6 times in the last half hour whining!



If he calls again tell him "Wait... you DIDN'T want me to reinstall 7?!  Aww shit dude.. I'll see if I can restore any of the data, give me a few days!"


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Jan 27, 2011)

I just did this with my sandybridge upgrade. All I had to do was go into msconfig and uncheck everything from startup, reboot twice, and that was it.


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## Mussels (Jan 27, 2011)

saritayadav said:


> without reinstalling Windows motherboards change not possible..



it is quite possible. i've done it dozens of times.


I dont really recommend it however, better to have a fresh install of windows so you dont get all sorts of leftover junk (old drivers etc)


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## stinger608 (Jan 27, 2011)

Mussels said:


> it is quite possible. i've done it dozens of times.
> 
> 
> I dont really recommend it however, better to have a fresh install of windows so you dont get all sorts of leftover junk (old drivers etc)



I agree, however what I will try to do first I guess is restore the image to the single 1tb drive, and run driver sweeper to eliminate the current drivers. Will probably run CCleaner and JV Power tools after rebooting. 

Thanks a ton to everyone that  has made some great comments on this


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## Mussels (Jan 27, 2011)

well driver sweeper and its kind dont clear out all the leftovers, its not going to clear out leftover network drivers, or SATA drivers or anything like that.


It works, but it adds that bit of extra bloat - meaning you'll have to format sooner anyway, to make it all fresh n shiny.


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## brandonwh64 (Jan 27, 2011)

I have a copy of windows 7 on a 160GB hard drive that i have swapped from atleast 5 diffrent systems and not once had to reinstall.

It went from: 775>785G>P55>GF6100>740G>Whats next? LOL

Still running strong with no driver errors.


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## lnd2288 (Jan 27, 2011)

good morning-i had done it in the past but my pc wasnt stable. i would get random freeze ups. i was too cheap at da moment did not want to purchase a new O.S. lol at the end i just went along and bought for my own sake.


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## Formula350 (Jan 27, 2011)

saritayadav said:


> without reinstalling Windows motherboards change not possible..



I admit, I didn't read eeeevery post before replying... *BUT* Saritayadav, had you read at least 1/2 of the first page, you would have seen it is VERY possible, and very easy! (as Mussels said)


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## Dave65 (Jan 27, 2011)

It is very doable but id never do it..I want a fresh install because if something creeps up down the road you will always wonder if that is the cause.


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## stinger608 (Jan 28, 2011)

Dave65 said:


> It is very doable but id never do it..I want a fresh install because if something creeps up down the road you will always wonder if that is the cause.



Great point Dave, and that is what I am trying to explain to this fellow. However, he really does not want to reformat, and have to install a bunch of applications, programs, games, etc...

The good thing is, he is backing all of his pictures, user info, and other important things up just in case.............Hmm, makes me think it should be reformatted anyhow


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## stinger608 (Jan 29, 2011)

Well for tonight, I was able to change the drive from his Raid to the single drive. I ran an image and then changed drives and Bios settings and then restored the image on the single drive.......So far so good. Tomorrow I am changing the motherboard.........Wish me luck guys LOLOLOL


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## niko084 (Jan 29, 2011)

JrRacinFan said:


> Don't even need to go through all those steps. Once you got into safe mode,windows 7 will rebuild it's drivers automatically. Boot normally and then install chipset drivers if not already in.
> 
> Edit:
> One thing though, it gets hectic with RAID and you will NEED to reinstall/rebuild the array. Only circumstance where you will find driver conflicts.
> ...



He is right here, Windows 7 does a fantastic job of dealing with that and it's about time!



sneekypeet said:


> I just dont like taking the chance of even having the old drivers to trip things up. Only reason I posted the longer version



Also a good point, have a backup or be comfortable doing it.
I am yet to have an issue doing it, even with a raid *as long as it was Intel to Intel* with windows 7.


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## js01 (Jan 29, 2011)

I have done this a few times most recently with my sandy bridge upgrade and have never had any problems with it, just uninstall the basic gpu and chipset drivers first, and you don't even have to do that. 

I also installed a fresh copy on another partition just to have for a backup and the performance was exactly the same, so I really don't believe it when people say you need to do a fresh install to get more performance out of your new hardware.


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## stinger608 (Jan 29, 2011)

js01 said:


> I have done this a few times most recently with my sandy bridge upgrade and have never had any problems with it, just uninstall the basic gpu and chipset drivers first, and you don't even have to do that.
> 
> I also installed a fresh copy on another partition just to have for a backup and the performance was exactly the same, so I really don't believe it when people say you need to do a fresh install to get more performance out of your new hardware.



Yea, I checked his system out before making the image install. Of course I just changed the hard drive this evening, but Windows 7 did install some drivers and prompted me to restart, which I did, and after that I didn't see anything odd or a performance hit. Tomorrow I will change the motherboard. Before I do, I think I will go in and do a complete driver uninstall using Driver Sweeper and see what happens.


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## stinger608 (Feb 6, 2011)

whoops, forgot to update this thread LOL. 

Booted into safe mode, did a "driversweeper" and then ran CCleaner and JVPowertools to rid the OS of any and all drivers. Shut the system down, installed the new motherboard, chip, and ram. 
Fired up the system, and installed all new drivers. Not one single problem with the OS at all. Everything ran just fine. Customer was tickled shitless that we didn't have to do a format and reinstall of the operating system.

Thanks to everyone that responded and gave me awesome ideas for getting this job finished!!!


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