Upgrading motherboard without reinstalling windows 10? 

Kudos to the unsung software engineers at Microsoft who worked God knows how many nights without sleep to develop such a great automated system. Not the heroes we deserved, but the professionals we needed.

Awesome! I was working in a computer store many many years ago where Windows XP was the standard OS. Every time when we tried to keep windows after a mainboard swap it was a pain in the a**. I remember there was a tool, which you could run that would deinstall some drivers to make it work, but it was still a 50% chance at best.

Maaannn this video was right on time. 👍🏽Thank you so much. I'm on a mission now to FINALLY upgrade my old ass Asrock A75M-ITX.

thanks man, i was afraid to upgrade because of the reinstall hassles. now i can finally upgrade in peace 😇

i just wanna say thanks. this video made me realize i should have been seeing my ssd showing up under SATA and i was pulling hairs out trying to figure out why windows wouldn't start :P

Great info, thanks man!

I have memories of doing, maybe not the same, but similar stuff with 98. It's so long ago that I don't recall for sure. I do know I had an IT friend kinda laugh at me and say that what I did shouldn't work. Basically I did what you said you did before, clean out the device manager hand have windows re-find everything.

He Great Video, I'm thinking about trying what you did. Thanks

Could you try this again switching from AM4 to AM5?

Well that's awesome I'm not a tech guy but my kids are getting into all of this cpu and mother board upgrade now im not so worried about changing it now

I hope the cabinet has ventilation. Might be effecting your temps if not

I'm moving from an Intel i7 7800 and motherboard to the AMD 7950x and the ASUS ROG Crosshair X670E Extreme MoBo. Would I have any issues with not losing any configurations, files, and etc?

thank you for this video. Im thinking of upgrading my old i5-10400F to a i7-13700, for that I need a new motherboard. Your video gives me hope i can pull it off with my windows SSD from the old machine.

I'm thinking i should have got a smaller mobo for a small size case for my build. Would I have to remove cpu drivers also if I am using the same cpu? I have that same mobo currently your video

Just my experience with switching out my mobo, cpu, and gpu (from intel to AMD). I didn’t back up any drives or reinstall windows. After bios booted windows from my ssd, I was prompted to the “Windows Settings” tab to activate my previous key of windows. Logged into my account, linked hardware to account, windows is running fine. Did this install last night, roughly 50 minutes start to finish. Hope this helps anyone.

Hey can u do a tutorial on how to upgrade a motherboard and reinstall windows because I need help so I need how to backup boot it up and everything so please it would really help me

Last night I did an upgrade of my 9 years old Intel i7 4770 system to an i5 12400 Alder Lake, ASRock B660. And it just boots like there was nothing. I was like... hahaha. ....whaaat. Done. Grabbed a beer. Now I have to clone my ssd to the M.2 NVMe . I hope that will give another boost, cause I am in music sampling stuff..etc. Thanks for your content.

What's the Motherboard you used for the Video again?

I have a REALLY important question, so im planning on upgrading my motherboard sometime and right now i have a GIGABYTE B460M motherboard right now and im gonna upgrade it with a GIGABYTE Z790 (so i can use higher cpus) if i do that will i KEEP all of my windows c drive files and downloads etc? Especially if i upgraded it with a similar brand motherboard and kept the same ram? Or will i lose all of that?

It's so wild how smart things are now. I did a full upgrade for my cousin, cpu, ram, mobo everything but the GPU. His stuff was old too, processor/mobo wise an it was a huge jump in hardware but all intel. Didn't remove a damn thing an it freaking booted no problem! It freaks me out kinda lol not going back in an downloading drivers ect. I'm about to do this for a friend tomorrow, but this time he's even upgrading his GPU, you think I should Uninstall his old GPU drivers before moving the drives to new PC then just hop online and download newest drivers for the new GPU? Thanks in advance and congrats on the upgrade!

Just wanna share my story, my current computer is running windows 10, all of the hardware changed multiple times. About 4 different iterations and the first one was AMD while the subsequent three were and are Intel. The install is an original windows 7 that got upgraded to 8, 8.1 and then 10, all of the hardware changed including the upgrade from hdd, that I still use for vague storage, to then ssd to now nvme. While the machine runs absolutely perfectly, I can't report anything out of the ordinary. I may have done some cleaning of superfluous stuff in the past, probably literally deleted AMD folders in safe mode, but I just can't remember the details. I don't know how it all works specifically but I'm confident that dormant drivers stay dormant, unused, at worst I'm wasting a few mb here and there. Let's just say, the last time I did a fresh install on this computer I had to use the "format c:" command which is a bit nostalgic to me.

Wow this was easy! currently found your video due to Upgrading my Windows 11 gaming PC from a z370 chipset with an i7-9700k to a z790 chipset with an i5-12600k! safe to say I'm MUCH more optimistic now!

So you "don't do" cable management, bung your computer in a cabinet, and then wonder why your motherboard is overheating? All that said, I've literally just used your advice and it's worked. I've gone from an i5 4690k on Z97A, to a 7800X3D on B650, no problems so far at all! That's about as radical a jump as I could imagine, and your theory has held true.

Thanks. I'm going to try that with my NAS.

So I’m thinking of upgrading my MB from a Asus b550 plus to a Asus Rog Strix b650 and it’s running windows 11, is this ok to do also?

Hey could I ask advice on switching a motherboard in order to change my HWID? I bought the same one I have, just new, and I’m hoping that would switch my hwid

This is good to know, i'm going to buy the cheapest am5 mobo now and upgrade later if I need to when newer CPUs come out.

I'm about to upgrade my msi B450 tomahawk to a MSI x570s edge max wifi. Hoping to not have to reinstall windows. Did you upgrade the BIOS before you did the install? or after?

Should I reinstall windows if I'm going to upgrade my A320 motherboard to a B550-F Also upgrading my processor from a Ryzen 3 1200 to a Ryzen 5 3600

Will windows be fine if I swap from b450 to another b450?

I just swapped an intel 4790 system to AMD Ryzen 5 MSI B550 and everything seems good. I used AOMEI back upper and process wasn't too difficult, wish i would have seen this first though. Did you use disc cleanup to remove any of the old drivers? I was thinking of removing the Intel stuff but was afraid it might do more harm than good

I'm changing from an x570 to a different x570. Can I just transfer all the hardware and just boot up?

do you think i would need to do fresh install if upgrading mobo and cpu??

I got windows 10 for Christmas last year. Today I installed a new motherboard and kept hard drive and everything else. Tried re-installing my windows and now it says its only temp and I'm going to have to buy another windows!? Is there anyway around this? I shouldn't have to buy another one just because I have a new mother board. Probably have to go with linux. Thanks. Also I'm 70 and not computer literate.

Do you know if for windows 11, as the 10, there will be no need to reinstall?

What if you were swapping it with an identical board? That would improve my chances right?

did you do the sysprep shit everyone online talks about? Also since its been a few months have you had any conflicts or issues yet?

I'm considering to upgrade from B450 to B550 or X570 and I'm afraid of blue screen during Windows startup. Did you made some preparations before MB replacement?

Get a NXZT H700 or LIAN LI LANCOOL 2. Those are great for space which allows better cable management and airflow. Having that gpu, you'll want to get more fans as well.

I’m looking to upgrade from a 9600K build to a 5900x. I was thinking of doing this, but after I get into windows, I’ll just do a clean install from there. Could that work?

Is it possible to upgrade processor without loosing hard drive data ?

so when i charge my motherboard i have to have a usb with windows os on it

I'm upgrading my son's current system ( crappy bargain asrock motherboard ) with a ryzen 3 2200 to a b550 with a 5600xt. Any suggestions?

Just subscribed, I am attempting to do a fresh build, my old pc is 12 years old, like you i chose the ryzen 9 5900x for the processor, a choice between two motherboards one New msi mag 550 tomahawk and one Used Asus Rog Strix X570 F Gaming Motherboard, the 550 has the 4.0 as well so I might try that one first. The question I have if you see this is, do you remember the coolmaster cm stackers? I have the 830 model it's New, never used it, Now I am wondering if I can even use that pc case with modern motherboards and usb ports etc.. what would you recommend in this scenario? it's a full tower a real beast that can utilize nine fans, I am thinking even that case is to old for modern upgrades. Also I bought a 1tgb ssd stick type M2 and I am trying to figure out should I just keep the operating system on that and have a sata hard drive? and lastly the dreaded windows 10, I have played with it and I do not like it at all, it wants you on the cloud, wants to consistently do upgrades to the system, and all the crap that is on their I am not even interested in and will never use But unfortunately I have to go 10 or 11 or the board/processor will not work, I went with the 3060ti gpu and an 850psu and 2x16gb ram, what a nightmare, mainly having to move up to a windows version that I really do not like.

I'm planning to do this haven't reinstalled windows since 2013 my windows 10 is v1511 , planning to change motherboard cpu and memory , i hope everything stays as is

So I have an Intel i7 4770 and I want to change my motherboard to a different mobo that's compatible with my original Cpu which is listed above , would I be able to just plug everything back in and boot up and everything will be fine?

Hey I’m desperate, I had the same situation but when I booted up on my new motherboard it just said other user and I couldn’t get into it, swapped back to my old motherboard and I’m trying to figure out how to get it so my files are there

thanks bro imma go buy tomorrow hopefully I don't have to reinstall windows

Looks like Microsoft finally got the hardware extraction layer (HAL) to work

Thanks

Sooo if i upgrade to a I3 12100F from a I7 4790 and a z87m d3h to a B660M DS3H mobo and 16 gb ddr4 from ddr3 on a windows 10pro on a sata ssd it should be fine?

Your temp issues probably had more to do with your PC looking like a bird nest + running inside a closed cabinet than any problem with your MB ... but hey, congratz for the upgrade XD

Windows AI and automatic repair tool will actually detect new hardware and reinstall basic drivers for the hardware, the only conflict is usually in graphics cards, but that is easily fixed by making sure your graphic card drivers are in the same series, though you may need to rebuilt because windows after hardware change always boots into VGA drivers to make shure there is a windows post the first time.

Did you have no issues with Windows Activation at all, and is it still fine two years later? 🧡

It looks like your computer took you to BIOS, then automatically went to Windows when you closed. Whenever I close my BIOS, it reboots back to BIOS. Not entirely sure where to go from there.

I need help!!! I just had my ryzen 3 3100, b450m msi MB, Gtx1650 , and change it to same cpu but rog b550 F MB, intel arc a770 gpu, but when i want to play games giving me low fps high 100% cpu usage and low gpu usage and plz need help what should i do? Also i didnt still try to reinstall my windowse from last motherboard

I want to do the same but with an Intel system. And win 10 home. Do you think Microsoft will ask to buy a new win license or to re activate the prod ID??

I am fixing to go from amd to intel, I will let you know how it works out.

Could I upgrade from Gigabyte GA-A320M-H motherboard to Gigabyte x470 without reinstalling windows?

hey will i need to re dowload windows if i get the same motherboard again but new ?

Okay so I’m upgrading from i5 8600k to a 5900x can I do this the same way without reinstalling windows?

*Update after 1 year* I did run into an issue that would happen randomly. Time would freeze, mouse could move but couldn’t open programs or reset from windows; had to physically reset from tower. Would only happen on a dormant desktop, but rare instance recently happened while playing Dragon’s Dogma 2. Suspect that system is conflicting between old Intel files and new AMD files. Reinstalled Windows 11, system seems stable for now. Even better frames in games tbh as well.

hi,early today i swap my motherboard fm2-a55 e33 with fm2-a68hm p33 v2 because old one lost connection to one of my ram . just replaced it ,checked does this motherboard supports my cpu,gpu,ram.....i just swap it and turn on ,no windows reinstall.having on ssd windows 10 and 1tb of hard drive as 2nd one....now, everything is doing normal...i played games,watched youtube....so on.....its fine......when i checkeddevice manager,he shows old drivers from old keyboards i had,and duplicates of same.....Do i need to delete all drivers 1 by 1 and reinstal them or just leave it be?

Yeah but you went from a MSI to another MSI motherboard right? I plan on going from a MSI 390 tomahawk to a Asrock 390 for the SLI options. I sure hope that i will have the same luck.

Where is your Indian accent? How come I can hear your voice and not a typed out text document? lol thank you for the video! Take my thumbs up

As we speak I’m at a stand still what I should do. My b450 tomahawk died 48hrs ago and I bought a b550 strix gaming. I’m literally swapping all the hardware to the new board now WITHOUT wiping my ssd. When I hit power I’m not sure what’s gonna happen? Suggestions??? If I lose windows I could care less. My pc is purely for gaming, internet browsing. Only think that sucks is I spend hrs n hrs optimally deactivated location traces and tweaking dozens of settings

I am currently in the middle of my upgrade. I have the same X470 Gaming Pro Carbon with 16pin cpu power to a MSI Meg X570s Ace Max hope it works for me. I've done this with my brothers computer after his a320 failed we just put in the new mobo a b350 and it worked very casually

believed or not i didnt fresh re-install my windows. i used to have an AMD A-10 7860k and a ASUS Mobo A68HM-K and i upgraded to Ryzen 5 5600g with AORUS MOBO. i just slapped it in, waited to windows to boot then windows did his thing. it's just update the thing he needed to update.

do i need to delete my stuff from my old ssd (western digital sn750) and put it in my new mobo and reinstall windows again?

I did the same right now but I get tons of bluescreen problems (from B450 to the same X570 you have) :( I don't even have problems with it earlier before I made a motherboard change (I had to do the without reinstalling thing since I already get BSODS while setting up a fresh OS installation) I kept getting the KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE BSOD (how come that the RAM just suddenly became faulty when I have used it for work before making the switch of motherboard)

Do you think i can do this with a hard drive?

I have a question....will I lose my games if I reinstall Windows??.....can I reinstall them from steam without paying again?

What did you use to back up your data?

I went for it and....after hours it's all running smooth. However, one *HUGE* word of warning. I use my PC for music production, and it therefore has iLOK licenses. You absolutely *MUST* deactivate them all before doing this. Mine are now entirely screwed, and I have had to request deactivation from iLOK. There is no guarantee that they can fix it and it could take a long time if they do. Probably £300 worth of VST licences now useless 😢 You *MUST* deactivate all licenses first. I learned the *VERY* hard way. Uninstalling iLOK before doing this is not enough.

I upgraded asus to msi and ram. Didnt have to reinstall windows 11. Just had to repurchase pro and removed all asus files. No issues whatsoever.

Plan on upgrading my mother board and cpu from an i5 8400 to an Ryzen 5 5600x but I’m super scared that I’m gonna mess something up so do I uninstall windows on my computer and then replace the parts or do I uninstall windows and reinstall it before replacing the parts? UPDATE: I replaced my CPU and motherboard and everything went well hand no issues booted up quick and was done.

just upgraded my CPU and motherboard. it was a HUGE upgrade from 3rd gen to 12th gen. when I finished the build windows OS wouldn't boot and it just stays in the bios on startup. I'm gonna try reinstalling windows with a thumb stick and hoping that will fix it

Gives me confidence to do it myself, many thanks!

I dont have any extra storage to back it up hopefully this turns out ok😅

Two questions: Will this work if you switch architectures (Intel -> AMD or vice versa), and will it work with Windows 11 because of the need for both a TPU and Secure Boot? I am tired of fighting with my current setup and I'd like to upgrade to Alder Lake, but I don't have all of my programs to restore to the new system if I had to do a clean install.

I'm gonna try changing from i9 10900kf,asus formula mobo DDR4 rams,3080ti to the new 7800x3d,Asus Rog Strix X670E-F Gaming mobo DDR5 rams and a zotac AMP Extreme airo 4090, WIN11 64bit... finger crossed.

Thank god I came across this video Monday I’ll be upgrading from i7 9700k to i7 13700k

just upgraded from an i7 8700 asus prime h310m-e r2.0 to i5 13600kf b660m aorus pro ax ddr4 and after turning it on im surprised it boot. everything's stable all temps are good. really surprised! LOL! im on windows 11 BTW!

This is perfect you have the same build as me, only difference is mine is the S variant. Even the same cpu. GOD MUST HAVE SENT YOU 😂😂😂😂 6:33 lol I’m the same way, you can’t even see the damn lights on my tower it’s not see through. But sheesh that cooler master is a fucking monster man……. I like that I know for a fact my gpu is going to fit lol, and I don’t have to question anything I buy…. Can buy a big boy mother board and know it’s going to fit. It’s lovely. Wish I could say that about other things LOL. If this video helps me……. You will be a champion in my eyes. FOR LIFE MAN FOR LIFE

Or even if there’s a way to move my user files on a drive so I can at least log in

Leson Learned: -Buy same Brand of MotherB. -insert everything as It was like before -Back up first before going Indiana Jones -and Finally Pray to Robo Jesus that it works.

I am upgrading my processor(Core 2 Quad) ram and mobo(Zebronics G41) to i3 10105f MSI H510M Mobo, Do I need to reinstall windows or it will boot up normally?

Just be careful when you lift off your CPU cooler if you have an AMD Motherboard..The AM4 socket doesn't clamp lock down the processor like it does on Intel Motherboard..When i removed my CPU cooler it pulled the CPU from its socket..Luckily, It didn't bend any pins on my Ryzen 3600 ..Initially It didn't boot into windows 10, reporting it had a Boot issue on my motherboards error code, so I turned it off and rebooted again, and the second time it worked and jumped into Windows...So yeah, I can confirm you can upgrade to a new Motherboard without having to reinstall Windows 10..Just be sure to run your computer to warm it up to loosen the thermal paste before you remove your CPU cooler.

very informative vid brother. i'm upgrading my asus prime plus b550 to an asus crosshair x570 and windows reinstall never came across as an issue but I'm glad I watched this video, I'm going to install the new mobo today after work and I'm fretting it lol. Thank you for putting that to rest for me. A new case and a little wire management does help with temps across all components, and having it inside of a cabinet can suffocate your PC as it's not getting efficient fresh air, just a tip!! some airflow inside your case would definitely help cool things down. You've got some awesome components! I'm currently on a 5900x rtx 3060 and 3.5TB m.2 storage (samsung 980 pro as main and 970 as back up) thanks again for this video!!!

I have just switched from intel to amd and will do nothing to windows as an experiment. i’ll let you know how it goes 😬

through the years i have used 7 and 10 i been on 10 for 2 years and its the most stable win i ever used way less crashes and way more features i dont use most but it is faster to and more stable from my experience using 7 on and off its not a tough it catches virus easier and crashes more often but its way easier to go to the recover menu compared to 10 where its a hassle cause of the going to the extra menus its been mutiple times i had to reinstall win7 i only had 2 boards using that win so i did reinstall it said i had to cause it was no win since 10 is a updated ver of 7 i can see why 10 doesnt need to install win its just way more advanced its able to detect a board change and its able to stay stable doing that change and still be able to run it goes back to it being more tougher i would use that word 7 should have been able to do new board installs without a new install since 7 is way more advanced then the 90s ver My thinking of why 7 and the other wins before it had to be reinstalled is cause win didnt have the features to see that new board to be able to use it without updating drivers I always been annoyed when I had to do installs cause of having to download everything over

You need a modern PC case. The one you have is really terrible for the powerful computer parts that you have. Bad airflow, no insulated shroud for the PSU, HDD drive bays block the front of the case instead of being in the PSU shroud or behind the motherboard, GPU upside down and creating wind vacuum against the PSU fan, no dedicated exhaust fan, no dedicated compartment for cable management... and many more. Someone who can afford a 3070 Ti can easily afford a modern full sized ATX case.

Mine wont even boot into bios

See what happens when we go from e8400 core duo to i5 14600k this week. 😂

Thx it's actually true, I went from a B450 + Ryzen 5 2600 to a B550 + Ryzen 7 5800x without reinstalling windows. Not having any problems at all, but I did have to reactivate windows.

6:20 "I don't care about wiring...." I believe you, 100%......

Currently sitting here trying to go from a Gigabyte Z590 i711700k to an Asus b-760 i5 13600k and I can't get windows to boot 😂😢😢😢

286 lol, showing your age there ;)

Your RAM is super slow 2400 mhz xD

Anybody want a 3060 vid is on my page of it working for 270 and I gotta z35 1440p for 300