I am upgrading my PC, but I'm sticking to my old HDD and gfx card. I would like to avoid reinstalling Win 8. Is this possible? Or, at least, is it possible to use Windows 8's refresh pc option?UPDATEIt worked like a charm.
Windows acted as if it was the first boot and displayed the 'Getting devices ready% ' progress bar. I am not sure if this proves you can do it in every scenario, but my new gear is relatively modern (some gigabyte board with two PCIe 3.0 slots and USB 3.0 support + i5), so I guess we can agree the reinstall is unnecessary in most cases. You might be able to get away without re-installing.Your current installation will have drivers for the current motherboard. The new motherboard will require new drivers.If Windows can cope with this difference then it will boot but the first thing it will do is ask you to install the new drivers from the motherboard installation CD. However, it might fail to boot.
Check for new drivers for Win10 on your motherboard site. In Drivers and Hardware I just went to ASUS and saw that there were new Win10 drivers for the Intel chipset, LAN, and Rapid Start in the last couple of weeks, one just a couple of days ago. Check your motherboard site to see if you have recent updates as well.
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In which case you'll have to re-install Windows.Make sure to backup your data before doing the upgrade. Then try it and if it works you'll have saved yourself a lot of time.
I was facing the same issue with a mobo & cpu upgrade last month. Am running Win8.1 Pro w/Media Center.
After the hardware switch, Windows started right up and loaded the basic drivers. It all worked well. I had to reactivate Windows but that wasn't a problem as their automated call process worked fine.
I have three HDDs for programs and data and a SSD for my C: drive. No issues with them and no network/sharing/homegroup/printer issues.Tip: Before you start the hardware switch, deactivate all Adobe products and deauthorize your computer in iTunes if iTunes is installed. I've come across a couple of single-user-license programs that simply needed to have the license key re-entered but that's it. I had to call Adobe to get my Photoshop and Photoshop Elements programs re-activated. Adobe Lightroom was not affected.I do have Acronis TruImage that has Universal Restore built in to it but didn't need to use it. I did do a full backup and image creation on a bootable disc before I started also. There's useful information here in most of the answers, but one thing that will probably further smoothen your experience is to deactivate Windows 8 on the old motherboard first, if possible:Press Windows key + XClick Comman Prompt (Admin) At the command prompt, type: slmgr.vbs-upkHit Enter, this will uninstall the product key from the computer andset it back to trial mode, you are now free to use it on anothercomputer.The installation currently will go into trial mode, will need to beactivated or it will go into reduced functional mode.
You have theoption of installing another version or edition of Windows or obtain aproduct key for it. You can also format the system.Found on the. Yes, you should be able to do that. However, you will have to do some preparation work first. As usual, the first golden rule of computing is to backup your data.
You can either use the built-in in Windows to do that, or use a third-party solution. I have personally been using Acronis True Image for years now. One of the key benefits is the so called 'Universal Restore'.In previous versions of True Image (prior to 2014) you had to get a separate add-on called the 'Plus Pack' to get this functionality.
However, in True Image 2014 this is now an integral part of the True Image 2014 Premium. It is only included in the Premium version. Note that it is not available in the Lite or the Standard version of the software.What you basically do is the following. You install the True Image software. You create a new disk image backup of the system disk. Then you create a True Image bootable media. You can do that insideTrue Image, or you can download a bootable version of the softwarefrom your Acronis online account.
You install your new hardware - motherboard, memory, processor, etc.You can either use your old disk drive, or use an empty, brand newdisk drive. If you decide to re-use your old disk drive, you cansafely format it to freshen it up a bit, as you will be able torestore everything from the disk image backup. Power the system on. Insert your True Image bootable media. It can be a CD/DVD you burnedor a bootable USB drive.
I The former can be a bit tricky to get itworking. I know that from my own experience with Linux basedbootable USB drives. The True Image bootable media is also Linuxbased. So I recommend burning a CD or a DVD instead. Once inside True Image, select your disk image backup.
Select'Recover whole disks and partitions' and then 'Use Acronis UniversalRestore'. On the 'Drivers manager' screen, select where to look for drivers. Select to restore the whole disk with the operating system(including MBR and Track 0). Follow the on-screen instructions and proceed with the restore.The main problem with restoring Windows system disk image backups to dissimilar hardware is the drivers.
Back in the time of the old Windows 2000 I tried to do this. It didn't work. I tried to simply put my old Windows 2000 disk drive in a newly built PC and power it on. It didn't boot.
The old PC was based on a VIA chipset. The new motherboard was using an INTEL chipset. The chipset drivers in particular are the major obstacle in moving a Windows installation to a dissimilar hardware.So if you had an INTEL chipset with your old Windows installation, and your new hardware is also using an INTEL chipset, then there is a good chance you will be able to migrate your Windows installation to a dissimilar hardware.Read moreYou can read more on the following links.