I have a desktop that I built myself and the motherboard recently died. I bought a new motherboard and figured I might as well get a new cpu and gpu. I have a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium installed on an hdd. It is an OEM version which I have read makes this whole upgrade process a lot harder. Also, I have the Windows install on the same partition as all my program files and data and it sounds like a reinstall would wipe that data as well. But now for my actual question.
I want to be able to keep all the programs and games I have installed without having to reinstall them and lose any settings, saved games, etc. After a lot of Googling and reading through posts on this site and others I seem to be even more confused, but I think I have the following three options.
1. From what I have read, the ideal situation is that I could uninstall all drivers from the old mobo and install the drivers for the new mobo and then everything magically works, but I'm not sure how to go about this.
2. Other places seem to say that there is a way for Windows to somehow repair itself. Apparently by booting in safe mode or running a tool (forgot the name, but it's something like "sysrep") Windows will realize all the new hardware changes and magical poof everything works. I'm not sure I quite understand this process either.
3. Otherwise I think the best thing for me to do install Windows on a new partition. I can get a new copy of Windows if the OEM version can't be installed in this case, but I would rather be able to use it. The problem with this is that all of my programs are installed on the old copy of Windows. I don't know of any way to avoid reinstalling all of these programs and losing all saved data and settings.
If anyone has any knowledge or experience doing any of these things or knows of another option I might have please let me know. If you need any more information about my build or my situation just ask. Thanks!
more info:
old mobo: asrock m3a770de
new mobo: ASUS M5A97 R2.0
note: my old mobo died so I was not able to do any prep like make backups, but everything is still on my harddrive
knowledge if necessary: I know the bash command line pretty well so basic actions in Windows shell shouldn't be too hard and copy pasting commands is easy (yes I Google commands I don't know so please don't try to be funny)
I want to be able to keep all the programs and games I have installed without having to reinstall them and lose any settings, saved games, etc. After a lot of Googling and reading through posts on this site and others I seem to be even more confused, but I think I have the following three options.
1. From what I have read, the ideal situation is that I could uninstall all drivers from the old mobo and install the drivers for the new mobo and then everything magically works, but I'm not sure how to go about this.
2. Other places seem to say that there is a way for Windows to somehow repair itself. Apparently by booting in safe mode or running a tool (forgot the name, but it's something like "sysrep") Windows will realize all the new hardware changes and magical poof everything works. I'm not sure I quite understand this process either.
3. Otherwise I think the best thing for me to do install Windows on a new partition. I can get a new copy of Windows if the OEM version can't be installed in this case, but I would rather be able to use it. The problem with this is that all of my programs are installed on the old copy of Windows. I don't know of any way to avoid reinstalling all of these programs and losing all saved data and settings.
If anyone has any knowledge or experience doing any of these things or knows of another option I might have please let me know. If you need any more information about my build or my situation just ask. Thanks!
more info:
old mobo: asrock m3a770de
new mobo: ASUS M5A97 R2.0
note: my old mobo died so I was not able to do any prep like make backups, but everything is still on my harddrive
knowledge if necessary: I know the bash command line pretty well so basic actions in Windows shell shouldn't be too hard and copy pasting commands is easy (yes I Google commands I don't know so please don't try to be funny)
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