If I just change my motherboard do I have to reinstall windows?

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Jun 2, 2015
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I have an alienware x51 and I wanted to move everything into a larger case and upgrade to a micro-atx mobo, but I don't want to buy windows again.

Should I use the recovery disk that came with it or is that just for something else like formatting??

IM kind of a PC building noob so I just need to know this before building, thanks.
 
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USAFRet
NOTE: You recovery disk may or may not work with a new motherboard.
The OEM license you got from Alienware is tied to that original motherboard.
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BSOD BSTD

BSOD BSTD

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Nov 21, 2013
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ok you may not need to reinstall windows, but you should anyway, and then install the mboard drivers from the vendors website. If not you might get driver conflict issues with your mboard.

yes you can use your recovery disk to reinstall, there will be an option under custom, however it is much better to do a clean install. if you have a spare SATA or external hdd, transfer all your personal files over and format your hdd and do a clean install of windows.

ps. check that you can clean install windows from your recovery disk first, im not too familiar with them tbh
 
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Jun 2, 2015
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okay but can you please explain why clean install is better becuase i have no idea ahah.
and i dont have a spare hdd or ssd just one 1TB hdd with windows intalled on it
 
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BSOD BSTD

BSOD BSTD

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Nov 21, 2013
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because you're changing your motherboard. I changed mine a few weeks ago and it just booted straight into windows 8, all good. 7 booted in, but was unusable.

The reason being is the drivers. The motherboard is a piece of hardware, just like a graphics card, so it requires windows drivers in order to run. Windows has stock drivers and will install these automatically if you can boot in. what happened with my win 7 was a driver conflict, ie. windows was getting confused about the hardware as 2 sets of drivers were installed. The only real way to avoid this is to install windows on a fresh hdd, and then install the manufacturers drivers from the website as these will run better than windows stock.

I'm writing this as a gamer though, if you dont need full performance from your pc then just try to boot into windows and see if it works! :D
 
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jsmithepa

jsmithepa

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Jun 14, 2014
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1. Backup personal data.
2. UN-register Windows from old machine.
3. Move HD to new machine.
4. Clean install Windows on new machine with full wipe of HD. Need Licence# to register. You *may* have to register by phone.

I would personally do a clean install, assuming License# is available. Even if it seems to work just transplanting, I wouldn't want any old stuff sitting out there taking up space and potentially causing problems in the future. Clean install take like 30 minutes, is no big deal to me.
 
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Jun 2, 2015
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OKayy thats helpful thanks, but if I format and restore windows to default before i change my motherboard will it work the same as clean installing windows?
Basically can If i make my pc default will there still be conflcits with drivers or any problems?

Also, this is the motherboard I plan on upgrading to if you need it: ASUS H81M-K Intel Socket 1150 and i have a Intel 4130
 
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Okay but how do you clean install??
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Mar 16, 2013
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2. There is no need to 'un-register' from the old machine.
 
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