Setting up windows 7

[James McC]

I have an hp pavilion that came with windows 7 home premium, the motherboard went bad and has to be replaced and I was told that I would lose my windows program. Can I reset my windows and do so with out losing all my other programs and settings

 

[unksol]

If you are sending it in they will probably wipe the drive as part of maintenance. Or may send a different laptop. You could request not to send the harddrive but they probably won't allow that.

The best thing to do would be take the drive out, hook it up to another computer, and take a backup image and store it. Then when you get the laptop back you can restore the image, since on a laptop the replacement board has to be the same the drivers will still match.

I personally like easeus todo backup. Its free, can compress the image, split it to store on DVDs if necessary and you can even open the image to get your files. There are lots of other free image software too though.

You could also clone it to another drive, the clone it back to the laptop later.

 

[James McC]

If you are sending it in they will probably wipe the drive as part of maintenance. Or may send a different laptop. You could request not to send the harddrive but they probably won't allow that.

The best thing to do would be take the drive out, hook it up to another computer, and take a backup image and store it. Then when you get the laptop back you can restore the image, since on a laptop the replacement board has to be the same the drivers will still match.

I personally like easeus todo backup. Its free, can compress the image, split it to store on DVDs if necessary and you can even open the image to get your files. There are lots of other free image software too though.

You could also clone it to another drive, the clone it back to the laptop later.

This is a desktop computer and we will be changing the board at home. I also have a 500g backup drive on the system. The system works between periods of shutting down

 

[James McC]

This is a desktop computer and we will be changing the board at home. I also have a usb 500g backup drive on the system. The system works between periods of shutting down

 

[CDdude55]

This is a desktop computer and we will be changing the board at home. I also have a usb 500g backup drive on the system. The system works between periods of shutting down

If it's a board that is of a different chipset then you'll run into issues since the drivers on the disk drive would generally not be compatible with the new board. As stated, it's possible backup to an alternatve media like your removable USB drive and then simply reinstall the OS and restore all your software again after the OS is installed.

 

[unksol]

This is a desktop computer and we will be changing the board at home. I also have a usb 500g backup drive on the system. The system works between periods of shutting down

Ah. Sorry. My pavilion is a laptop, so my first thought. You WILL need to reinstall windows unless you get the same model board. If you get the same model it will just work. If its the same chipset it *might*.

if its not the same board the problem is you wont have disks and the original restore disks wont work on a new board. However, you can download the official ISOs here.

Http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/software-os/w/microsoft_os/3316.2-1-microsoft-windows-7-official-iso-download-links-digital-river.aspx

There are installation instructions, simply select the correct version that matches your LEGAL product key and certificate of authenticity that is attached to your machine. This is perfectly legal, your OEM license allows you to replace the motherboard if it fails, but you will have to call Microsoft when you activate it, instead of doing it online. Shouldn't be any problems

After you install windows you'll need to install the motherboard.and other hardware drivers, and any programs, and restore your Data. Drivers will be on the board manufactures website, programs that came preinstalled, and still apply, say a DVD player or something, you should be able to get from HPs website.

If you bought programs you can get the product keys out of the registry before reinstalling windows so you can reinstall them. Software MUST be reinstalled or it wont work. You can't just copy it back. You can only copy the Data back