Can I upgrade my PC without having to reinstall windows 10??

[Sumair Shariff]

Hey guys..
I've been thinking of upgrading my PC with a skylake processor and z170 motherboard but I have a problem....
I upgraded my Windows from 7 to 10 Pro in December.... Will I have to reinstall or buy a new copy if I upgrade my motherboard and processor???

** my PC runs Core i3 1st gen as of now...

Thanks in advance!!

 

[USAFRet]

Hey guys..
I've been thinking of upgrading my PC with a skylake processor and z170 motherboard but I have a problem....
I upgraded my Windows from 7 to 10 Pro in December.... Will I have to reinstall or buy a new copy if I upgrade my motherboard and processor???

** my PC runs Core i3 1st gen as of now...

Thanks in advance!!

This depends a lot on your original Win 7 license. OEM or Retail.

OEM, as usual, is tied to this original motherboard.
Retail, you can install on new hardware.

Operationwise, a new install is probably needed.
Licensing, see above.

 

[Sumair Shariff]

Well I had a retail version...upgraded through Microsoft Windows 10 upgrade tool and it's genuine!!

 

[USAFRet]

Well I had a retail version...upgraded through Microsoft Windows 10 upgrade tool and it's genuine!!

1. It will probably need a full reinstall.
2. If it does NOT activate, call MS.

 

[Sumair Shariff]

But i have the disk for Windows 7... Will Microsoft allow upgrade to 10 again?

 

[USAFRet]

But i have the disk for Windows 7... Will Microsoft allow upgrade to 10 again?

If you can get that Win 7 activated again, sure.

 

[djreedj]

It is highly recommended to do fresh install with new motherboard, if you cant find key or its an upgrade, call microsoft.

 

[Colif]

It is highly recommended to do fresh install with new motherboard,.

With a brand new CPU & motherboard, you would have so many conflicts in windows that the first boot would be "interesting" if it worked at all. The next fun part to upgrade is the GPU, though its not as painful as trying to run an old windows install on a new motherboard... sure, you could do it if they same model but a few generations apart or even just a different motherboard maker would add difficulty. I have never tried, expect you can uninstall all the motherboard drivers from device manager?

I would actually watch a video of someone upgrading a cpu/mobo and removing all the old drivers from windows & then getting it to boot on a new mb without a reinstall. I said trying at first, not actually achieving, but then thought there are probably plenty of vids of people trying... managing to swap a AMD based PC to Intel without an install would be very impressive I think.

 

[Sumair Shariff]

OK..... Then whats the procedure if I want my ssd still working and I install Windows 7 from my disk