Will I have to reinstall Windows 10 after a motherboard swap?

[lillozzer68]

I am going to be performing a motherboard swap soon and I have heard that you need to reinstall Windows.

Im upgrading my Motherboard from a ASUS B150 to a MSI Enthusiastic Gaming Intel Z170A LGA 1151

Im also upgrading CPU from a Intel Core i5 6500 to a Intel Core i7 6700K.

 

[Paul NZ]

Yup you should

 

[Anonymous09]

You won't have too, it will boot up without a hitch. Just make sure you are logged in with you MS account so you can tie your windows license to the new board.

(PS, the old board will still have the license tied to it, so it effectively gives you unlimited windows licenses for all non signed oem boards without a model attached to it, so not dell, hp, etc. Don't spread the "secret" )

 

[Anonymous09]

Yup you should

I should say, it's a good habit too for sure. But ever since windows 7 you can swap motherboards and still boot up fine. You just need to get your drivers all set, something not having to worry about with a fresh install. But I just did it yesterday on time constraint, upgraded a mb without bothering to fresh install. Windows initializes the new hardware on boot and you're golden. I haven't tried going backwards to an older chipset, say from the core 2 or even pentium 4 days, but I assume it would be the same principal. I went from a 8x chipset to 1xx chipset without a problem on a build I was doing. And it wasn't critical for what the use of the pc is to fresh install, and again severe time constraint.

Here is a discussion on it:
https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1307223

So if it is easier for the OP to avoid doing it, for whatever reason, then it won't be the end of the world. Just make sure the drivers are sorted out properly and you're golden. I always do try and recommend it though, if I have the time I usually always do it.

 

[Paul NZ]

Soon find out if it crashes

 

[Anonymous09]

Soon find out if it crashes

Well it won't, as the internet and my dozens of hours of personal experience on this matter will tell you.

 

[Paul NZ]

Like I said soon find out

 

[Adrian Ocampo]

I second the motion of fresh install.