B350 Mobo to B450 Mobo Windows Reinstall Necessary?

[dagsyo]

I am going to be building a second Ryzen machine an HTPC using the 2200g. My current main rig is running a Ryzen 5 1600 and this budget Asus b350 mobo

The mobo has run pretty much flawlessly but with b450 being out now I thought I could take this second build as an opportunity to swap out my main rig mobo for something newer and then use the old b350 mobo for the htpc build. My main consideration for a new mobo is this MSI one (I am limited to Micro ATX, and this seems like the best option)

My main question is about Windows booting after the mobo change and possible adverse effects to the Windows 10 license. The Windows license I have is an OEM license currently tied to my Microsoft account which is also my main admin user profile on the machine. I have read a ton of different stuff online about people not doing anything before a mobo change and being fine or doing nothing and having stability go south or having problems with their license being validated. I have also read about people running sysprep before a mobo change or taking other like steps, but it seems that this removes the current Windows license from the machine as well as user profiles. The chipset change seems minor enough I am inclined to uninstall the B350 chipset drivers and just see how it goes. I really don’t want to have to reinstall windows as I have an old copy of Office 2010 Pro tied to this Windows install that I do not want to lose and its key is on its last install. If I am likely to run into issues I could also just abandon the mobo upgrade as it’s really not a top priority; it would just be a nice to have. Any guidance is appreciated.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

I doubt there would be a booting issue in that scenario , chipsets are almost identical.

 

[drea.drechsler]

I am going to be building a second Ryzen machine an HTPC using the 2200g. My current main rig is running a Ryzen 5 1600 and this budget Asus b350 mobo

The mobo has run pretty much flawlessly but with b450 being out now I thought I could take this second build as an opportunity to swap out my main rig mobo for something newer and then use the old b350 mobo for the htpc build. My main consideration for a new mobo is this MSI one (I am limited to Micro ATX, and this seems like the best option)

My main question is about Windows booting after the mobo change and possible adverse effects to the Windows 10 license. The Windows license I have is an OEM license currently tied to my Microsoft account which is also my main admin user profile on the machine. I have read a ton of different stuff online about people not doing anything before a mobo change and being fine or doing nothing and having stability go south or having problems with their license being validated. I have also read about people running sysprep before a mobo change or taking other like steps, but it seems that this removes the current Windows license from the machine as well as user profiles. The chipset change seems minor enough I am inclined to uninstall the B350 chipset drivers and just see how it goes. I really don’t want to have to reinstall windows as I have an old copy of Office 2010 Pro tied to this Windows install that I do not want to lose and its key is on its last install. If I am likely to run into issues I could also just abandon the mobo upgrade as it’s really not a top priority; it would just be a nice to have. Any guidance is appreciated.

I just went from a B350 board to a B450 board and windows didn't bat an eye. Just searched for the default chipset, LAN and audio drivers and started right up. No problem-o. I then went and DL'd the mobo mfr's audio and LAN drivers to get all their neat-o utilities that come with it.

But if you've an OEM license you may have a problem. It may squawk at you and refuse to activate although it should start up and run OK. If it does, call the tech support phone number! they are often very helpful. Even if they're not it probably won't matter, you'll just be running it un-activated. In which case a wool undershirt will help with the guilt.

A Retail license tied to your Microsoft account, on the other hand, should activate and if it doesn't you'd definitely get phone support to help. Office 2010 could be even trickier and another phone call to tech support to help with that one, as I had to.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

If you have a Microsoft Account activation isn't an issue.