[SOLVED] Best way to swap a new motherboard/cpu and keep what's in my C drive while reinstalling windows?

[Tennis987]

So my plan is to upgrade my Ryzen 2600 on my B450 mobo to the Ryzen 5600 with a b550 chipset. I will obviously be getting a new motherboard on top of that. I would like to have a clean reinstall of windows, while also keeping all the applications that are on my C: drive installed if possible? I have Office 365 which I got from my University for free as well as VMware/Microsoft Azure and I want to keep all the virtual machines I have and their data. My mother also has a local user account with adobe acrobat for work which I want to keep. I would assume that my Windows is tied to my motherboard so swapping out the motherboard will not allow a straight boot from my boot drive? Is there a way to selectively reinstall windows and keep the application/folders I want to?

 

[USAFRet]

Is there a way to selectively reinstall windows and keep the application/folders I want to?

No.

A fresh OS install means a reinstall of all your applications as well.

You can't simply port applications between OS's.

 

[Tennis987]

No.

A fresh OS install means a reinstall of all your applications as well.

You can't simply port applications between OS's.

Will a motherboard swap invalidate those applications or force me to reinstall windows to boot from my drive? If that is the case I will probably wait till I don't need the applications anymore before upgrading.

 

[USAFRet]

Will a motherboard swap invalidate those applications or force me to reinstall windows to boot from my drive? If that is the case I will probably wait till I don't need the applications anymore before upgrading.

With a new motherboard and old drive+OS, there are three possible outcomes:

1. It works just fine
2. It fails completely
3. It "works", but you're chasing issues for weeks/months

#3 is the most likely. #1 is the least likely.

Reinstall of your applications isn't that hard or time consuming. Just needs some prep work.

 

[Zerk2012]

Will a motherboard swap invalidate those applications or force me to reinstall windows to boot from my drive? If that is the case I will probably wait till I don't need the applications anymore before upgrading.

What board do you have it could be as simple as update the BIOS and install the new processor.