Question Can I Still boot my pc if I upgrade my whole pc but use my original hdd

[RibblolUA]

I recently bought a new motherboard cpu and ram and also gpu and case and I was wondering if I took my existing hard drive and put it in this system would my pc boot into my windows 10 and would all my data still be on it so I would not have to reinstall windows 10

 

[thx1138v2]

Your old hard drive is waht contains all of the drivers for your current motherboard. So changing out the motherboard will invalidate all of the drivers already installed. You will need to do a fresh install with new hardware.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

It has a 50\50 chance to boot. I would backup and clean install to get the best performance and correct drivers.

 

[USAFRet]

Licensing and Operation. 2 different things.

For the OS activation, read and do this before you change any parts:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/20530/windows-10-reactivating-after-hardware-change
https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/windows-build-1607-and-activation.2786960/

For the actual Operation - will it boot up? 3 possibilities:

1. It boots up just fine
2. It fails completely
3. It boots up, but you're chasing issues for weeks.

I've seen all 3.

Prepare for a full wipe and reinstall.
Be thankful if you don't need it. But do prepare.

 

[sauzer]

W10 runs even before installing any specific driver, so your only problem is to remove the specific ones (for gpu/mobo/cpu) you have installed now before you put the hd in the new pc and you'll be fine.

 

[USAFRet]

W10 runs even before installing any specific driver, so your only problem is to remove the specific ones (for gpu/mobo/cpu) you have installed now before you put the hd in the new pc and you'll be fine.

Oh, how we wish that were true.

It isn't.

 

[sauzer]

Oh, how we wish that were true.

It isn't.

Yes it is. Done so many times with so many different hardware parts.

 

[ElectrO_90]

I agree with Dark Lord on this one, its a 50/50 it will work.
If it does, you still may have problems. If you have problems, reinstall Windows.
It it doesn't well that's easy, install windows again.

 

[RibblolUA]

thanks I’ll see what happens and hope for the best