Change motherboard in win 10

Daniel Alfaro

Commendable
Dec 29, 2016
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1,510
I have a i5 3470 with a ECS H61h2-m12 motherboard currently running on win 10 build 10240

I have bought a P8Z77-V motherboard and I want to swap my old ECS one. According to some web, I must reinstall my OS to have the computer work normally. But I don't want to do that. Anyone know to change motherboard without reinstall the windows??
 

goerk27

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Jan 16, 2017
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1,710
YOu do not necessarily have to reinstall WIndows but it is recommended because it could happen that the installed drivers interfere with the drivers for you new motherboard. Do the following:

1. Create a backup of your system
2. Uninstall all drivers (except GPU and other peripheral)
3. Swap the Mainboard
4. Install the new drivers

If everything is working fine after that then you do not necessarily need to reinstall. If you run into problems or experience slow speed then it would be recommended to reinstall.
 

Rogue Leader

It's a trap!
Moderator


You can try swapping the boards, it may boot up it may not. Some people have suggested uninstalling all the motherboard drivers before shutting down, that can be risky.

Theres no cut and dry way for this to work. And for best performance you should always re-install Windows.
 

BadAsAl

Distinguished
In my experience, changing motherboard from Intel to Intel seems to work without issues more often but going from AMD to Intel or vice versa require additional steps.
Since you are only changing the motherboard you should be okay.
I just did this recently going from Gigabyte to ASRock board and from i5 to an i7 and my Windows 10 accepted the changes without issue, I just had to re-activate Windows afterward.

You may want to make sure you tie your license to a Microsoft Account before doing this to make reactivating easier.
 

Daniel Alfaro

Commendable
Dec 29, 2016
14
0
1,510
No, actually I've lost my Win 10 installer :) That's why I avoiding reinstalling. If I didn't install my motherboard driver when I installed my Win 10, is it will have an effect when I change mt motherboard?