Help changing from an OEM version of windows 10 to the full version?

[TechGuy369]

Alright guys, so just like everyone else on here, I built a gaming PC and now I want to upgrade it to skylake. For me that means a new motherboard. Problem is, the operating system I originally bought was an OEM copy of windows 7. Thus, when I took the free upgrade to windows 10, I got an OEM version of windows 10. OEM versions cannot part from their original motherboards. They are bound to it.

So my question is, will buying a new windows 10 product key and using it to change the product key setting on my current system suffice to set me up with a full user license? or, do I gotta do this the old fashioned way and wipe a hard drive clean, do a fresh install of the OS, and start from scratch? I would rather not deal with all that hasel of trying to migrate files and programs. So I am hoping changing my product key is all I need to do to switch from OEM windows 10 to Full version windows 10.

P.S. sorry for writing so much, its a complicated topic and I wanted to be as clear as I could.

 

[basroil]

Not really sure what you mean here. If you mean you recently upgraded motherboard and CPU, you should reinstall anyway just in case (you can try the following, but it's not recommended). If you just changed motherboards with another in the same line (i.e. Z97 from gigabyte to Z97 from MSI), then you can just change the key by going to the System page in the control panel.

 

[TechGuy369]

Not really sure what you mean here. If you mean you recently upgraded motherboard and CPU, you should reinstall anyway just in case (you can try the following, but it's not recommended). If you just changed motherboards with another in the same line (i.e. Z97 from gigabyte to Z97 from MSI), then you can just change the key by going to the System page in the control panel.

I mean to say I'm about to upgrade my motherboard, thus I know I will lose my current copy of Windows. I'm going from sandy bridge to skylake so the motherboards are totally different. I don't want to do a fresh install, so will just changing the product key allow me to do the motherboard and processor swpa with no issues and set me up with a full version of Windows as opposed to an OEM version?

 

[SinxarKnights]

If you are performing a major change in hardware (motherboard swapping counts) you will want to do a fresh install of Windows. There have been reports of people getting away without reinstalling but it is not recommended. So just use your new key when you do.

 

[basroil]

I don't want to do a fresh install, so will just changing the product key allow me to do the motherboard and processor swpa with no issues and set me up with a full version of Windows as opposed to an OEM version?

Going from sandy bridge to skylake means you SHOULD reinstall. You will have problems if you don't. Not because of the key, but because you changed the CPU and motherboard that much

 

[TechGuy369]

If you are performing a major change in hardware (motherboard swapping counts) you will want to do a fresh install of Windows. There have been reports of people getting away without reinstalling but it is not recommended. So just use your new key when you do.

Alright, I'll take your word for itand I'll start fresh. But is their any form of backup or migration software I can use so I don't lose any files or have to reinstall all my programs? That's really what I want to avoid. I have a lot of software so reinstalling it all would take a lot of time.

 

[basroil]

Alright, I'll take your word for itand I'll start fresh. But is their any form of backup or migration software I can use so I don't lose any files or have to reinstall all my programs? That's really what I want to avoid. I have a lot of software so reinstalling it all would take a lot of time.

You don't need to reformat, just reinstall, and that will keep the files in place. For steam/origin games, you won't need to redownload, just click install and they will be ready to go in minutes. Other software though will likely need reinstalls. Overall a re-install will take less than an afternoon, I just did five machines in two days including some very annoying professional software (that takes forever to install because idiots made it)

Best option though is to back up your system to an external disk and then clean install everything. You can still move the steam/origin games to the new folders and they will reinstall without downloading.

 

[TechGuy369]

Alright, I'll take your word for itand I'll start fresh. But is their any form of backup or migration software I can use so I don't lose any files or have to reinstall all my programs? That's really what I want to avoid. I have a lot of software so reinstalling it all would take a lot of time.

You don't need to reformat, just reinstall, and that will keep the files in place. For steam/origin games, you won't need to redownload, just click install and they will be ready to go in minutes. Other software though will likely need reinstalls. Overall a re-install will take less than an afternoon, I just did five machines in two days including some very annoying professional software (that takes forever to install because idiots made it)

Best option though is to back up your system to an external disk and then clean install everything. You can still move the steam/origin games to the new folders and they will reinstall without downloading.

Thanks guys. Wasent the answer I was hoping for, but I'll survive. If I understand you correctly, reinstalling Windows won't delete any of my programs or files anyways as long as I don't reformat my partition, so reinstalling software is just a matter of running the installer. I shouldn't need to track down all my original disks and stuff right? If that's the case then this is a lot easier than what I thought it would be.

 

[basroil]

If I understand you correctly, reinstalling Windows won't delete any of my programs or files anyways as long as I don't reformat my partition, so reinstalling software is just a matter of running the installer. I shouldn't need to track down all my original disks and stuff right? If that's the case then this is a lot easier than what I thought it would be.

It won't delete files unless you tell it to delete files, but it will "uninstall" programs in that you'll have to rerun their installers. Some will recognize old files and install quickly (origin+steam), others won't (office software, ubisoft games, etc) and you'll need the original disks