Question Motherboard upgrade advice ?

[Zap1664]

Is it possible when upgrading to a new motherboard and CPU to just boot from the original hard drive. Or is it preferable to make a back up first and boot from that.

 

[USAFRet]

Is it possible when upgrading to a new motherboard and CPU to just boot from the original hard drive. Or is it preferable to make a back up first and boot from that.

Neither.

It is preferable to do a fresh OS install.

Yes, sometimes it will 'just work' if you simply plug in the old drive with a new motherboard.
But it often fails completely.

 

[Zap1664]

As I have a downloaded Windows 10 and need to upgrade to Windows 11, is it possible to then boot up in some way and then download from Microsoft the latest Windows 11.
Sorry for the questions but want to have the smoothest transition possible.

 

[USAFRet]

As I have a downloaded Windows 10 and need to upgrade to Windows 11, is it possible to then boot up in some way and then download from Microsoft the latest Windows 11.
Sorry for the questions but want to have the smoothest transition possible.

You can create your own Win 11 install media.
Install with that, and use your existing Win 10 license.

How To - Windows 11 clean install tutorial

Windows 11 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows 11, version 23H2 or newer but can be equally applied to earlier versions which may have some basic differences in the screens you see but will largely remain similar in...

forums.tomshardware.com