[SOLVED] Will I have to reinstall Win10 if I get a new CPU+MB?

[Dimitri001]

I guess there are two possibilities (and I don't know right now which it will be):

I get a new CPU and MB and:

1. they're still AMD
2. I switch to Intel

Would I have to reinstall Windows in either of those scenarios?

 

[USAFRet]

1. Possibly.
2. Probably, to a near certainty.

In either case, a clean install is best practice.

There are 3 possibilities when changing the motherboard:

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.

 

[Colif]

what he said.

Also helps to make sure windows is ready to move - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/20530/windows-10-reactivating-after-hardware-change

 

[maikutech]

I guess there are two possibilities (and I don't know right now which it will be):

I get a new CPU and MB and:

1. they're still AMD
2. I switch to Intel

Would I have to reinstall Windows in either of those scenarios?

If you are switching from amd mobo to a intel mobo, usually that will trigger a reactivated phase from windows.
Under the current version of windows 10, it will ask what reasons you need to activate again.

It will have one of those reasons, if you are still on the same platform like amd...
That won't trigger a reactivasion phase unless the parts all got changed and totally different than your last build.

It should take less than 20 minutes to activate windows again so don't sweat it.

 

[Deleted member 2720853]

Always do a clean OS reinstall after changing motherboard, regardless of what you're switching to and what you're switching from. Not doing a clean OS reinstall will force Windows to use chipset drivers that were on the other motherboard, and a whole host of issues will arise.

Also, if you have multiple drives, unplug the SATA cables from every drive except the drive you want to reinstall Windows on to make sure Windows doesn't put boot partitions on the other drives, because it does that without your knowledge sometimes. And if it does, when you try to change out a secondary drive, Windows will magically not boot anymore. Plug the SATA cables of the other drives back in once you're done installing it.

It's good practice that I learned myself from this forum and applied. Everything worked wonders.

 

[USAFRet]

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

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