New PC build (mainboard) - can i just swap the old SSD with OS, or do i need to format&clean instal Windows?

[Moratorium]

Hello

In Short:
Do I really have to do a COMPLETE format of a drive and a clean install of windows and all other programs again when changing the motherboard (and therefore ---> format the disk, losing all data, programs, settings, drivers, etc.)? Or not?

In more detail:
I currently have Ryzen 1700, AsRock x370 killer SLI (X370 chipset), 2 TB NVME SSD - Kingston (Kingston KC3000 2048GB), GTX 1070, (the RAM and HDDs dont matter). I have Windows 10 PRO installed on that 2TB NVME Kingston SSD. The license is a normal numerical code (it is not an OEM tied to the board).

I am planning a de facto new build - 5950x CPU (I already have it at home), mainboard on x570 chipset (or B550) - probably - Gigabyte X570S UD. As a GPU, I plan to put the GTX 1070 from the old build in the new one ( and over time (few months) - I'll probably buy an RTX 4090). And above all - I intend to put in the new build the main SSD (2 TB NVME SSD kingston) drive from the old build (with Win 10 PRO already installed on it (from the old build)).

Since I'm planning a build with a completely new board, unfortunately (?) I can't avoid completely formatting (erasing) the disk and can't avoid (?) a completely new clean installation of Win 10 (+ all the programs I currently have installed, new drivers, etc.)... Changing the RAM, GPU, HDD, SSD, etc. AFAIK would be ok, but since im changing the MOTHERBOARD a complete disk format and a clean reinstall of windows IS (? ) necessary (?)...

My question - is this really the case? Do I really have to format the disk (2 TB NVME SSD) and cleanly reinstall EVERYTHING on it (windows and all programs) - I don't want to do that at all (AT ALL (!)), it's always a chore (annoying). I now have the entire system completely newly installed (sometimes since February of this year) and the idea of having to do it all again is terrifying for me (unfortunately, I didn't know in February that I would be doing a "completely" new build in a few months, otherwise I would of course have waited... ) So I want to ask if there is some - procedure, worflow, "workaround", tips or I don't know what, how to avoid a complete disk formatting and simply keep the existing installation of windows 10 and various programs and simply "reinstall" ONLY the drivers for the new motherboard...?

Like, for example, I don't know - just put the disk from the old PC into the new one and "somehow" just uninstall the old motherboard drivers, force windows to use some of their basic default drivers for the board, reboot several times and then install the new motherboard drivers?

Or, for what i care: re-install Windows (WITHOUT formatting the disk and losing all other installed programs(!)). Like somewhere in the pre-installation settings of Windows, "tick" the option - "Retain Windows settings and installed programs" and Windows simply reinstalls (overwrites the old motherboard drivers with soem windows default ones) and then I simply install new board drivers manually and all the programs I have had installed will remain as they are are and WILL WORK with NO PROBLEMS...?

Is It possible? Will it work (beware I'm using an integrated network card, so that one will also change with the board, this could affect the operation of some installed programs)...?
Simply put - is it possible to do it SOMEHOW (but functionally - so that it's more or less comparable to a clean new installation of Windows) so that I do NOT have to format the disk and do and install EVERYTHING (windows, drivers, settings of various Windows things, installation of a million other programs and their settings etc.) all over again?

Thanks

 

[Domingo]

No, you shouldn't have to. With Windows 10 and 11, your license is tied to your online Microsoft account, so you don't even have to call Microsoft or anything like that. You can literally take a drive with Windows on it and drop it into a totally new machine and it'll work. It'll see a pile of hardware changes and it'll likely download a boatload of driver updates and such, but it should work fine once all that is done. You can literally change out every single piece of hardware these days and it should still work okay. After you're done, if you want to clean things up a bit, open up your device manager and have it show you "hidden devices." You can go through and purge all the obvious components you use to have, but you don't ever actually have to.

 

[pendragon1]

yup 10/11 adapt really, really well. plop in the old drive, make sure boot options are set the same(legacy vs uefi) and fire it up. windows will say "setting up hardware" reboot a couple times and then hit the desktop. install new drivers and youre good to go.

 

[Moratorium]

No, you shouldn't have to. With Windows 10 and 11, your license is tied to your online Microsoft account, so you don't even have to call Microsoft or anything like that. You can literally take a drive with Windows on it and drop it into a totally new machine and it'll work. It'll see a pile of hardware changes and it'll likely download a boatload of driver updates and such, but it should work fine once all that is done. You can literally change out every single piece of hardware these days and it should still work okay. After you're done, if you want to clean things up a bit, open up your device manager and have it show you "hidden devices." You can go through and purge all the obvious components you use to have, but you don't ever actually have to.

thanks thats a helpful tip.

 

[E4g1e]

Unless you pick certain motherboards from MSI. You see, MSI actually stores the Microsoft account activation key within its firmware that cannot be easily retrieved, and that the MSI BIOS apparently doesn't like any key that had been previously used on another PC. Thus, when you transfer an existing Windows installation to an MSI motherboard-equipped build, not only will activation break, but re-activation will always fail no matter what. Hence, when the installation is transferred, and with each and every BIOS update, you would be forced to pay full price for a new Windows activation key every time because your existing Windows activation key vanished without a trace with each BIOS update. So, if you would have had to pay full price every time you change something on the MSI board-based PC anyway, you might as well wipe all traces of your old Windows installation and start anew. And while you're at that, you might as well go to your nearest Best Buy (I cannot endorse any discount key resellers) and purchase the applicable full version of Windows there. You will get an actual product key with that purchase, which I would strongly recommend if you keep tinkering with your PC anyway (even updating the BIOS to a newer version).

With Asus and Gigabyte, on the other hand, their BIOSes do not embed a Microsoft account-linked key except for a few high-end motherboards. So you will have a lot less trouble re-activating Windows after the first transfer, and for the most part their BIOS updates do not break a Windows activation.

 

[kirbyrj]

Unless you pick certain motherboards from MSI. You see, MSI actually stores the Microsoft account activation key within its firmware that cannot be easily retrieved, and that the MSI BIOS apparently doesn't like any key that had been previously used on another PC. Thus, when you transfer an existing Windows installation to an MSI motherboard-equipped build, not only will activation break, but re-activation will always fail no matter what. Hence, when the installation is transferred, and with each and every BIOS update, you would be forced to pay full price for a new Windows activation key every time because your existing Windows activation key vanished without a trace with each BIOS update. So, if you would have had to pay full price every time you change something on the MSI board-based PC anyway, you might as well wipe all traces of your old Windows installation and start anew. And while you're at that, you might as well go to your nearest Best Buy (I cannot endorse any discount key resellers) and purchase the applicable full version of Windows there. You will get an actual product key with that purchase, which I would strongly recommend if you keep tinkering with your PC anyway (even updating the BIOS to a newer version).

With Asus and Gigabyte, on the other hand, their BIOSes do not embed a Microsoft account-linked key except for a few high-end motherboards. So you will have a lot less trouble re-activating Windows after the first transfer, and for the most part their BIOS updates do not break a Windows activation.

I haven't had this issue with any MSI boards I've used recently (Intel 12/13 gen FWIW). Bios updates didn't change a thing.

 

[LigTasm]

Unless you pick certain motherboards from MSI. You see, MSI actually stores the Microsoft account activation key within its firmware that cannot be easily retrieved, and that the MSI BIOS apparently doesn't like any key that had been previously used on another PC. Thus, when you transfer an existing Windows installation to an MSI motherboard-equipped build, not only will activation break, but re-activation will always fail no matter what. Hence, when the installation is transferred, and with each and every BIOS update, you would be forced to pay full price for a new Windows activation key every time because your existing Windows activation key vanished without a trace with each BIOS update. So, if you would have had to pay full price every time you change something on the MSI board-based PC anyway, you might as well wipe all traces of your old Windows installation and start anew. And while you're at that, you might as well go to your nearest Best Buy (I cannot endorse any discount key resellers) and purchase the applicable full version of Windows there. You will get an actual product key with that purchase, which I would strongly recommend if you keep tinkering with your PC anyway (even updating the BIOS to a newer version).

With Asus and Gigabyte, on the other hand, their BIOSes do not embed a Microsoft account-linked key except for a few high-end motherboards. So you will have a lot less trouble re-activating Windows after the first transfer, and for the most part their BIOS updates do not break a Windows activation.

Stop buying keys on those sites that advertise used OEM keys scalped off of recycled machines and you won't have this problem. Personally I still have a roll of 7 Pro keys I got for system builders from Frys back in the day and they work just fine. No problem swapping stuff around on MSI boards as I pretty much exclusively use them these days.

 

[E4g1e]

Stop buying keys on those sites that advertise used OEM keys scalped off of recycled machines and you won't have this problem. Personally I still have a roll of 7 Pro keys I got for system builders from Frys back in the day and they work just fine. No problem swapping stuff around on MSI boards as I pretty much exclusively use them these days.

I’d hate to tell you this, but my Windows key was purchased at full price directly through the Windows Store. This purchase will never give you a key that you must enter before you can activate it, but instead links the key directly to your Microsoft account.

 

[LigTasm]

I’d hate to tell you this, but my Windows key was purchased at full price directly through the Windows Store. This purchase will never give you a key that you must enter before you can activate it, but instead links the key directly to your Microsoft account.

Not sure what to say then if your microsoft account bound key can't be moved around on specific brands then. I have no problems.

 

[Domingo]

Something worth trying if you have any issues with your license is to login to your MS account and kill off any old devices. It should show you a list of any devices using the same key, and you can remove them in one step.

 

[dogDAbone]

I've been there, done this OS drive move several times this year, with both my personal as well as client rigs, neveranottaproblemo....

And FYI, most of those had keys that were purchased from certain websites and all have worked flawlessly

 

[crazycrave]

Well, I just used my existing windows 11 on my old SSD from my x470 / 5700x rig that started out life in 2019, to the new B650 /7600x build, as soon as the SSD was hooked up and system was power on, it made afew updates and booted right to desktop! and all my files are still there like Nvidia drivers for 3070 that I have not installed yet.

It made this pass from my old SSD

https://valid.x86.fr/bench/xjcx1b/12

 

[xDiVolatilX]

Sometimes it adapts. Sometimes it can have issues. Best practice is a fresh reload. Besides win 11 makes it as easy as possible assuming it doesn't hang up with no Internet driver which is amazingly still an issue. Unbelievable.

 

[Violator]

yup 10/11 adapt really, really well. plop in the old drive, make sure boot options are set the same(legacy vs uefi) and fire it up. windows will say "setting up hardware" reboot a couple times and then hit the desktop. install new drivers and youre good to go.

I'm looking at this for a new build soon. Already on Windows 11. Current OS is on a 970, that's getting relegated to 2nd SSD. New SSD is a 990. Am I best doing the new build with the 970 as boot and the 990 as 2nd, let W11 sort itself out on the 970 and then cloning to the 990? Or clone in my existing build before moving the drives? Or would it not make a difference?

 

[pendragon1]

I'm looking at this for a new build soon. Already on Windows 11. Current OS is on a 970, that's getting relegated to 2nd SSD. New SSD is a 990. Am I best doing the new build with the 970 as boot and the 990 as 2nd, let W11 sort itself out on the 970 and then cloning to the 990? Or clone in my existing build before moving the drives? Or would it not make a difference?

i would do a drive clone, put the new drive in the new build and let windows adjust. then add the old in as a secondary drive and format it.

 

[crazycrave]

It was that 128Gb PNY SSD listed that had my old windows on it, I was working with just the 7600x igpu and no video card was installed as any type of issue to work out with getting it up and running.

i would do a drive clone, put the new drive in the new build and let windows adjust. then add the old in as a secondary drive and format it.

That is my next plan once I decide what the new drive will be, I do have a WD easystore 240Gb SATA SSD laying here doing noting.

 

[LukeTbk]

. Am I best doing the new build with the 970 as boot and the 990 as 2nd

Assuming size make it possible (I imagine it does) and considering diminishing return of 970 and above drive between themselve it will depends what you do with the second drive and their relative size (if you do not want to deal with partition).

you could easily be more likely to copy very large file on the secondary drive than the boot drive

 

[Violator]

i would do a drive clone, put the new drive in the new build and let windows adjust. then add the old in as a secondary drive and format it.

So put the 990 in the current build (which has the 970 as primary), clone the 970 > 990, then put 990 in new build, let windows adjust and format the 970? The plan is the 990 as primary in new build with the 970 as secondary. That sounds logical. I'd normally always do a clean install, but reading up about how Windows 11 copes far better with hardware changes than previous versions, I'd rather not go through the hassle of setting everything up again

Any recommendations for cloning utilities?

 

[pendragon1]

So put the 990 in the current build (which has the 970 as primary), clone the 970 > 990, then put 990 in new build, let windows adjust and format the 970? The plan is the 990 as primary in new build with the 970 as secondary. That sounds logical. I'd normally always do a clean install, but reading up about how Windows 11 copes far better with hardware changes than previous versions, I'd rather not go through the hassle of setting everything up again

Any recommendations for cloning utilities?

id do the clone in the old system but it really shouldnt matter. just dont have the old drive connected the first time the the new system boots windows as the efi data might get put there, windows randomly jams it wherever it feels like, or it might try booting off it.
i prefer aomei backupper or macrium reflect, both have free versions that should work, or grab a copy of hirens boot usb....

 

[LigTasm]

So put the 990 in the current build (which has the 970 as primary), clone the 970 > 990, then put 990 in new build, let windows adjust and format the 970? The plan is the 990 as primary in new build with the 970 as secondary. That sounds logical. I'd normally always do a clean install, but reading up about how Windows 11 copes far better with hardware changes than previous versions, I'd rather not go through the hassle of setting everything up again

Any recommendations for cloning utilities?

Samsung magician, the same app you use to update your firmware. Works fantastically. I've used it dozens of times, heck I used it yesterday to clone my SN850X to my 990 Pro. Install it, go to the tab for the drive your OS is installed on (970 in your case) and click Data Migration on the left side. Select the target drive and it will be done in like 5 minutes, works flawlessly.

 

[Violator]

Samsung magician, the same app you use to update your firmware. Works fantastically. I've used it dozens of times, heck I used it yesterday to clone my SN850X to my 990 Pro. Install it, go to the tab for the drive your OS is installed on (970 in your case) and click Data Migration on the left side. Select the target drive and it will be done in like 5 minutes, works flawlessly.

Excellent shout, didn't think about using that at all

 

[The_HAVOK]

I've moved a M.2 ssd with a windows 10 install between very different hardware builds. Only possible issue is activation, which just asked me if I upgraded or moved the hardware or something like that. I had the windows install logged in and tied to my microsoft account and it let me move the license from the "previous" machine.

 

[E4g1e]

Unless you pick certain motherboards from MSI. You see, MSI actually stores the Microsoft account activation key within its firmware that cannot be easily retrieved, and that the MSI BIOS apparently doesn't like any key that had been previously used on another PC. Thus, when you transfer an existing Windows installation to an MSI motherboard-equipped build, not only will activation break, but re-activation will always fail no matter what. Hence, when the installation is transferred, and with each and every BIOS update, you would be forced to pay full price for a new Windows activation key every time because your existing Windows activation key vanished without a trace with each BIOS update. So, if you would have had to pay full price every time you change something on the MSI board-based PC anyway, you might as well wipe all traces of your old Windows installation and start anew. And while you're at that, you might as well go to your nearest Best Buy (I cannot endorse any discount key resellers) and purchase the applicable full version of Windows there. You will get an actual product key with that purchase, which I would strongly recommend if you keep tinkering with your PC anyway (even updating the BIOS to a newer version).

With Asus and Gigabyte, on the other hand, their BIOSes do not embed a Microsoft account-linked key except for a few high-end motherboards. So you will have a lot less trouble re-activating Windows after the first transfer, and for the most part their BIOS updates do not break a Windows activation.

Updating my post:

MSI is not to blame, in this case. Microsoft is. You see, since about 2021 Microsoft has closed a loophole that allowed free upgrades from an older OS to Windows 10 or Windows11 – and this software change has screwed up the activation of all “free” copies of Windows 10 or Windows 11. This, in turn, resulted in some users having to pay full price for a new Windows key after even a minor hardware change in the existing PC. Users who purchased a Windows key at a retail store such as Best Buy are not affected because the purchased license key must be manually entered during installation.

This was recently revealed, and Microsoft is currently investigating this situation.

 

[chameleoneel]

Personally, I would recommend using "reset this PC". And use the "cloud download" option, for how you will install Windows after the reset.This will allow you to keep all of your data (pictures/documents/desktop/downloads/etc), But it reinstalls Windows fresh, from new base install files. Rather than using whatever is already on your PC.

You will, however, need to backup any data/saves/configuration profiles/etc, for programs and games. As they will all be uninstalled.