Can I swap motherboards without re-installing Win7-64?

[bbinnard]

My current system is Win7-64 SP1 running in an ASUS P6T motherboard with i7-920 & 6GB RAM. My boot drive is a Samsung 840-Pro SSD.

I'm planning on building a new system with an ASUS P877-M board running an i7-3770S with 8GB RAM so I can get SATA3, USB3, a faster CPU, and a smaller form factor system. My thought was to just move all my drives as-is from my current system to the new one.

But if I do that will the new system boot OK? I'm not sure what dependency Win7 has on chipsets, or if there will be a difference (from the Win7 point of view) between my current i7-920 CPU and the i7-3770S my new system will have.

I am aware that Win7 itself will require re-validation because of Microsoft's fear that their precious OS has been installed on a 2nd system, but I have already checked with them on that and verified that my existing Product Key can be re-validated ok.

 

[Vectronic]

Should be fine, the biggest problems are:

1. Making sure the boot oder/boot drive is recognized as such.
2. You might have to re-order your drives/partitions E:, F:, G: etc because they might be in a different order (usually only a problem if your docs/apps/etc aren't installed on the boot drive/partition)
3. It might get confused trying to find drivers.

That first boot-up will be obnoxious, otherwise fine.

 

[Jstn7477]

The transition should go alright. Just make sure your SATA ports are set up like they are on your old setup (AHCI) and I would probably boot into Safe Mode the first time to minimize any possible issues. You could always take a system image of your main drive before you move it just in case things somehow go wrong so you aren't stuck with nothing at least.

 

[bbinnard]

First boot on new board in Safe Mode is a great idea - thanks for that. Here's hoping it all goes smoothly.

 

[Raincity]

I have had good luck every time using the sysprep method. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...lation-transfer-new-computer.html#post1161038

 

[tweakboy]

YES!!! slap it on connect drive,, and enjoy!!!

 

[KingerXI]

Personally, I would reload the boot drive. Windows will definitely flag it as a new system if you hook it up to the new mobo and try to boot it straight from the other system. I have always gotten a "not valid license" error when I do that. I have much more success when I reload Windows, use the same key to activate... Microsoft seems to allow that much more often. Good luck.

 

[bbinnard]

Raincity - yes,, I've read that but it seems to me that Sysprep does more than I need and it does not avoid the need to re-validate Win7 during the first boot. So I think I'll only do the Sysprep thing if I can't get a regular boot to work.

Kinger - I am aware I'll have to re-validate my copy of Win7. I've already spoken to the MS people who handle this (866-530-6599) and have verified that my current Win7 key is "All Green" for revalidation. I even have an open Case # in the event I have to contact them again.

 

[reb0rn]

Other option is also to make a clone with acronis true home 2012/2013 with universal restore...