Changing motherboard without re-installing Windows?

[Gunslinger08]

I can't seem to remember/find which key I need to delete in order to change my motherboard/processor without re-installing Windows. Little help? I'd greatly appreciate it. I know it is something like Enum.

Josh

 

[overclock]

Swapping Motherboards

If you don't wish to perform a clean install (fdisk, format, reinstall Win), under Windows 9x systems (including Windows Me) you can force the system to redetect all your devices by deleting a key in your registry. To do this, go to Start, Run... and type regedit. Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE delete the folder Enum and all its subfolders. Windows will redetect all the necessary hardware devices when you reboot (you may have to reboot several times before it finishes recognizing all the hardware ). This should be equivalent to performing a clean installation - but obviously this is not as thorough as formatting the disk and starting again with a clean install. Remember that if anything goes wrong with modifying the registry, Windows maintains backups in C:\Windows\SYSBCKUP in the files rbxxx.cab. If disaster strikes, you can always boot into DOS with a floppy and then restore your registry manually by extracting the files from one of these CAB files (using the Extract command located in C:\Windows\Command)

But better do a Ghost first!

 

[tazdevl]

IMO clean install is the way to go, mobo is too integral a part of your system to just swap it out. Despite all the steps I have ever taken in 98 and 2K Pro (including those mentioned above)... I have yet to end up with a totally stable system. There's always something left floating around to cause an instability.

 

[Oakenfold]

You can also rip out the drivers and pray, JUST MAKE AN IMAGE FIRST. I did that for a while when I swapped out an a7v and an ecs k7s5a, it got me through a time period when I was not able to do a full clean install.

 

[Nothinman]

Good luck, it's usually just as much work to get Windows booting again as it would have been to reinstall your apps.

Of course I don't have many windows apps that I reinstall when I'm forced to reinstall it.

 

[lenjack]

I've done it 5 times without uninstalling or reinstallig anything with no problems.

 

[AlastorX82]

I'm w/ lenjack. Everything works fine.

 

[Bovinicus]

I just went through this process about a week ago. All I did was put in the new board. I uninstalled/reinstalled nothing. Win2k detected all of the new components and installed them as though it was a clean install. I didn't feel it was worth reformatting unless absolutely necessary.

 

[gil11542]

Backup stuff and fresh install is my way of doing it, That way I have no worries. Its not that big a deal,You should have you data backed up anyway.

 

[Wind]

Changed from Asus A7V133C to Epox 8KHA+...no install...no nothing...everthing just fine. Win detect new component/drivers.