Reinstall XP with new mobo and CPU??

[BoboKatt]

Ack hey all,
Got a question... I am in the process of purchasing a new mobo and CPU. I currently have a lovely AMD Barton 2500 running on a Nforce2 chipset. I have had my current installation of XP going on more than a year.. with practically EVERYTHING installed perfectly. All my settings.. all my passowors, all my keys everything OMG I do not want to reinstall everything. Years ago when using ME or 98 I would do a complete format every few months but I have not had to with XP. My qeustion is, with the introduction of my new system parts... MSI Neo2 Plat with AMD 64/3200 939... is there any chance I can avoid having to reinstall? Everything else will be the same from the HD to the RAM to the video card.

Is there a trick.... some system files I can just erase that would allow for the OS to reinstall newer ones? Ugh.. or could I just go and uninstall all drivers I currently have? I know there would be a conflict maybe as the motherboard chipset drivers would probably be totally different.


Thanks

Bobo

 

[Matthias99]

Short answer: yes, you can do this, and the people who jump in here with cries of "no, you have to reinstall every time you sneeze near your computer!" are full of it.

Please search for and read the gazillion old threads about this, and/or the AT FAQ on doing this. I recommend the "Repair Installation" option described at the bottom of the FAQ, although manually editing the registry should do the same thing.

Oh, and you should probably still back up any vital data on your system partition, just in case. It's highly unlikely that doing this would make the drive inaccessible, but you never know.