changing mother boards and windows 7

[MushroomNZ]

hard disk where windows reseides will stay

I know i will have to enter the key , no problem

how do i keep my personalization settings ?
(themes).
will they still be there ?
what else should i waych out for

thanks

 

[Rob]

hard disk where windows reseides will stay

I know i will have to enter the key , no problem

how do i keep my personalization settings ?
(themes).
will they still be there ?
what else should i waych out for

thanks

Just change the MB and then reboot the system. It should say if there
is a problem and follow the instructions.

You may not have to enter your serial as it is on your HDD.

You may have to do a repair of the system. and install the MB files.

 

[John Williamson]

Just change the MB and then reboot the system. It should say if there
is a problem and follow the instructions.

You may not have to enter your serial as it is on your HDD.

You may have to do a repair of the system. and install the MB files.

The OP may also have to re-activate the installation by either phone or
internet as, IIRC, each installation is only activated for a particular
MB, though on XP there is a timeout after which you don't need to phone
MS. If Windows was pre-installed by the maker, then it may be locked to
that particular type of MB.

 

[Rob]

The OP may also have to re-activate the installation by either phone or
internet as, IIRC, each installation is only activated for a particular
MB, though on XP there is a timeout after which you don't need to phone
MS. If Windows was pre-installed by the maker, then it may be locked to
that particular type of MB.

Thats what I said you have to read the instructions if it will not boot
- but some do irrespective of the motherboard.

 

[Philip Herlihy]

hard disk where windows reseides will stay

I know i will have to enter the key , no problem

how do i keep my personalization settings ?
(themes).
will they still be there ?
what else should i waych out for

thanks

If the Motherboard is identical, then your only problem should be
activation. If it's an OEM version of Windows (ie. came with the PC)
then you may or may not get to continue using the license. Some
manufacturers base activation on the BIOS, which makes your life easier,
but if it's an individual build you may need to use the phone activation
method, and I don't know if you'll always get that accepted.

Drivers can be a problem if the board is different. For situatinos like
this I use a cheap USB-Ethernet adapter with its drivers available on a
CD. That gets me to a service like DriverAgent.com (paid), or
DriverIdentifier (apparently free).

Personalisation (other than BIOS settings like a boot password) will
remain on your hard disk.

Good luck, and let us know how you get on.

 

[Gadfly]

If the motherboard is changed and you have an OEM licence for Win7 provided
by a brand-name PC, Microsoft deems that it's a new PC and you have to buy a
new licence because you can only use an OEM licence on the PC it came with.

You can get around that by replaing the old board with the same make and
model of board.

You might be able to get Microsoft to reactivate it on the phone. That does
not apply to the retail licence that can be used on a single PC unlimited
number of times; only reactivation would be required.

Read this page on Product Activation:
http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/ProductActivation.htm

 

[Rob]

If the motherboard is changed and you have an OEM licence for Win7 provided
by a brand-name PC, Microsoft deems that it's a new PC and you have to buy a
new licence because you can only use an OEM licence on the PC it came with.

You can get around that by replaing the old board with the same make and
model of board.

Not strictly true.