If i build a new pc and put my old hardrive in will i need to reinstall windows ?

[stevecostain]

Im thinking of building a new pc but im going to keep the same hardrive because the one i have is good for what i need it for. My friend told me that the OS is mounted to the motherboard so if i build a new pc will i have to buy windows again? like whats the deal here can i plug the hardrive in straight from the old pc and it will work ??? 

[Cheese4395]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it should be fine right guys?

 

Fine as in, booting into windows will work.

 

Bunch of youtubers just put an OS on an SSD and just reuse it so I see no problem in this. It should work. Try it you never know haha.

[nanowatt]

Yes if you get a new pc you need a new windows.the drivers won't fit

edit:and not only the drivers each pc have different settings and hardware.The type of windows 32 or 64 bits,the registry and all setting are saved on the hdd you can't just take the hdd and put it on another pc unless they are very similar

[FizzyFantom]

If you have an OEM licence then that licence key should only work with a single motherboard, however I have seen it work when transferred to a new machine. It's rather random in my experience. I would always recommend you reinstall Windows on a new machine, but if you want to try it it shouldn't hurt the drive or the data on the drive.

If you do try it you can reset the drivers using SysPrep, just run this in a command prompt:

%SystemRoot%\System32\sysprep\sysprep.exe /oobe /generalize /shutdown

More info on SysPrep here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/cc721940%28v=ws.10%29.aspx

[N3rot0xin]

You should be good to go regardless of the type of key you have. I for whatever reason your key doesn't work, just go get a generic key from the pirate bay or something. As for the drivers, if you have the disk for your OS, you can do a repair/upgrade install on your new HDD. It pretty much reinstall everything pertaining to the OS, so old drivers and crap will be cleaned out and replaced with the generic versions till you install the vendor specific versions. If your new pc wont even load windows (unlikely however), you'll need to do a couple things. 

 

First thing is you'll need to get the AHCI/SATA drivers for your new motherboard. Copy them to a flash drive or something. 

On the new PC with the old hdd with windows, try booting to recovery (tap F8 before the windows logo appears). 

Once there, do the following: 

Repair your Computer -> Startup repair . Let this run and if it finds something it will attempt to fix and reboot. If problem persists, you'll need to go one step further. 

Load the recovery console (Repair your Computer -> Command Prompt

Plug in your USB device that you copied your drivers to earlier. 

Once loaded, type the following:

bcdedit | find "osdevice"

to find the driver letter your OS is on. (may not be C when using recovery console). Then this:

dism /Image:X:\ /Add-Driver /Driver:Y:\path-to-drivers\ /Recurse

Replace "X" with the driver letter returned by bcdedit , and "Y" with the drive letter of your USB device and folder pointing to your mobo drivers. If you're not sure, just cd to different driver letters (likely it is D) and type "dir" until the files you're looking for show up. 

it will take sometime to get the drivers installed and updated, but after it should boot as long as your motherboard is configured correctly. 

[LogicalDrm]

There are many takes and guides on this. Basicly yes, you can use non-branded OEM and retail windows again in new computer. You don't need to reinstall but its highly suggested. If you choose not to reinstall, remove all drivers from current mobo before changing it.

[XxKINGxX40]

The problem isn't the hard drive. The problem is things like drivers, settings, exc. It would be best to wipe the whole hard drive and start fresh. But, of course, back up your documents or other important files.

[RH00D]

It will boot fine and work fine. Although you may run into some driver quirks but everything should be fine. You may also have to activate Windows again, if so you can just call an automated Microsoft number and they'll get you to enter a code or two and then it'll spit back another code for you to enter on the system and your key will be good again.

[N3rot0xin]

The problem isn't the hard drive. The problem is things like drivers, settings, exc. It would be best to wipe the whole hard drive and start fresh. But, of course, back up your documents or other important files.

Doing an upgrade install basically does the same thing. It removes the drivers and crap but still leaves your exisitng programs in place and properly configured. Only time you'd need to do a clean reinstall is if windows wont even boot and repairing doesn't fix anything. At that point you probably had a corrupt install to begin with. 

[stevecostain]

Thank you for all the replies but i have been thinking if i spend a bit more money and but an ssd and put the os on that, it would be easier becuase all this driver stuff sounds confusing and i dont want to break anything  :unsure: