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Do I have to reinstall windows after a major upgrade?

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
By Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
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Go to solution Solved by Inception9269,
7 minutes ago, Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh said:

so i should just use the current version and if there are any problems just do a clean install?

Pretty much. If you can get by without having to do a clean install, than by all means.

If your system is using an oem key though, switching the motherboard counts as a new system, and will require you to enter a new key.  There are ways to get around that without having to buy a key, but I probably can't mention that on this site.

Posted

I’m planning on upgrading from a 10th gen I3 to a R5 5600 and a B550 motherboard, I have windows 11 installed on my 1TB ssd with two hard drives a 1TB recycled drive and new 4TB drive, will I have to reinstall windows because I’m switching brands/platforms? If I do will I only have to wipe my boot drive and not my secondary drives? And if I do have to reinstall, how do I keep windows activated when I do?

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1 minute ago, Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh said:

will I have to reinstall windows because I’m switching brands/platforms?

It is generally advised to do so, yes. There are optimizations/drivers/etc. that Windows loads that can cause instabilities if the hardware is swapped out from underneath it.

 

1 minute ago, Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh said:

If I do will I only have to wipe my boot drive and not my secondary drives?

Correct.

 

1 minute ago, Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh said:

And if I do have to reinstall, how do I keep windows activated when I do?

If you have a retail key, just re-enter it. If you have an OEM key, you'll either need a new one, or you might be able to sweettalk Microsoft support into renewing the old key.

Main System (Byarlant): Ryzen 7 5800X | Asus B550-Creator ProArt | EK 240mm Basic AIO | 16GB G.Skill DDR4 3200MT/s CAS-14 | XFX Speedster SWFT 210 RX 6600 | Samsung 990 PRO 2TB / Samsung 960 PRO 512GB / 4× Crucial MX500 2TB (RAID-0) | Corsair RM750X | a 10G NIC (pending) | Inateck USB 3.0 Card | Hyte Y60 Case | Dell U3415W Monitor | Keychron K4 Brown (white backlight)

 

Laptop (Narrative): Lenovo Flex 5 81X20005US | Ryzen 5 4500U | 16GB RAM (soldered) | Vega 6 Graphics | SKHynix P31 1TB NVMe SSD | Intel AX200 Wifi (all-around awesome machine)

 

Proxmox Server (Veda): Ryzen 7 3800XT | AsRock Rack X470D4U | Corsair H80i v2 | 64GB Micron DDR4 ECC 3200MT/s | 4x 10TB WD Whites / 4x 14TB Seagate Exos / 2× Samsung PM963a 960GB SSD | Seasonic Prime Fanless 500W | Intel X540-T2 10G NIC | LSI 9207-8i HBA | Fractal Design Node 804 Case (side panels swapped to show off drives) | VMs: TrueNAS Scale; Ubuntu Server (PiHole/PiVPN/NGINX?); Windows 10 Pro; Ubuntu Server (Apache/MySQL)


Media Center/Video Capture (Jesta Cannon): Ryzen 5 1600X | ASRock B450M Pro4 R2.0 | Noctua NH-L12S | 16GB Crucial DDR4 3200MT/s CAS-22 | EVGA GTX750Ti SC | UMIS NVMe SSD 256GB / TEAMGROUP MS30 1TB | Corsair CX450M | Viewcast Osprey 260e Video Capture | Mellanox ConnectX-2 10G NIC | LG UH12NS30 BD-ROM | Silverstone Sugo SG-11 Case | Sony XR65A80K

 

Camera: Sony ɑ7II w/ Meike Grip | Sony SEL24240 | Samyang 35mm ƒ/2.8 | Sony SEL50F18F | Sony SEL2870 (kit lens) | PNY Elite Perfomance 512GB SDXC card

 

Network:

Spoiler 
                           ┌─────────────── Office/Rack ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
Google Fiber Webpass ────── UniFi Security Gateway ─── UniFi Switch 8-60W ─┬─ UniFi Switch Flex XG ═╦═ Veda (Proxmox Virtual Switch)
(500Mbps↑/500Mbps↓)                             UniFi CloudKey Gen2 (PoE) ─┴─ Veda (IPMI)           ╠═ Veda-NAS (HW Passthrough NIC)
╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╩═ Narrative (Asus USB 2.5G NIC)
║ ┌────── Closet ──────┐   ┌─────────────── Bedroom ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
╚═ UniFi Switch Flex XG ═╤═ UniFi Switch Flex XG ═╦═ Byarlant
   (PoE)                 │                        ╠═ Narrative (Cable Matters USB-PD 2.5G Ethernet Dongle)
                         │                        ╚═ Jesta Cannon*
                         │ ┌─────────────── Media Center ──────────────────────────────────┐
Notes:                   └─ UniFi Switch 8 ─────────┬─ UniFi Access Point nanoHD (PoE)
═══ is Multi-Gigabit                                ├─ Sony Playstation 4 
─── is Gigabit                                      ├─ Pioneer VSX-S520
* = cable passed to Bedroom from Media Center       ├─ Sony XR65A80K (Google TV)
** = cable passed from Media Center to Bedroom      └─ Work Laptop** (Startech USB-PD Dock)

Retired/Other:

Spoiler

Laptop (Rozen-Zulu): Sony VAIO VPCF13WFX | Core i7-740QM | 8GB Patriot DDR3 | GT 425M | Samsung 850EVO 250GB SSD | Blu-ray Drive | Intel 7260 Wifi (lived a good life, retired with honor)

Testbed/Old Desktop (Kshatriya): Xeon X5470 @ 4.0GHz | ZALMAN CNPS9500 | Gigabyte EP45-UD3L | 8GB Nanya DDR2 400MHz | XFX HD6870 DD | OCZ Vertex 3 Max-IOPS 120GB | Corsair CX430M | HooToo USB 3.0 PCIe Card | Osprey 230 Video Capture | NZXT H230 Case

TrueNAS Server (La Vie en Rose): Xeon E3-1241v3 | Supermicro X10SLL-F | Corsair H60 | 32GB Micron DDR3L ECC 1600MHz | 1x Kingston 16GB SSD / Crucial MX500 500GB

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If you want to keep your install, Id try just moving the drive over, and it will probably work fine. Then reinstall if you have issues.

 

 

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3 minutes ago, AbydosOne said:

It is generally advised to do so, yes. There are optimizations/drivers/etc. that Windows loads that can cause instabilities if the hardware is swapped out from underneath it.

 

Correct.

 

If you have a retail key, just re-enter it. If you have an OEM key, you'll either need a new one, or you might be able to sweettalk Microsoft support into renewing the old key.

However it is a windows 10 key, so will I have to download windows 10 and then upgrade to 11?

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Just now, Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh said:

However it is a windows 10 key, so will I have to download windows 10 and then upgrade to 11?

I believe the keys are good between versions.

Main System (Byarlant): Ryzen 7 5800X | Asus B550-Creator ProArt | EK 240mm Basic AIO | 16GB G.Skill DDR4 3200MT/s CAS-14 | XFX Speedster SWFT 210 RX 6600 | Samsung 990 PRO 2TB / Samsung 960 PRO 512GB / 4× Crucial MX500 2TB (RAID-0) | Corsair RM750X | a 10G NIC (pending) | Inateck USB 3.0 Card | Hyte Y60 Case | Dell U3415W Monitor | Keychron K4 Brown (white backlight)

 

Laptop (Narrative): Lenovo Flex 5 81X20005US | Ryzen 5 4500U | 16GB RAM (soldered) | Vega 6 Graphics | SKHynix P31 1TB NVMe SSD | Intel AX200 Wifi (all-around awesome machine)

 

Proxmox Server (Veda): Ryzen 7 3800XT | AsRock Rack X470D4U | Corsair H80i v2 | 64GB Micron DDR4 ECC 3200MT/s | 4x 10TB WD Whites / 4x 14TB Seagate Exos / 2× Samsung PM963a 960GB SSD | Seasonic Prime Fanless 500W | Intel X540-T2 10G NIC | LSI 9207-8i HBA | Fractal Design Node 804 Case (side panels swapped to show off drives) | VMs: TrueNAS Scale; Ubuntu Server (PiHole/PiVPN/NGINX?); Windows 10 Pro; Ubuntu Server (Apache/MySQL)


Media Center/Video Capture (Jesta Cannon): Ryzen 5 1600X | ASRock B450M Pro4 R2.0 | Noctua NH-L12S | 16GB Crucial DDR4 3200MT/s CAS-22 | EVGA GTX750Ti SC | UMIS NVMe SSD 256GB / TEAMGROUP MS30 1TB | Corsair CX450M | Viewcast Osprey 260e Video Capture | Mellanox ConnectX-2 10G NIC | LG UH12NS30 BD-ROM | Silverstone Sugo SG-11 Case | Sony XR65A80K

 

Camera: Sony ɑ7II w/ Meike Grip | Sony SEL24240 | Samyang 35mm ƒ/2.8 | Sony SEL50F18F | Sony SEL2870 (kit lens) | PNY Elite Perfomance 512GB SDXC card

 

Network:

Spoiler 
                           ┌─────────────── Office/Rack ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
Google Fiber Webpass ────── UniFi Security Gateway ─── UniFi Switch 8-60W ─┬─ UniFi Switch Flex XG ═╦═ Veda (Proxmox Virtual Switch)
(500Mbps↑/500Mbps↓)                             UniFi CloudKey Gen2 (PoE) ─┴─ Veda (IPMI)           ╠═ Veda-NAS (HW Passthrough NIC)
╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╩═ Narrative (Asus USB 2.5G NIC)
║ ┌────── Closet ──────┐   ┌─────────────── Bedroom ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
╚═ UniFi Switch Flex XG ═╤═ UniFi Switch Flex XG ═╦═ Byarlant
   (PoE)                 │                        ╠═ Narrative (Cable Matters USB-PD 2.5G Ethernet Dongle)
                         │                        ╚═ Jesta Cannon*
                         │ ┌─────────────── Media Center ──────────────────────────────────┐
Notes:                   └─ UniFi Switch 8 ─────────┬─ UniFi Access Point nanoHD (PoE)
═══ is Multi-Gigabit                                ├─ Sony Playstation 4 
─── is Gigabit                                      ├─ Pioneer VSX-S520
* = cable passed to Bedroom from Media Center       ├─ Sony XR65A80K (Google TV)
** = cable passed from Media Center to Bedroom      └─ Work Laptop** (Startech USB-PD Dock)

Retired/Other:

Spoiler

Laptop (Rozen-Zulu): Sony VAIO VPCF13WFX | Core i7-740QM | 8GB Patriot DDR3 | GT 425M | Samsung 850EVO 250GB SSD | Blu-ray Drive | Intel 7260 Wifi (lived a good life, retired with honor)

Testbed/Old Desktop (Kshatriya): Xeon X5470 @ 4.0GHz | ZALMAN CNPS9500 | Gigabyte EP45-UD3L | 8GB Nanya DDR2 400MHz | XFX HD6870 DD | OCZ Vertex 3 Max-IOPS 120GB | Corsair CX430M | HooToo USB 3.0 PCIe Card | Osprey 230 Video Capture | NZXT H230 Case

TrueNAS Server (La Vie en Rose): Xeon E3-1241v3 | Supermicro X10SLL-F | Corsair H60 | 32GB Micron DDR3L ECC 1600MHz | 1x Kingston 16GB SSD / Crucial MX500 500GB

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I've done major upgrades similar to what you're doing. Windows was able to automatically detect the new devices present and get appropriate drivers. I didn't have any wonky things happen while using the new build. Your secondary drives are okay as-is. 

"It pays to keep an open mind, but not so open your brain falls out." - Carl Sagan.

"I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you" - Edward I. Koch

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@Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Hard to say on whether or not you will need to reinstall Windows. In my experience, if I was using the same drive on the same platform that it was installed on (AMD on AMD, or Intel on Intel) then I never had any problems. But going from one to the other (AMD to Intel or other way around) I have had times that I've had issues that were resolved by doing a clean install, but there have also been times that I didn't have any problems (or at least they went unnoticed).

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It doesn't hurt to save yourself the time and try it without reinstalling first. If you encounter any show-stopping issues, then you can reinstall fresh.

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Ryzen 7 3700X CPU, ASRock B450M Pro4 mATX Motherboard, ADATA XPG GAMMIX D20 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 RAM, Mushkin PILOT 1TB SSD (boot), 2x Seagate BarraCuda 1 TB 3.5" HDD (data), Seagate BarraCuda 4 TB 3.5" HDD (DVR), PowerColor RX VEGA 56 8GB GPU, Fractal Design Node 804 mATX Case, Cooler Master MasterWatt 550 W 80+ Bronze Semi-modular ATX PSU, Silverstone SST-SOB02 Blu-Ray Writer, Windows 11 Pro, Logitech K400 Plus Keyboard, Corsair K63 Lapboard Combo (MX Red w/Blue LED), Logitech G603 Wireless Mouse, Kingston HyperX Cloud Stinger Headset, HAUPPAUGE WinTV-quadHD TV Tuner, Samsung 65RU9000 TV

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I strongly advise you take an image of your boot drive before just whacking it in the new pc to try it. 

 If for any reason you have to revert back to your old pc, it may not smoothly go back in the old system. 

 

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11 hours ago, Inception9269 said:

@Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Hard to say on whether or not you will need to reinstall Windows. In my experience, if I was using the same drive on the same platform that it was installed on (AMD on AMD, or Intel on Intel) then I never had any problems. But going from one to the other (AMD to Intel or other way around) I have had times that I've had issues that were resolved by doing a clean install, but there have also been times that I didn't have any problems (or at least they went unnoticed).

so i should just use the current version and if there are any problems just do a clean install?

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7 minutes ago, Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh said:

so i should just use the current version and if there are any problems just do a clean install?

Pretty much. If you can get by without having to do a clean install, than by all means.

If your system is using an oem key though, switching the motherboard counts as a new system, and will require you to enter a new key.  There are ways to get around that without having to buy a key, but I probably can't mention that on this site.

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