Moving Windows 10 from one mobo/CPU to another

HunterAP · July 28, 2018

I'm upgrading my PC by replacing the mobo and CPU on a Windows 10 Pro machine with newer parts, but I'm concerned about how Window 10 Pro gets transferred over to a new mobo. The SSD that W10 Pro is installed onto is going into the new system, and from I've seen it supposedly doesn't matter as long as it wasn't an OEM key. Is this true?

For another W10 system, I am reusing the machine but changing the OS drive from an HDD to an SSD without using a migration tool by doing a completely fresh install of W10. This 2nd machine is a prebuilt that came with Windows 7 but was upgraded to Windows 10. Is there anything I have to do for this machine to reuse the current key?

Lurick · July 28, 2018

When I moved my system over I just powered it up and Windows detected the hardware change, had me sign into my Microsoft account, and churned for a bit while it setup the new stuff and then I was good to go.

Linker · July 28, 2018

I believe if it isn't an OEM key it should be fine.

Though, I got my OEM key to run on another computer. It refused to boot correctly at first, but I entered safe mode, and the booted normally.

It runs fine to this day.

I think Windows 7 upgrade to 10's are only meant to work on the same machine, and have heard of issues trying to move it, especially because the key is weird. Though you could still get it to work.

Long story short, results may vary..

Try it and see what happens, assuming you have the parts already.

LogicalDrm · July 29, 2018

14 hours ago, Linker said:

I believe if it isn't an OEM key it should be fine.

Though, I got my OEM key to run on another computer. It refused to boot correctly at first, but I entered safe mode, and the booted normally.

It runs fine to this day.

I think Windows 7 upgrade to 10's are only meant to work on the same machine, and have heard of issues trying to move it, especially because the key is weird. Though you could still get it to work.

Long story short, results may vary..

Try it and see what happens, assuming you have the parts already.

Its not about how upgrade was made. It IS about what key it is. Because keys activate in different ways. With Win10 if key is connected to MS account -> no issues. If its retail -> no issues. If its Win7(8(.1 retail -> no issues. If its non-branded Win7 OEM -> should be no issues, though I haven't changed mobo after moving to Win10. If its branded WIn7 OEM or Win8/.1 OEM -> issues.

HunterAP · August 1, 2018

So I wanted to report on my experience with my situation:
The system in question was originally using a Z170 mobo and an i7-6700K. Windows 10 Pro was installed on that system directly, and the key was used on it when it was built. The new system is an X470 mobo with an R7 2700X. Initially, there were some driver issues (such as my GTX 1080 having lots of drivers crashes, which were fixed after using DDU in Safe Mode and then installing the newest drivers manually). Other things that needed to be fixed were the removal of old drivers from the previous board (Intel HAXM, any mention of the 6700K in Device Manager -> Processors, etc), and running an "SFC /scannow" in an admin console to make sure Windows was working properly. Any other issue I've had was due to CPU and memory overclocking, and it seems that I now have 0 issues to speak of.

"Re-activation" was super easy: I signed into my MS account as normal on boot, then Windows prompted me to confirm that I did indeed move my drive to a new system, and that was it.

Thank you all for the answers that helped me decide not to do a complete clean reinstall of Win 10, it saved me hours of problems and all I really needed to do was some manual cleaning post-switch.