Well I should be getting my new motherboard tomorrow, and I know I'm going to have to reinstall Windows because of drivers and whatnot, but I really want to be able to save some things. I don't really want to have to install all my games again, so is there a way to take an image of the program files folder and then just transfer it once I get Windows installed?
Could I run driver sweeper and remove all the current motherboard's drivers, and then just install the new motherboard's drivers without having to reinstall Windows at all, or would that still cause stability issues?
Might be able to get away without reinstalling the OS. I took the Hard Drive out of My Friends Laptop and hooked it up to my rig and windows loaded no problem
Yeah, I'm thinking I might just be able to get rid of the current motherboard drivers with driver sweeper and then install the new ones, but everyone I've ever heard talk about getting a new motherboard says it's better just to do a clean install for stability. I don't know if a new motherboard will have conflicting registry entries or anything like that. Or maybe games are installed a certain way according to your motherboard or something. I'm not entirely sure if it would just be a driver issue or something much more than that. That's why I'm asking.
I switched from a GA-785GM-US2H to a GA-970A-D3 motherboard. The previous motherboard was using 8GB of DDR2 ram, and the only difference in my system is new motherboard and ram (added 12GB DDR3 1600mhz). All same hardware, etc. Booted into windows without any issues. After installing all the drivers, it was good and golden :)
Old windows installations often do not work when the motherboard is replaced, especially if your version of Windows is OEM. This is because the windows installation jots down the BIOS' digital signiature and prevents you from transferring the installation onto another computer.
If the new motherboard is similar-ish to the old one, it's possible you don't need to reinstall windows.
Also, for backing up files, there's a nifty feature included in Windows called copy 'n' paste! Works wonders :D
you usualy do not encounter problems unless switching from AMD to intel, or vicea versa. try to switch, and if you notice any instability... just boot safe mode with the minimal vga driver. then go to device manager and uninstall all drivers. reboot and let windows auto install the majority, then get all the 'important' ones (like the video card driver) from the driver website.
what boov was talking about is the SLIC. if thats a problem, shoot me a pm... i have a way to 'fix' that issue with windows.
Well yeah, but that doesn't usually work for game installations though. I'm not really worried about document files and pictures and all of that. I'm just wondering if there's a way to keep game installations and such installed.
Oh I see. It's not easy to make a backup of program files, because the programs rely on registry. Only thing I can think of is to use steams compression system to backup the game installation files. May take ages though.
If you have a spare HDD I suggest making a clone of your drive using some free software.
I know it seems tedious, but reinstalling Windows occasionally is a good idea. Yes, you will need to reintsall everything but you will get rid of any bad registry entrys and old drivers, along with old and temp files.