Computer Upgrades And Windows 10

As many of you out there know, replacing certain parts to your computer will prompt issues with your Windows OS to where it either will need to "repair" itself or reinstall.

Most common components are things like: CPU, Motherboard and Hard drives.

Most things like your memory sticks or video cards, your Windows OS won't have an issue with and will just prompt for a new driver.

All this I'm used to.

However.....Windows 10 is a new beast and I'm going to be doing some computer upgrades here soon. Has anyone out there done a upgrade and seen what happens with Windows 10?

Tried Googling it, but unfortunately the only hits I can seem to get are all about actually upgrading Windows to 10...so not very helpful.

So anyone out there have any stories to share?

a reply to: eriktheawful

I've done 2 things with a Win10 PC and had no problem at all..

Upgraded the RAM in a Laptop and Replaced the HDD in a desktop...

The RAM was simple and took no time at all

The HDD? I had to Image a copy over to the new HDD from the old, that was barely functional. Once the image was done, it was just Plug and Play

a reply to: semperfortis

Well, I'm going to be replacing a motherboard and CPU, new RAM and new video card.

Read that as: replacing all but the HDD

a reply to: eriktheawful

If you're upgrading your mother board then a clean install is advised, same with CPU (chances are you'll need a new mobo depending on chipset)

RAM is just plug and play you don't need to worry about drivers

GPU/Soundcard you don't even need a prompt just download the drivers from the manufacturers website

Hard drive will work just like memory card

Downloaded the upgrade...Lenovo crashed. $180 to get it back to normal and still lost a lot of files.

Whenever I upgrade a PC or laptop, I just pop out the old HDD's, keep the old ones, install the new OS, and use the old drives as backups for the new ones.

More advanced people just run a virtual machine like VMware, so OS upgrades are never needed.

Haven't done any serious hardware upgrades, but we recently bought a couple of laptops running 8.1 with free upgrades to 10. Both went without a hitch. OTOH, I'm running a legitimate version of 7 Home Premium on my desktop and 10 refused to install. I rummaged about the web for days looking for a solution but nothing worked. Finally went to MS Support for help and they were absolutely worthless. I explained everything I'd done and all I got was a boilerplate response listing those very same things I'd already done. The Microsoft "engineer" clearly didn't read my post and didn't bother following up when I asked for further assistance. So I guess I'll take that as an endorsement of Linux. .

So, two went well, one failed. I can either switch to Linux on the desktop or just carry on with 7. By the time MS quits supporting 7 it will be time to replace the desktop anyhow.

a reply to: eriktheawful

If you have upgraded your PC from either a Win 7 or 8 oem licence, then replacing the motherboard constitutes a new device according to Microsoft. You would need to purchase a new copy of Windows 10.

If your PC came with a retail licence then it can be transferred, you would use that licence key to activate.

So far the answers I'm seeing are: No. None of you know for sure.

I've upgraded my computer, my wife's and my son's computers several times over the years, and reactivated windows 7 just fine with each, as each have their own license for Windows 7, and each had something like 3 re-activations, etc, etc.

I guess I should go ask MS as they would know. I was hoping someone here had done this already. I'll let you all know what I find out from them.

Okay....after digging for hours, I finally did come up with an answer from MS themselves. The answer is "Yes" and "No"

All depends on the OEM:

Will Upgrading Motherboard After Upgrading To Windows 10 Make Me Lose My Windows License?

What happens if I change my motherboard?

As it pertains to the OEM licenses this will invalidate the Windows 10 upgrade license because it will no longer have a previous base qualifying license which is required for the free upgrade. You will then have to purchase a full retail Windows 10 license. If the base qualifying license (Windows 7 or Windows 8.1) was a full retail version, then yes, you can transfer it.

a reply to: eriktheawful

I do know for sure, I gave you the best advice, if you're changing your mother board you should do a clean install

But of course if you want to ignore from someone who's been building and overclocking PC's for over 10 years that's your choice

I'm not entirely sure what your question is though to be honest, you want to essentially build a new pc and just use the old harddrive without a fresh install ?

You can do this, but it's not advised, you'll likely run into problems as while windows will install the required files for the new components it won't delete the old ones and you could run into issues

As for reactivations, this explains the difference between win10 and previous version

a reply to: Discotech

It's okay, I've gotten my answer.

I've been working with PC's since the day's before Commadore 64's and Atari's (my first computer was a mainframe using a reel to reel system for storage, and paper tape teletypes).

The first PC I built was a x286 that ran on DOS 3.11.

This computer I'm typing this post on? Been upgraded 4 time (motherboard and CPU) while Win 7 was it's OS. Prior to that it had been upgraded 5 times while it was running Windows XP.

Never had an issue, except when I had to format my HD once, and had to redownload all my games from Steam...and with some of them being 15 and 20 GB download, that sucks.

It's all good as Microsoft answered my question, which was whether or not the Windows 10 license would transfer or not.

originally posted by: eriktheawful
a reply to: semperfortis

Well, I'm going to be replacing a motherboard and CPU, new RAM and new video card.

Read that as: replacing all but the HDD

As Windows 10 contains more drivers from different manufacturers the planar should not be a problem. However it will be running Windows certified OEM drivers and not the manufacturer's drivers . I swapped out my 2 AMD video adapters I had in crossfire for bigger , stronger, faster ones . No issues at all. But see my previous statement. Basically , I have rebuilt one of my gaming machines and have had no issues.

a reply to: eriktheawful

Did you ever get an Amiga? Most people dont even know that name .
ctr-lamiga-amiga

I've swapped lots of different components around quite a few times and have never had any problems at all, with either Win 7,8,8.1 or 10. In fact, the only time I did have problems was with an ancient machine running Win XP. That said, you should ensure your system can handle the new OS first, obviously. Someone mentioned earlier that their laptop broke after installing Win 10, but that is a side issue and could have happened for a few reasons, namely the OS didn't properly install or it was the wrong version of Win 10 (64 bit instead of 32 bit) The 32 bit is quite crap but needed for low-spec machines. One thing you should be aware of is that I've noticed a lot of programs lately that won't even work on a 32 bit machine, so always try to get a device that can run 64 bit, not usually a problem with machines built in the last 5 years.

Don't let them (cattle) prod you into "upgrading" to Windows 10 and you won't have to worry about it.

a reply to: eriktheawful

I have been bombarded with the offer to replace my windows 8 with windows 10 for free. The strange thing is that I have his association with accepting the evil sign on my forhead or hand when I do.

This is my gut feeling or intuition speaking of course.... When giving it a thought I came to the conclusion that accepting this free gift from windows I have sold part of me and agreed to give "them" access to private information.

Maybe this windows 10 acceptance is part of the bigger evil 666 agenda... Maybe we are seduced with free gifts from big corperations and will be caught without even realizing in this evil 666 web.

Of course this all my fantasy speaking...

Hi ladiez&gents, new here,

Iam asking the same and cant find right answer for that - Why Is MS Pushing W10 So Hard??

..and its really getting over limit with - Win10 is for free, and they are doing anything to smuggle it to your pc - annoying notifications, download of whole installation through automatic updates without any warning and install in one click, free copy for non-genuine with extra discount price, even will give you discount for your old computer www.windowscentral.com...

and another way to push users away from old systems. but why Vista, which still have support till 2017??? because Vista cannot automatically update to Win10???
www.ghacks.net...

Iam asking around discussions, and cant believe its only about money..

a reply to: redhot1910

Read my reply...

originally posted by: redhot1910
Hi ladiez&gents, new here,

Iam asking the same and cant find right answer for that - Why Is MS Pushing W10 So Hard??

Simplest answer, I guess, is because they can. When I first got into computers in the late 90s, most people would have had enough common sense to complain and just intuitively know something wasn't right. Nowdays, most people are too stupid to complain. So why not? If they can get away with it, they might as well.

Whatever other motives they have in the background are really anybody's best guess. I'm sure there are more than a few.