Thread: Activating Vista 64 bit after mobo upgrade

I've decided to upgrade my HP computer with a cpu, mobo, and case upgrade. HP brands their mobo's so the old version of vista will no longer work with the new mobo. I spent all my spare cash on the upgrades so I'll be using a cracked version of vista or a windows activator. Will I be able to replace mobo and still boot up to vista? Or do I need to do a complete reinstall? I hope I can keep this version of vista along with my current updates and just reactivate it after the mobo and cpu upgrade. Installing all my other programs and games would be a tremendous hassle. If someone could enlighten me than I would greatly appreciate it.

Probably the best is to reinstall everything, after all you'll be getting a new chipset and a new cpu and vista was installed taking the older system into account.

Of course you can still uninstall drivers and install the new ones, but my guess is that will be a bandage that won't stick for long.

As for the activation, I think you'll need to reactivate due to new mobo and cpu, I think WGA/WAT understands that change, but you can get around it easily. Just check mydigitallife foruns

why not just get a copy of win 7 off your tracker of choice and use the daz loader.or grab one of the pre activated copies.

You could also download a RTM version of Win 7 from Microsoft itself, clean & no worries, then download the windows loader, current version is 1.9.1, to key and validate your install. :)

As for your old data, do you have a new HDD too? or are you using the same one? I agree with previous posts, clean install for new mobo and chipset is a good idea, more system stability.

If I do a complete reinstall will all my programs/games be gone? I'm hoping that i can upgrade and still keep everything intact. Does win 7 have an upgrade option to port my programs and games?

I'm using the same HDD. I also have an external HDD for HD movies but it can be used for backup if necessary. I'm willing to do a complete reinstall but isn't there a way to port my programs/games to the new version of windows?

Originally Posted by amazon502

If I do a complete reinstall will all my programs/games be gone? I'm hoping that i can upgrade and still keep everything intact. Does win 7 have an upgrade option to port my programs and games?

Unfortunately yes, full reinstall will erase the whole hdd. But Win 7 does have a upgrade option, whether it can do the upgrade though you will find out when you attempt. It may not be able to depending on what is or isn't available in terms of software, drivers, system components.

Originally Posted by amazon502

If I do a complete reinstall will all my programs/games be gone? I'm hoping that i can upgrade and still keep everything intact. Does win 7 have an upgrade option to port my programs and games?

I'm using the same HDD. I also have an external HDD for HD movies but it can be used for backup if necessary. I'm willing to do a complete reinstall but isn't there a way to port my programs/games to the new version of windows?

Ok, so your in luck, you have an external. Hook up the old hdd, start the computer, backup all your data, forget about the programs, you will want to reinstall those anyways, but save any data from the programs or games, don't forget about your bookmarks (always hate having to bookmark everything again). When done backing up, burn Win 7(excellent OS btw), fresh install, and let your computer feel like it was born again. :)

Thanks a lot for the information. I'll proceed to back up everything and redownload the things I can't back up this week. Hopefully I can be ready by the time the parts get here. Will a DVD-R 4.7GB disk be good enough to burn win 7? I can just use any kind of free burning program for this right?

This is probably why it's a good idea to install games on an entirely different HDD rather than your OS drive. Yes, some games will pre-install files to your %appdata% or some place in My Documents, but you could still point those to directories you want and off of your C:\ (windows) drive.

I know it doesn't do much good with your programs, but not having to worry about re-installing your games and losing your saves is always nice.

A 4.7 GB DVD-R is plenty if you're not planning on burning bloated add-ons and language packs. Most of the 64 bit OS I've seen are around 3 GB.

Most burning utilities should suffice. Just make sure it's capable of burning ISOs which I'm sure most are.