Can I upgrade my motherboard and CPU without reinstalling Vista?

March 3, 2008 11:06 AM

Can I upgrade my motherboard and CPU without reinstalling Vista?

I'm using a Pentium 930 (Dual core, 3ghz) and want to move up to a Core 2 Quad, but am hoping to avoid a full reinstall.

I would also like to avoid losing my itunes library, and other such settings if possible (installed software, etc.).

posted by adi to technology (6 comments total)

A repair install would be all you need. This will keep your files and software.

This might not even be necessary. I've stuck new motherboards into xp machines and gotten away with just installing a few drivers.
posted by meta87 at 11:13 AM on March 3, 2008

I just upgraded my PC with a new motherboard and chip and I had to reinstall Vista but I was unaware of a repair install option so hopefully that can work for you. In any case if you have an external harddrive a lot of them come with back up software you can use, also Vista Business, Ultimate and Enterprise have built in back up solution that you can find out more information from Vista Backup. Hope this helps.
posted by thenuts at 11:24 AM on March 3, 2008

You can, but the rate of Windows throwing up is far from 0%.
I changed from an Athlon 64 --> Pentium dual-core w/ a new motherboard a while back and I had to fudge with the bootup process to get Windows to boot at all, and even them, Windows never did run optimally until I did a clean install.
If I were you, I would back up all your data to an external hard drive first in case Windows says no.
posted by jmd82 at 11:46 AM on March 3, 2008

A repair install would be all you need. This will keep your files and software.

This might not even be necessary. I've stuck new motherboards into xp machines and gotten away with just installing a few drivers.

That's XP, this is Vista. Different animals.
posted by SlyBevel at 12:21 PM on March 3, 2008

True, but there is a repair install option on vista as well. I have used it successfully for situation. Of course always backup your data before doing any major changes to your computer. I would try this before doing a full-reinstall. Worst case scenario, you end up having to do a reinstall if it doesnt work.
posted by meta87 at 11:23 AM on March 4, 2008

*for this situation
posted by meta87 at 11:23 AM on March 4, 2008