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jasonvp · ‎10-25-2017

OK, bear with me here. This is probably going to result in epic disaster to the installed operating system (and applications) on my Samsung 960 Pro NVMe drive. It's currently running Win10 (Fall Update) on my Asus Rampage V Extreme board. My thought process is to see what happens if I just move it over to the new R6E. I'll be using the same Sound Blaster card and the same two NVidia graphics cards. Obviously the entire guts of the motherboard will be swiped right out from under Windows, but: do you think it'll boot? Boot with complaints of missing drivers, which is easy to fix. But... will it boot?

I'm ready to do a complete reinstall as needed. But I was wondering what folks think?

System specs: click here.

Brighttail · ‎10-25-2017

jasonvp wrote:
OK, bear with me here. This is probably going to result in epic disaster to the installed operating system (and applications) on my Samsung 960 Pro NVMe drive. It's currently running Win10 (Fall Update) on my Asus Rampage V Extreme board. My thought process is to see what happens if I just move it over to the new R6E. I'll be using the same Sound Blaster card and the same two NVidia graphics cards. Obviously the entire guts of the motherboard will be swiped right out from under Windows, but: do you think it'll boot? Boot with complaints of missing drivers, which is easy to fix. But... will it boot?

I'm ready to do a complete reinstall as needed. But I was wondering what folks think?

It would most likely end in disaster. While the GPU and sound blaster may be the same drivers, many of the motherboard components are completely different if not new updates like Asus Suite and fan expert 3 vs 4. You can try it, it may "work" but I wouldn't trust it as there could be many conflicts down the road you might not even be aware of. Bottom line, why chance it?

Panteks Enthoo Elite / Asus x299 Rampage VI Extreme / Intel I9-7900X / Corsair Dominator RGB 3200MHz

MSI GTX 1080 TI / 2x Intel 900p / Samsung 970 Pro 512GB

Samsung 850 PRO 512GB / Western Digital Gold 8TB HD

Corsair AX 1200i / Corsair Platinum K95 / Asus Chakram

Acer XB321HK 4k, IPS, G-sync Monitor / Water Cooled / Asus G571JT Laptop

jasonvp · ‎10-25-2017

Brighttail wrote:
It would most likely end in disaster. While the GPU and sound blaster may be the same drivers, many of the motherboard components are completely different if not new updates like Asus Suite and fan expert 3 vs 4.

Stuff like Asus Suite and Fan Xpert aren't a concern as I don't use them (and never will, they're garbage IMHO). So I'm less worried about that. The component drivers for the motherboard bits (NICs, etc) will be different, no question. But I'd expect Windows to just complain and say, "I need drivers for those". Which will be easy enough to provide. I'm more worried about the chipset itself; does the OS care enough going from X99 to X299?

I very likely will have to contact MS' support to get the machine re-activated, which I'm also OK with.

System specs: click here.

Brighttail · ‎10-25-2017

jasonvp wrote:
Stuff like Asus Suite and Fan Xpert aren't a concern as I don't use them (and never will, they're garbage IMHO). So I'm less worried about that. The component drivers for the motherboard bits (NICs, etc) will be different, no question. But I'd expect Windows to just complain and say, "I need drivers for those". Which will be easy enough to provide. I'm more worried about the chipset itself; does the OS care enough going from X99 to X299?

I very likely will have to contact MS' support to get the machine re-activated, which I'm also OK with.

So you will already have a driver there, bring the new MB in. Windows is then going to have to guess what to do with those drivers. Even if Windows gets it right and/or you resintall all the MB drivers, there will still be old registry entries, ect, ect ect.

As I said it may work. Windows have come a long way since I last tried that on a motherboard with Win 8.1. Personally I wouldn't recommend it but good luck! Let us know how it goes! 🙂

Panteks Enthoo Elite / Asus x299 Rampage VI Extreme / Intel I9-7900X / Corsair Dominator RGB 3200MHz

MSI GTX 1080 TI / 2x Intel 900p / Samsung 970 Pro 512GB

Samsung 850 PRO 512GB / Western Digital Gold 8TB HD

Corsair AX 1200i / Corsair Platinum K95 / Asus Chakram

Acer XB321HK 4k, IPS, G-sync Monitor / Water Cooled / Asus G571JT Laptop

Chino · ‎10-25-2017

I would definately recommend a clean install. And do so with the latest Windows 10 ISO that already has the FCU.

JustinThyme · ‎10-25-2017

In a single description.....Disaster of epic proportions.

Just bite the bullet and do a clean install. activating is not difficult after the change. You just have to select which machine from the list on your account and select changed hardware, done. Or do it the the lazy way and search bar contact support chat then click on the link and an agent will help you.
or to get to the chat C&P this link into the edge browser

ms-contact-support://IA/?searchkey=Contact%20Microsoft%20Support

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, I'm not sure about the former” ~ Albert Einstein

Aysberg · ‎10-26-2017

With Windows 10 and Window 8(.1), I moved several drives from one system to another. Never had any big problems nor a disaster like some are mentioning here. You will be able to boot, windows will install new drivers or you update them and after a reboot everything is fine.

I would still recommend a fresh install at some date, but it's not mandatory. You will never have a guarantee that everything really works as smooth as possible, but even with a fresh install this is not granted.

mpoffo · ‎10-26-2017

Aysberg wrote:
With Windows 10 and Window 8(.1), I moved several drives from one system to another. Never had any big problems nor a disaster like some are mentioning here. You will be able to boot, windows will install new drivers or you update them and after a reboot everything is fine.

I would still recommend a fresh install at some date, but it's not mandatory. You will never have a guarantee that everything really works as smooth as possible, but even with a fresh install this is not granted.

I have done this at well in the past with success but would recommend a clean install if you can.

Korth · ‎10-26-2017

The Windows Product Key is embedded in firmware (in a dedicated EFI/BIOS partition), each copy of Win8/10 is married to a particular motherboard.

There are ways to associate a Windows Product Key (for some WinOS licenses, anyhow) with a Microsoft account instead, so it becomes platform independent, but it's a one-time option during initial install and most machines are not set up this way.

There are ways to extract or change the stored Windows Product Key so a WinOS license can be transferred to another platform. But Microsoft has deliberately designed things to make "pirating" a WinOS more complicated than simply copying or swapping drives between machines. Part of the deal is that Microsoft sells bulk WinOS licenses to OEMs, so a preinstalled WinOS is invariably meant to work on the machine it was sold with and with no other.

End result is that migrating a WinOS install from one drive to another in the same machine is okay but migrating a WinOS install from one machine to another is restricted. The WinOS itself is easy to download and install anywhere, the drivers/software are easy to download and install anywhere, the problem is the associated Windows Product Key. The technical specifics of how to "pirate" Windows are a common question which has been already answered all over the internet.

"All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others." - Douglas Adams

[/Korth]

jasonvp · ‎10-30-2017

Korth wrote:
The Windows Product Key is embedded in firmware (in a dedicated EFI/BIOS partition), each copy of Win8/10 is married to a particular motherboard.

It's not difficult to call MS up and have the key deactivated so that it can be re-activated on another machine. I've done it numerous times throughout my Windows 8 (and 8.1) ownership in the past; lord knows I've upgraded machines plenty of times during that time.

I'm not trying to "pirate" Windows, so if you're attempting to be righteous, aim it elsewhere.

Thanks.

System specs: click here.

Dumb Idea: Move Existing NVMe Drive Over?