MoBo/CPU Upgrade Question

[Sorphius]

I'm going to be replacing my old Sandy Bridge cpu and z68 MoBo with a z97 and i7-4790k. Will I need to do anything special to re-activate my copy of Windows 8.1 OEM if I'm keeping the rest of the hardware (drives, etc) intact?

[skitszo]

i was just reading about this.....apparently the only license that is transferable to a new motherboard is if you have a boxed OEM disk.
don't know if there is any tricks of the trade on that. windows 8 is a bit more annoying then just having a license and reinstalling.

[Sorphius]

Well since I built the computer myself, I have the OEM disk and key. So it's not as though I picked up a random machine with an HP restoration disc off the shelf at Best Buy. I'm just trying to figure out definitively whether there will be any hurdles to jump over and I'm seeing about 15 different answers, none of which are in agreement.

[chazus]

You'll need to reinstall windows, using the current key you have.

[Jakexe]

Worst case scenario is you'll have to contact MS support and get a code from them. Just say your motherboard died and you had to manually replace it, worked for me the one time windows didn't just install like normal.

[Sorphius]

Alright, that's easy enough then. And I presume all my data will remain intact?

[chazus]

No, your data really wont remain intact. You SHOULD wipe the drive (after backing up files), reinstall windows, reinstall programs/games, and move on.

I highly, highly, highly do not recommend installing over the old install.

[skitszo]

Yes...you want to back up your data.

1) download "Belarc" and run that to get any program license information for programs you've paid for and want to tranfer. do a save of the belarc report and tranfer that to your back up. or manually write the license info down.

2) get a flash drive and tranfer data; or an external hard drive; or install the hard drive in a second computer and tranfer data. If you use a second computer to transfer data you will most likely need to transfer security ownership to get into your user profile where all your desktop and my computer stuff most likely will be. ask again if thats what your gonna do and i'm sure someone will link something or explain it for you. I'm being lazy.

3) when doing a new install delete all the partitions until it says one line about unallocated then you should be good to go. if it makes you format the drive just do a quick format.

4) with windows 8 you will need microsoft account registration and it usually forces you to make a password which i find highly annoying. lol