BonzaiDuck
Member
- Local time
- 10:14 PM
- Posts
- 14
- OS
- Windows 11 Pro
I'm hoping there is someone with enough experience who can give me pointers as to how to avoid trouble with my hardware swap.
My system is a Kaby Lake Z170 configuration. It had originally been Win 10/Win-7 dual boot, and with the proper utilities I eliminated Win 7 and it was all "Windows 10 Pro". Then last year we went through the great End-of-10-support/ESU/tedious-Win-11-upgrade difficulties. Win 11 works like a champ on the Kaby Lake, and updated to 25H2 with no trouble or effort.
I have newer hardware -- an i7-11700K CPU and STRIX Z590-E motherboard. I'm getting ready to open Administrator Command and run SYSPREP. Right now I'm preparing the new motherboard with a heatsink, getting it ready to install and hook up in my Kaby computer case.
Now I see a problem with the digital licensing of my OEM Windows, bound as it is to the old hardware. It will definitely present an activation issue once I boot up with the new hardware.
I have a Windows 11 Pro RETAIL in shrink-wrap. Do I need to make an in-place-repair-upgrade install with its USB media, and THEN add/change to the new retail product key to activate? Or can I simply use the RETAIL product key to directly change the old activation key? I am inclined to use the Retail install media AFTER I've made the hardware swap.
Somebody must have particular and specific understanding and expertise so I can avoid getting stuck with this hardware switchover.
The current Win 11 Pro OS on the old hardware has been cleaned and preened -- having done an in-place-repair-upgrade in recent months to eliminate SFC and DISM-detected corruption that could not be fixed without the Windows refresh. I want to keep the program installations and all of the wonderful aspects of my software configurations.
Otherwise I would incline more to a fresh clean installation of Windows leading to the trouble of installing all my old software.
My system is a Kaby Lake Z170 configuration. It had originally been Win 10/Win-7 dual boot, and with the proper utilities I eliminated Win 7 and it was all "Windows 10 Pro". Then last year we went through the great End-of-10-support/ESU/tedious-Win-11-upgrade difficulties. Win 11 works like a champ on the Kaby Lake, and updated to 25H2 with no trouble or effort.
I have newer hardware -- an i7-11700K CPU and STRIX Z590-E motherboard. I'm getting ready to open Administrator Command and run SYSPREP. Right now I'm preparing the new motherboard with a heatsink, getting it ready to install and hook up in my Kaby computer case.
Now I see a problem with the digital licensing of my OEM Windows, bound as it is to the old hardware. It will definitely present an activation issue once I boot up with the new hardware.
I have a Windows 11 Pro RETAIL in shrink-wrap. Do I need to make an in-place-repair-upgrade install with its USB media, and THEN add/change to the new retail product key to activate? Or can I simply use the RETAIL product key to directly change the old activation key? I am inclined to use the Retail install media AFTER I've made the hardware swap.
Somebody must have particular and specific understanding and expertise so I can avoid getting stuck with this hardware switchover.
The current Win 11 Pro OS on the old hardware has been cleaned and preened -- having done an in-place-repair-upgrade in recent months to eliminate SFC and DISM-detected corruption that could not be fixed without the Windows refresh. I want to keep the program installations and all of the wonderful aspects of my software configurations.
Otherwise I would incline more to a fresh clean installation of Windows leading to the trouble of installing all my old software.
- Windows Build/Version
- Currently Win 11 Pro Build 25H2 (with OEM licensing)
My Computer
System One
-
- OS
- Windows 11 Pro
- Computer type
- PC/Desktop
- Manufacturer/Model
- ASUS motherboard Intel CPU
- CPU
- Intel i7-7700K (Kaby Lake)
- Motherboard
- ASUS Sabertooth Z170 S with TPM 2.0 module
- Memory
- G.SKILL DDR4-3200
- Graphics Card(s)
- nVidia GeForce 1070 Mini OC
- Sound Card
- RealTek
- Monitor(s) Displays
- BenQ
- Screen Resolution
- 2560x1440
- Hard Drives
- SK Hynix NVME; Crucial SATA SSD; Seagate 2.5" 5GB
- PSU
- Seasonic Platinum Prime 650W
- Case
- CoolerMaster Stacker 830/832 (2007)
- Cooling
- ThermalRight Le Grand Macho RT
- Keyboard
- Logitech Gaming
- Mouse
- Logitech Gaming
- Internet Speed
- 600 Mbps
- Browser
- Opera -- Edge as needed
- Antivirus
- MalWareBytes + Windows Defender
- Other Info
- Win 11 installed with the registry hack to specify "MoSetup" to circumvent hardware requirement on the CPU. CPU preceded Coffee Lake -- first on the Win 11 eligibles list. We are waiting and hoping for success in manual installation of Feature Update 25H2. If not, we have plans for least expensive hardware swap-out to Comet Lake and Rocket Lake.
At this point, all my desktops use Z170 chipsets and SKY- or KABY-Lake processors.
