I recently acquired a new MoBo, CPU, and RAM kit to upgrade my platform for the first time in just about a decade. What I failed to consider until now is the near requirement of a clean Windows install after the upgrade.

I want to retain as much of my personal files, installed software, Windows and Explorer settings, etc. as humanly possible after the reinstall, WITHOUT retaining any files/drivers that could possibly cause performance loss and/or conflicts. I also use Classic Shell, if that matters.

On Windows 10 Home x64, and my current C: drive is a 1TB SSD, and I plan on backing it up to a 4TB HDD I bought for data hording. GPU and other PCIe cards will remain the same, along with a stack of storage HDDs with various media files and installed software/games.

  • PsaldornEnglish
    2•5 months ago

    I did this the other day, using same SSD, it worked fine up until login.

    It detected new hardware, asked me to log in, I did, it sent an email verification code… I took too long getting it, my screen locked, then when I unlocked the screen it would their an exception and/or flash up the confirmation box for a millisecond. It wasn’t hidden it anything, just give and I couldn’t proceed.

    Then I tried making a win 11 boot disk on another machine, protip: if the c: drive fills up while you do this (because it only downloads to c and you don’t get to choose) then it will crash the app but leave a mostly functional boot usb. No messages.

    After 4 attempts I made a win 10 boot, which worked and then upgraded.

    Suffice to say my levels of Microsoft hatred are at Window Vista era rates.

    I hope your transplant goes a lot smoother