Questions with hardware upgrades

[Guest]

I currently run a triple-boot with XP, Vista, and Ubuntu. This is on my
computer with the ni8 sli motherboard and a Celeron D processor.

Both of those pieces of hardware are a serious restraint to my computer's
power/speed. As such, I'm replacing both of them, probably sometime this
weekend, if the new motherboard gets here in time.

I know for XP, I just need to use the installation disk and use it to repair
the XP installation, so it will find the new drivers for the hardware. (I
read somewhere that it also might need to be reactivated, but that shouldn't
be a problem)

What about Vista? Will the install DVD work as a rescue disk? How difficult
is it to get it working and activated? Would it be better for me to just
reinstall everything? I don't really have anything crucial on my hard drive,
so it could be better to just do a clean install. If I do that, how do I
inform Microsoft that I am no longer using that license?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

Unless the hardware is fairly similar, it's gonna be a clean install to a
new folder. Unlike XP, there is no repair install function due to the way
Vista sets up (laying down a block by block image rather than simple file
overwrites). While you don't need to format (setup will simply move the
existing installation into a windows.old folder), you will need to reinstall
programs from their original installation media.

As to the license, you will need to simply phone in the activation and hold
the line for a real person to assist with activation of the new
installation.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com