Need some advise on the process needed to swap motherboards.
I have a Windows Vista Ultimate machine on a AMD X2 3800+ motherboard. It only has AGP, so I want to get to a PCIe mobo. The installation was a clean Vista BUSINESS edition back in February. Then, I decided to splurge and I used the Windows ANYTIME UPGRADE to upgrade to a ULTIMATE edition.
So now I want to swap the whole motherboard to an Intel e6420 mobo, and I don't don't where to start, and ultimately how happy Windows will be when it detects the massive hardware swap.
I am guessing I shut the system down, boot from the ANYTIME UPGRADE CD, and then tell it to do some kind of repair thing. Will it ask license? How can I use the license for Ultimate that I paid for?
Suggestions?

Hi Mark
I don't think you have to spend much time worrying about the activation aspects of this MOBO swap. Just make sure that you get your new mobo in carefully and get set to enjoy it. You may well get an activation speed bump but not to worry, because if you do either call the number that is in the wizard, or if one is not provided to you, then call MSFT and have them transfer you to "Activation" and if your PK won't work, they can generate a new valid PK for you.
If you need to call them and a wizard doesn't give you a number, for US/Canada, use
(800) 936-5700
In another country use the contact number at the bottom of the page at support.microsoft.com or
https://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?ln=en-us&prid=10299&gprid=436975
Good luck,
CH

markharris2000 comcast.net wrote:

I did the same thing about six weeks ago. Put the new board in, connected the hardware, and then booted it up. Vista chugged around for about three minutes until it sorted itself out. Had to phone in to re-activate it and everything has been fine since. I figured it was worth a try instead of screwing around with re-installing or running Vista repair, and in the end was pleasantly surprised.

Activation issue seems like it will be fine, but I still want to be sure how I boot this thing after the hardware swap. I am going from a old AMD mobo with Nvidia chipset to an Intel Mobo with intel chipset. I am pretty sure I'll need to boot from a CDROM since the hardware support files are significantly different. Will the ANYTIME UPGRADE universal CDROM boot and then offer me the choice to 'Upgrade" so that my system files now work on the INTEL mobo? Also, will I loose my ULTIMATE ANYTIME upgrade?
(Should I somehow find the license code for Ultimate before I swap the hardware? I purchased it online at microsoft.com so I don't actually have a written Ultimate license. It is in my Digital Locker at Microsoft, whatever that is...)
On Apr 28, 6:35 pm, "Chad Harris" <vistaneedsmuchowork.net> wrote:

I did this and now have a non booting computer that cannot even get into safe mode. WARNING: regardless of what is claimed on this newsgroup Vista has no method of reinstalling the OS via an in place upgrade without a working OS like XP does. You will have to reinstall from scratch in this case as I will have to. I guess you have a 50/50 chance of it working anyway.
On Apr 28, 3:45 pm, markharris2... comcast.net wrote: