You can also head to Nvidia, AMD, or Intel's website for graphics drivers, though Windows installed the non-generic versions for me without my intervention.įinally, if you want to keep things clean, you can uninstall the old drivers left on your system by searching for 'Add or Remove Programs' from the Start menu. If you built the computer, go to the motherboard manufacturer's website instead. To be safe, I recommend heading to your PC manufacturer's website and downloading the chipset, audio, and other drivers yourself. You may also find you need to download some drivers manually, if Windows doesn't do so on its own or downloads generic drivers instead of manufacturer-supplied ones. You may notice some flickering as it downloads the display drivers, so give it some time to go through its process. Windows will likely install a lot of the necessary drivers for you, especially once you connect your new PC to the internet. This may all vary from PC to PC, and you never know what driver conflicts or performance issues may lay underneath the surface of a seemingly fine setup.Īll told, I would still recommend doing a clean install if you're migrating permanently to a new machine, but if you need something quick and dirty-like if your old PC dies and you need to access some data from your old installation-this should work well enough. But that's not to say you won't run into any problems. Windows Update was even able to download new patches. I moved my drive from an AMD-based machine to an Intel/Nvidia machine with barely a hiccup. You'll have to do a few things yourself, but overall, it should work.

When you throw an existing Windows installation at a new PC, it'll perform its first-time setup as if it were a new computer, grab drivers for your new hardware, and hopefully drop you onto the desktop without much trouble. It's technically possible, though it comes with some caveats. Since Windows 10, the OS is much better about handling these conflicts. You were almost always better off doing a clean install. Microsoft's sysprep (Opens in a new window) tool could sometimes help, but it wasn't really meant for this purpose, and it had its own issues. Windows 7 introduced driver conflicts that resulted in a blue screen as soon as the computer booted. Wouldn't it be easier if you could just pop your old hard drive into the new PC and pick up where you left off?

How to Set Up Two-Factor Authenticationīuying a new computer can be fun, until you have to slog through migrating all your old apps, preferences, and files.

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How to get windows on a new pc