Hi, I have win 7 on an old machine for which I need to replace motherboard and processor. I am wondering whether I can restore the backup image done with win 7 once I replace the motherboard. Thanks inadvance

It does not specificly list Win 7 but it does vista. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/249694 Over the life cycle of a Microsoft Windows operating system, you may have to restore a system state backup that is installed on one computer to the same physical computer or even to a different physical computer. Recovery from the following events may require a restore operation: hardware failure software failure computer theft natural disaster user error You can restore a system state backup from one physical computer to the same physical computer or another computer that has the same make, model, and configuration (identical hardware). Microsoft does not support restoring a system state backup from one computer to a second computer of a different make, model, or hardware configuration. Microsoft will only provide commercially reasonable efforts to support this process. Even if the source and destination computers seem to be identical makes and models, there may be driver, hardware, or firmware differences between the source and destination computers. Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista To restore Windows Server 2008-based computers and Windows Vista-based computers, the preferred method is a full system restore. Specifically, without using ASR, you can perform a Bare Metal Restore (BMR) to freshly formatted boot volumes and system volumes on same server that the original backup was taken from. In this case, the volumes layouts and identifiers are identical to those used during the backup of the original computer. Additionally, you can perform a BMR that uses ASR to a computer that has different hardware to the original computer. Note BMRs may be performed only when the system is offline. If you try to restore a full system state to different hardware, we guarantee only that the system starts. At a minimum, the storage driver will have to be available in the restored operating system. Possible recovery scenarios Server unbootable/Server-migration scenario (planned and unplanned) In this scenario, you can protect the server by performing BMR backup of all critical volumes on the server. You would then recover server by performing a BMR recover through Windows Recovery. In this scenario, BMR is supported to different hardware. Server malfunction scenario (bootable) or roll back of server roles In this scenario, you can protect the server by performing a System State Backup or by performing a BMR backup. You would then recover the server by performing a System State Recovery from the started operating system. System State Recovery after a new installation of Windows Server 2008 on new hardware or same hardware This kind of recovery is not supported. Windows Server Backup does not block recovery on a newly-installed operating system. Instead, it warns that this operation is not supported. This feature is used only as a last-ditch support effort to reclaim data from a failed server and is not a supported backup feature System State Recover is only supported on the same operating system instance. It is not supported on a reinstalled operating system on the same or different hardware. The following table outlines supported and unsupported system recovery scenarios. Collapse this tableExpand this table Scenario Supported System State Recovery to the same instance of Windows Server 2008 Yes System State Recovery after BMR / Full Server restore to the same hardware Yes System State Recovery after BMR / Full Server restore to different hardware No System State Recovery after Full Server restore (without BMR) to the same or different hardware No System State Recovery after a new installation of Windows Server 2008 on new hardware or same hardware No

I just zip up my files into a large archive and when I upgrade motherboards I can unzip them quickly into a fresh install. I have retail Windows 7 so I can upgrade motherbooards each year if I want. Vote if answered or helpful, I am running for Office (joke)! IT/Developer, Windows/Linux/Mainframe Need a some parts finish the new server, see the site for remaining items needed

Thanks for your responses. Vegan, by files , which files you mean, the whole C drive, or just winbdows directory or.... Thanks

I backup documents, favorites etc. Not the whole disk. I have DVDs to reinstall everything if the machine croaks Vote if answered or helpful, I am running for Office (joke)! IT/Developer, Windows/Linux/Mainframe Need a some parts finish the new server, see the site for remaining items needed

If you change both motherboard and CPU maybe you need to reinstall the system. Please see the following thread. Restore a Windows 7 backup image If hardware is changed you cannot simply restore the image backup.Arthur Xie - MSFT

This is what I did, reinstalled everything and then restored my backed up data. I opened this thread to see if it is possible or options exists of not doing so. What is astonishing me, MS in several presentations or webcasts around backup and rstore in win7, insists on the fact that a win 7 image can be restored even to a new laptop. Please go to Win-7 how-to on MS site and you will here or read this. So if we can restore a win 7 to a new laptop which has different hardware, why it is not possible to do it on a desktop. Thanks for you all