Keep existing "Secure Boot" Windows10-installation on new Motherboard?

Is it possible to keep an existing Windows 10-installation (where Secure Boot is already Enabled)
on a new Motherboard, CPU & RAM, by simply taking the boot-drive from the old system?

And at the same time, have Secure Boot work properly on the new hardware?


I am upgrading "System One" under my "My Computers" with a new Motherboard, CPU & RAM.

And i would like to just keep my existing installation of Windows 10, as is (without re-installing).
(i basically want to try and move the Boot-drive from one machine, to another).


The new parts that i ordered are:

Motherboard: Gigabyte X570S Aorus Master
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X
RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro DDR4 3600 MHz (CMW32GX4M4C3600C18)


I worry that perhaps Secure Boot will cause issues, and refuse to boot on the new Hardware.

In general it's usually possible to transfer a system disk from one PC to another - easily if both are UEFI for example - and Windows will reconfigure itself.

However, before making such a transfer, ensure you have full image or clone of your system disk.

As to Secure Boot, consider what's stored by your firmware/ your TPM chip:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/win...em-secure-boot

The OEM can use instructions from the firmware manufacturer to create Secure boot keys and to store them in the PC firmware. When you add UEFI drivers, you'll also need to make sure these are signed and included in the Secure Boot database.

I'm sure someone who's actually dealt with this situation will comment further.

My current motherboard does not have any TPM on it (only Secure Boot, and it's Enabled)
so i'm not sure if anything is really stored on my old Motherboard.

Both Motherboards are UEFI capable (and CSM is turned off on both).

SuperConker said:

Is it possible to keep an existing Windows 10-installation (where Secure Boot is already Enabled)
on a new Motherboard, CPU & RAM, by simply taking the boot-drive from the old system?

And at the same time, have Secure Boot work properly on the new hardware?





I am upgrading "System One" under my "My Computers" with a new Motherboard, CPU & RAM.

And i would like to just keep my existing installation of Windows 10, as is (without re-installing).
(i basically want to try and move the Boot-drive from one machine, to another).


The new parts that i ordered are:

Motherboard: Gigabyte X570S Aorus Master
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X
RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro DDR4 3600 MHz (CMW32GX4M4C3600C18)


I worry that perhaps Secure Boot will cause issues, and refuse to boot on the new Hardware.

Secure boot is part of the pc bios and not related to hard drive. Windows 10 will boot with or without secure boot enabled.

Your bigger issue is if you can boot on new cpu e.g. it could be missing drivers. Windows 10 is pretty good at sorting drivers but not perfect.

Personally, I would do a clean install on new mobo first, then backup drivers to an external drive, so when put original drive in, you have access to drivers you may need.

The other key issue is if it will activate. Activation is related to mobo id.

If you have a retail W10 key, it is easy enough to reactivate.

If not, you should login on old mobo with MS account and make sure digital licence is linked to MS account. Then you can login with same MS account and use activation troubleshooter to try and transfer digital licence to new mobo. Note: this is often hit or miss.

@SuperConker

As @NavyLCDR says...

Perform a test to answer your own question.
Make a full OS image backup of the old drive.
Then go into the BIOS and disable Secure Boot.
Then try to boot the computer.

If you can or can't boot... at least you will KNOW the answer.

And as @cereberus says... you should probably be more concerned about whether it will activate or not.
And about the driver situation.

cereberus said:

Secure boot is part of the pc bios and not related to hard drive. Windows 10 will boot with or without secure boot enabled.

Your bigger issue is if you can boot on new cpu e.g. it could be missing drivers. Windows 10 is pretty good at sorting drivers but not perfect.

Personally, I would do a clean install on new mobo first, then backup drivers to an external drive, so when put original drive in, you have access to drivers you may need.

The other key issue is if it will activate. Activation is related to mobo id.

If you have a retail W10 key, it is easy enough to reactivate.

If not, you should login on old mobo with MS account and make sure digital licence is linked to MS account. Then you can login with same MS account and use activation troubleshooter to try and transfer digital licence to new mobo. Note: this is often hit or miss.

I am not really too worried about the drivers as i have a folder on the Desktop (on the drive i want to move)
with all the drivers for the new Motherboard in it, like the Chipset/Lan/WiFi-drivers etc.

The copy of Windows 10 i have is a full Retail copy (the specific version is: FQC-08788)
so it should be easy to activate on the new Motherboard.

NavyLCDR said:

If you are concerned about secure boot interfering with the move of the OS, why not just turn it off on the old computer before moving the drive?

I will try this (and also make a backup/image of the drive with Acronis TrueImage first).


The only concern i have is if i Disable Secure Boot on my old system, and then take the drive out...

Would it be possible to just enter the Bios on the new motherboard and enable Secure Boot,
and have the drive boot without any issues?

SuperConker said:

Would it be possible to just enter the Bios on the new motherboard and enable Secure Boot,
and have the drive boot without any issues?

If you have a backup...you're covered either way.

Alright.

It would seem i was worried about nothing lol (at-least when it comes to Secure Boot and Drivers).


After installing the Boot-drive (from my old CPU/Motherboard/Ram) into the new System,
Windows 10 just started right up like normal.

(Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 was enabled before booting the drive).


Windows 10 installed some new Devices, and had to reboot once (before getting to the Desktop).

After that everything Driver-wise was working correctly (no question-marks in Device Manager).

All i really had to do was to install AMD's Chipset Drivers and reboot one more time,
and now everything works.


The only hiccup i got is with Activation.

I did not really expect any issues with Activation, since it is a Retail copy of Windows 10
(and i am also logged in using a Microsoft account).









Edit: Looks like i just had to wait a little (perhaps Microsoft's servers were actually down for a little bit):








So it all worked out in the end it would seem.

- - - Updated - - -

I speak too soon...

For whatever reason, Secure Boot is not working as it should.

It was Enabled in the Bios (before booting for the first time) but it's still not Active for some reason:





Is there something else that needs to be activated, to make Secure Boot work again?