The usual method is to uninstall as many device drivers from the device manager before shutting down and removing the old board. Then install the new board and reboot. Windows will reconfigure the new devices, and ask for the new motherboard device drivers using the driver cd that comes with the board. Vista may not need it. It has 14 gb worth of drivers for many newer boards. Windows xp also has a repair option, but I've never tried it. Please read the previous post below: "prescribed procedures for replacing motherboard".