MediaWiki reinstall

If I reinstall MediaWiki, can it be reinstalled using the same table prefixes as the old installation (that will be previously deleted)?

My current MW install is a mess, so I'm thinking about zapping it (keeping the database of course) and reinstalling, assuming that nothing is lost in the database when it's uninstalled. It shares the database with something else (a PHPBB forum, that is), and it has a lot of data already stored for the Wiki so starting a new MW from scratch in a new DB isn't an option.

I just want to know if I delete this version I'm using and reinstall some other clean version if it will work if I use the same table prefixes as before (I must use these or else all the data already stored is useless... unless I copy them later, much more work although a possibility if everything goes wrong) or if there will be a conflict when trying to create the new tables.

Yes. The caveat is that if your database has lots of data from extensions or modifications, it might not work properly without those file changes. I would recommend that you take a look at the migration documentation, and then create a test setup on a separate domain (or directory), and import a dump of the database there with fresh files, to see if it works properly. Keep in mind that you'll have to run /maintenance/update.php if you use files that are a different version than your database.

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