Just a quick windows question

[Lunarhawk]

I have the windows 7 upgrade disc so if I got a new desktop I hear I won't be able to do a fresh install from that, I'd have to put vista on first and then "upgrade" it. I'm fine with this but the vista disc I have is 32 bit while I would prefer to use 64 bit (which the upgrade disc has the option of) so my question is:
If I have a 32 bit of vista can I upgrade it to 64 bit 7 or would I be stuck with 32 bit 7?

[sruon]

You can do a clean install from an upgrade disk.

Install Windows 7 from the CD
Make sure internet is OFF and make sure it doesn't update
Go into the registry: Start > Execute > regedit
Go to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE/
Switch MediaBootInstall from 1 to 0
Close regedit
Start > cmd > Right click on it > Start as admin
Type "slmgr /rearm" and confirm
Reboot and activate your windows 7

Not sure if it still works or it got nerfed but worth a try

[Lunarhawk]

Are you saying that's what I would need to do if I wanted to skip installing vista first to get the upgrade disc's key to work? Because I really don't mind doing vista first as long as it doesn't limit me to 32 bit since that's the version of vista I have (which was my actual question)

[sruon]

Yes, and no idea sorry.

[Lunarhawk]

Well thanks for the info anyway. I might end up doing that then if the vista would in fact limit me to 32. your post should actually help a friend of mine though who is in that situation now - he was planning to call microsoft to try to get them to give him a working 7 key for a clean install on the upgrade disc on monday.

[Balthasar]

It won't allow you to "upgrade" the way you're thinking from vista 32bit, to Windows 7 64bit.

Also, I believe you can do a clean install with an "upgrade" disc if you just manually format your hard drive in the installer first.

[Lunarhawk]

What do you mean it wont allow me to "upgrade"
Are you saying I'd only be allowed to go from vista 32 to 7 32?
Cause I know for a fact I can go from vista 64 to 7 64 at the least

[Balthasar]

What do you mean it wont allow me to "upgrade"
Are you saying I'd only be allowed to go from vista 32 to 7 32?
Cause I know for a fact I can go from vista 64 to 7 64 at the least

By upgrade, I mean you can't just pop in the disc and push the upgrade button. If you were going vista 32 to 7 32 or vista 64 to 7 64, then you would simply be able to push the upgrade button. Doing vista 32 to 7 64 would be like trying to put a square block in a round hole (i'm guessing b/c the architecture is different enough that it's not possible. It's not like it's a marketing scheme or something along those lines). But clean installs are better anyways.

So yes. You definitely can do vista 64 --> 7 64 with the "upgrade" disc. But you can also do nothing --> 7 64 with the "upgrade" disc. Just not vista 32 --> 7 64.

[Zeith]

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...sked-questions

Microsoft via Google says no dice, other sites say it's possible. What this means at the least is that if you've got problems with your installation, you're relying on community goodwill for support, but if you're already posting in Tech, you've figured that part out.

[Zeith]

Though perhaps a little clarification is in order. What I read from Microsoft's literature is that there's no legal issue with upgrading from a 32-bit installation to a 64-bit version, but you'll have to do a clean install of the latter. Since you're upgrading from Vista, this is likely not a problem, but something to keep in mind. All the data on your 32-bit installation will be lost, so hold off on installing any applications or loading any personal data until you've installed 7.

Another due-diligence type investigation, check out the following:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/com...s/default.aspx
and look up all your hardware. Make sure that under the green check mark for compatibility, it also says "64-bit", because nothing sucks quite like finding out there're no 64-bit drivers for your video card.

[Lunarhawk]

I uh guess I didn't clarify: This would be on a brand new desktop. The only reason I would even be putting vista on in the first place is because all I have is the upgrade disc for 7 and normally the key for that will not let you activate windows unless it is installed over a previous version. There would be nothing to "back up"

[Greatguardian]

It's not going to be possible for you to install Vista 32-bit and then Upgrade to 7 64-bit, the architecture is incompatible. You'd have to reformat your hard drive and install Windows 7 64-bit from scratch, which means you really aren't going to need that Vista disk at all.

However, since you already don't seem to mind the time sink that is installing two OS's, I'd like to suggest an alternative to the Registry fix. I've only had upgrade disks for my PCs, but what works (and this is amazing) is you can Install Windows 7 x64 onto your brand new hard drive, and uncheck the box that says "Activate Online right away" or something along those lines when it asks you for the product key. This way, you should not have to enter the product key at all during the first installation. This is required because your Upgrade Disk's Key simply will not work on a fresh installation.

However, once this is done, and you are able to get into windows, run the Windows 7 CD *again* from the OS itself and tell it to do an Upgrade to Windows 7. This installation will take significantly longer, because it will copy over your registry and your My Documents etc, even if they're completely empty, but after it's run go ahead and enter your real Product Key when prompted and it will accept it. Overall, your upgrade path would be Windows 7 x64 > Windows 7 x64.

It works for me, and has never run into any sort of activation legitimacy issues from MS update. Best of luck.

[Lunarhawk]

I might just do that then Greatguardian. I don't mind wasting a lot of time if it works. Thanks for the info.