I have XP Pro 32bit and ordered the windows 7 64bit Home

jlaavenger

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I have XP Pro 32bit and ordered the windows 7 64bit Home Premium Upgrade. Will I be able to upgrade it or should I cancel the order and order a Windows 7 64bit OEM? I should also mention that when I preordered the Windows 7 Upgrade the plan was to buy a new hard drive, reinstall XP 32 bit Pro on it and then install the Windows 7 64 bit upgrade. Can this not be accomplished?
 
There is no upgrade path from 32-bit to 64-bit... you'll have to do a clean install with the 64-bit media. Yes, you can still use the upgrade disc to do it, so don't cancel your order. There's no point installing XP beforehand, though.
 
You would have to do a clean install even if you had XP 64 bit. XP cannot be upgraded to 7, but your (hopefully legal) XP license qualifies you for a Windows 7 Upgrade edition.

So when 7 arrives, format and install straight away. As Zoron said, there's no point in installing XP first.
 

jlaavenger

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Actually I'm really confused now. My plan was to do the clean Vista Install of my Vista Ultimate 64 on two velociraptors in Raid 0, and upgrade to Windows 7 64 Home Premium when it came in from BB. But I was just reading at Paul Thurrott's Supersite that you cannot upgrade from a higher version (Vista Ultimate) to a lower version. (7 Home Premium) So now what do I do? Also would I even be able to do a clean install of Vista Ultimate 64 since I'd did it with the 32 bit version shortly after Vista first came out? Install the same Vista again only the 64 version on a new hard drive? I'm thinking surely I can because drives fail right? I didn't see it mentioned but will Window 7 Upgrade do a clean install like Vista did?
 

howardp6

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If you have Windows XP 32 bit you have to do a clean install of Vista Ultimate 64 bit ugrade . You have to have the Windows 32 bit version on the one of the drives so the Vista Ultimate can verify that you are entitled to the upgrade. If you have the full version of Vista Ultimate you can do a clean install of it and do a clean install of Windows 7. You can only go from Vista Utimate to Windows 7 Ultimate. The Vista Ultimate allowed you to install the lesser versions, so that may be your path.
 

jlaavenger

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Reading more on Paul Thurrott's Supersite if I can't upgrade Vista Ultimate to Windows 7 without having to buy the Windows 7 Ultimate upgrade version, then it would be cheaper to just buy the Windows 7 Home Premium OEM version? Saveing $100? I'm mean from what I've read Home Premium is all most people would need, whereas Vista Ultimate offered a few need features and effects like Dreamscene.
Any advice?
 

jlaavenger

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Actually you don't need the full version of Vista Ultimate, but I'm unclear how many time you can use the upgrade version.

 

howardp6

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If you get blocked on the activation on the same machine on the upgrade version, you should be able to call Microsoft and get a new product key if you verify it is a re-installation due to hardware update or failure.
 

JessicaD

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Jlaavenger,

Microsoft does have an official Windows 7 Support Forum located here http://tinyurl.com/9fhdl5 . It is supported by product specialists as well as engineers and support teams. You may want to check the threads available there for addtiional support and feedback.

Jessica
Microsoft Windows Client Team
 

jedimasterben

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WTF are you smoking? If you would have opened it, you would realize that it is an official Microsoft site, not a phishing page.