Installed Win7 Ultimate 32 over 64Bit Vista- I need 64bit Win7

[Netqueen]

Yes I made big mistake and installed a 32 bit Windows 7 over my 64 bit Vista. So now I am losing my extra 2-3 gigs of Ram due to 32 bit will only acknowledge up to 4 gigs of Memory? I need to reinstall the 64 bit version of Windows 7. My system is working but I am not getting it's full capacity so I should correct this mistake?

1, Will I need to do a clean install? Meaning completely reformat my hard drive and start new?

2. Can I do this with my upgrade? (I hope I don't have to purchase a full version to correct this mistake)

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Thanks!

 

[Jonmor68]

Yes you will need a clean install, don't format the drive. Boot in using the W7 dvd, select custom instalation, install Windows 64 bit on the 32 bit partition.
Windows will put all files into a folder Windows.old which you can later delete.
Use the Windows 7 Easy Transfer Wizard to save files and settings before you start.
Yes you can use the upgrade disk to perform the clean install, because you have an OS on your drive, that's why you don't format the drive, but allow Windows to do the cleanup.
You will need to reinstall all your programs and download any updates for W7, when finished, restore files and settings from the Windows ETW backup.