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Can vista be upgraded from 32 bit to 64 bit windows 7

Forum Windows 7 : Windows 7 General Discussion - Can vista be upgraded from 32 bit to 64 bit windows 7

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pdillon   11-14-2009 at 10:37:39 PM

Is it possible to upgrade my 32 bit Win vista to 64 bit Win 7 without re-formatting?

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buwish   11-14-2009 at 10:40:48 PM

I don't believe you can. It will make you do a custom install, which in turn forces you to wipe the HDD. Back up your HDD, i.e. maybe an image file or simply files you find important and install.

------------------------------ -Kevin
Desktop: Q9400(stock,lapped,SpinTechQ)/Intel DP43TF/VTEK 4850(512)/8GB DDR2 800Mhz/X-Fi Titanium Pro/Liteon BD-ROM/Velociraptor/Windows 7 Pro 64-bit
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Silver Win 7 badge The_Prophecy   11-15-2009 at 12:14:36 AM

There is no way to upgrade from 32 to 64 bit Windows. You will have to back up your data, wipe the drive out and do a clean install.

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Bronze Win 7 badge sminlal   11-15-2009 at 12:35:15 AM

You can buy an "Upgrade" copy of Windows 7, it will give you a valid activated 64-bit Win7 license based on the fact that you already have an activated copy of 32-bit Vista. But as the other posters have mentioned you'll have to use the upgrade disc to do a clean install, and when you're done you'll have to re-install all your software.


Message edited by sminlal on 11-15-2009 at 12:35:40 AM
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PsyKhiqZero   11-15-2009 at 01:16:35 AM

What essentially happens is a clean isntall. However all yoru old vista 32 bit files will be moved to a folder called windows.old. You should have no problem moving your files from that folder to more approriate ones. However as others have stated, you'll have to reinstall all your old programs.

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