Vista 32 bit to Win 7 64 bit...

marcellis22

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Oct 20, 2008
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I preordered Win7 Professional 64 bit back in July, 2009...Thought I had ordered the full version, received the update, and having XP I needed to do a full reinstall which I attempted, but it wouldn't activate. I used my wife's Dell Vista Home re-install disk to put the 32 bit system on a new hard drive, then upgraded the Vista install to Win7 64bit with no problems, it did create a folder called Windows000 for the old settings, which can be deleted.

I figured while I was doing this, I should get the "Configuring Windows 7 Training Kit" book and pass the MCTS 70-680 exam. It states in the book, "You can't upgrade from Vista 32 bit to Win 7 64 bit". I did and you can... Has anyone else out there tried this?

I did submit an error/change to Microsoft, but I'll never hear back from Bill...
 
Solution
The "Upgrade" refers to the License only. A 32 OS cannot be "upgraded" to a 64 bit OS in technical sense. Hence, the completely new install of the 64 bit software, and all your old stuff was saved to a folder. If it had been a traditional upgrade, all or your programs, files and settings would still be in place with the new OS, just as you had them under the old OS. You notice you do not have anything at all under the new 64 bit installation, everything is gone.....you will have to reinstall everything you had.

aylafan

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Feb 24, 2006
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The "Configuring Windows 7 Training Kit" book is correct. You did not do an upgrade from Windows Vista 32bit to Windows 7 64bit (that is impossible because you can only upgrade a Windows OS from 32bit to 32bit and 64bit to 64bit). You did a "custom install" which is the same thing as a clean install. Windows 7 gave you the option to backup some files from your previous OS (Windows Vista 32bit) and created a folder called Windows.old
 
The "Upgrade" refers to the License only. A 32 OS cannot be "upgraded" to a 64 bit OS in technical sense. Hence, the completely new install of the 64 bit software, and all your old stuff was saved to a folder. If it had been a traditional upgrade, all or your programs, files and settings would still be in place with the new OS, just as you had them under the old OS. You notice you do not have anything at all under the new 64 bit installation, everything is gone.....you will have to reinstall everything you had.
 
Solution