Upgrade from vista 32 bit to vista 64 bit

Hi, I have home premium 32 bit upgrade version, I have not installed it yet.
If I were to upgrade my windows xp using this 32 bit upgrade. Then at a later
date could I install the 64 bit version? I do have 64 bit cpu. If i can not
simply upgrade it, then how do you go about a fresh install, as It would be
the 64 bit upgrade version, so surly I woudl have to re install windows xp?
then install teh 64 bit upgrade version. As surly you cant just use teh 64
bit upgrade to install from scratch. thanks

 

You can always switch from 32-bit to 64-bit, but in order to do this you will
have to do a freash installed (better bring out your XP CD and follow the
steps below).

First and foremost, you cannot simply put in the 64-bit version of the CD
with windows running and expect to be able to upgrade it just like that
because you will get a message that will state that the version you put in
doesn't match the the bit version of what you're using. Good thing about
todays computers is that you could boot to CDs (refer to your computer's
manual or motherboard's manual for information on how to boot to CDs, this
could normally be done by editing your bios and changeing the boot order
options or you could press (for me) F8 during POST to select where you'd like
to boot from. Once again, refer to your user manual).

Ok, now for the steps.

1) Put in the Windows Vista 64-bit CD into the CD-ROM drive and restart your
computer
2) Boot to the CD (refer to your user manual to find out how)
3) Follow the prompts and put in your Windows XP CD when asked (now, I've
installed Vista to another drive allowing me to dual boot so it never asked
me for mine so I'm not sure when it'll ask for your Windows XP CD but I'm
sure it'll ask for it after you put in your CD Key Code).
4) Put back in the Vista 64-bit CD when asked to finish installtion.

If you have any questions, don't be afread to ask =)

 

I believe a previous XP install is necessary to "upgrade," you no longer
have the option of just providing the media.

- Aaron

 

I don't think Microsoft will go as far as to forcing you to reinstall XP to
install Vista Upgrade again.

Nirok, just try the steps I've told you in my last post and if it won't
install because it doesn't find a previous version installed, then go ahead
and reinstall XP then move on to Vista.

 

Aaron is correct. It will not ask for an XP cd.

 

Nirok:
Inserting the XP cd during installation no longer works with Vista.
There is no direct upgrade path from a 32-bit operating system to a 64-bit
operating system, only a custom installation is possible.
Since you haven't installed Vista Home Premium yet there are things
to know first. The first thing to do is back-up all your files, music,
videos and important documents to a separate hard drive, CD or DVD media.
You can't perform an in-place direct upgrade from XP Professional to VHP x86
because there are some features in XP Pro that aren't in VHP, an upgrade
installation would work from XP Home. If upgrading from XP Home, run the
upgrade advisor, uninstall all anti-virus, spyware and firewall programs,
uninstall Nero, WinDVD, PowerDVD and any conflicts listed by the upgrade
advisor then perform the upgrade. If upgrading from XP Professional a custom
(clean) installation would be required, the XP installation will be rolled
into a Windows.old folder. After VHP is installed you need to reinstall all
necessary programs, then your saved data can be reinstalled from your
back-up or from the Windows.old folder. The Windows.old folder can be
deleted after you're done. The custom installation from XP Home would be the
same as from XP Professional.
When you decide to upgrade to VHP x64, booting from the x64 DVD from
a running VHP x86 system would allow a custom installation. With VHP x64 you
can also boot from the x64 DVD to perform a custom installation as long as a
qualifying operating system is installed and activated. Have a great day.

 

How would I go about making this switch if my purchase was a downloadable copy?

 

Jonas:
I don't have an answer to that question. I'm currently not running
any retail versions. It would probably help you more by creating a new post
with the same question. Have a great day.