Win 7 Upgrade Advice

[Tatty_Two]

Hi all, a quick question really, I currently have a dual boot OS, one to Win 7 64 Ultimate (Release Candidate) and one to Vista HP 32 bit.

It's time to retail upgrade to windows 7 and single boot, I am just going for Home premium, now I see that there is a Home premium upgrade (cheaper) that can either simply upgrade from vista home premium without having to reformat and lose data or it can do a full re-format and install, but here is the question.........

It has both 32 and 64 bit, I am wondering, on install does it give you the option for 32 or 64 or will it just do 32 automatically as it is upgrading Vista 32 (I want 64), anyone have any idea's?

Thanks!

 

[Phxprovost]

im about 99% sure you cant upgrade a 32bit system to a 64bit system.

 

[Tatty_Two]

im about 99% sure you cant upgrade a 32bit system to a 64bit system.

So basically I would have to completely reformat/reinstall to get the 64 bit rather than just do the upgrade which keeps all data?

 

[mikek75]

Yep, unfortunately so. By the way, Novatech are still doing full retail for £91 instead of £150 odd. No buggering about with Vista first.

This is from the Scan website:

Furthermore, the same applies to 32-bit and 64-bit variants of the software. An in-place upgrade from a 32-bit version of Windows Vista can only be carried out with a 32-bit version of Windows 7. The only way to move from 32-bit to 64-bit is with a clean install.

Speaking of clean installs, the same restrictions apply to Windows Vista as they do to Windows XP. Users making use of a Windows 7 Upgrade edition will be required to have a qualifying Windows operating system installed and activated. And yes, that means you'll need to install and activate a genuine copy of Windows Vista prior to each fresh install of Windows 7 - unless, of course, you purchased a full edition.

 

[driver66]

You CAN upgrade from 32 to 64 not visa versa

 

[mikek75]

Not according to Microsoft themselves:

Can I upgrade from a 32-bit version of Windows to a 64-bit version of Windows?
No. If you are currently running a 32-bit version of Windows, you can only perform an upgrade to another 32-bit version of Windows. Similarly, if you are running a 64-bit version of Windows, you can only perform an upgrade to another 64-bit version of Windows.

If you want to move from a 32-bit version of Windows to a 64-bit version of Windows, you'll need to back up your files and then perform a Custom installation of the 64-bit version of Windows. For more information, see Installing and reinstalling Windows.

 

[trt740]

Keep vista, not a thing wrong with it and save the hassel.

 

[Tatty_Two]

Keep vista, not a thing wrong with it and save the hassel.

Yeah but you have a DX11 card and with Vista, your gonna be waiting for a SP pack to allow you DX11 gaming, thats like holding yer breath underwater for 2 days! I appreciate there isnt much in the way of DX11 enabled games yet and there wont be for a while but if I am to upgrade from my two HD4890's in Xfire which are probably only bettered in DX9/10 by an HD5970 then its going to be for DX11........

 

[trt740]

Yeah but you have a DX11 card and with Vista, your gonna be waiting for a SP pack to allow you DX11 gaming, thats like holding yer breath underwater for 2 days! I appreciate there isnt much in the way of DX11 enabled games yet and there wont be for a while but if I am to upgrade from my two HD4890's in Xfire which are probably only bettered in DX9/10 by an HD5970 then its going to be for DX11........

Nope according to my dx directory, direct X11 is enabled( and used in Dirt2, Ultra setting are only for DX11, or so I'm told, and I have Ultra settings enabled.). It has already been enabled by a patch in Vista 64.

here is the history of DirectX and windows updates

DirectX version Version number Operating system Date released
DirectX 1.0 4.02.0095 September 30, 1995
DirectX 2.0 Was shipped only with a few 3rd party applications 1996
DirectX 2.0a 4.03.00.1096 Windows 95 OSR2 and NT 4.0 June 5, 1996
DirectX 3.0 4.04.00.0068 September 15, 1996
4.04.00.0069 Later package of DirectX 3.0 included Direct3D 4.04.00.0069 1996
DirectX 3.0a 4.04.00.0070 Windows NT 4.0 SP3 (and above)
last supported version of DirectX for Windows NT 4.0 December 1996
DirectX 3.0b 4.04.00.0070 This was a very minor update to 3.0a that fixed a cosmetic problem with the Japanese version of Windows 95 December 1996
DirectX 4.0 Never launched
DirectX 5.0 4.05.00.0155 (RC55) Available as a beta for Windows NT 5.0 that would install on Windows NT 4.0 July 16, 1997
DirectX 5.2 4.05.01.1600 (RC00) DirectX 5.2 release for Windows 95 May 5, 1998
4.05.01.1998 (RC0) Windows 98 exclusive June 25, 1998
DirectX 6.0 4.06.00.0318 (RC3) Windows CE as implemented on Dreamcast August 7, 1998
DirectX 6.1 4.06.02.0436 (RC0) February 3, 1999
DirectX 6.1a 4.06.03.0518 (RC0) Windows 98 SE exclusive May 5, 1999
DirectX 7.0 4.07.00.0700 (RC1) September 22, 1999
4.07.00.0700 Windows 2000 February 17, 2000
DirectX 7.0a 4.07.00.0716 (RC0) March 8, 2000
4.07.00.0716 (RC1) 2000
DirectX 7.1 4.07.01.3000 (RC1) Windows Me exclusive September 14, 2000
DirectX 8.0 4.08.00.0400 (RC10) November 12, 2000
DirectX 8.0a 4.08.00.0400 (RC14) Last supported version for Windows 95 February 5, 2001
DirectX 8.1 4.08.01.0810 Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Xbox exclusive October 25, 2001
4.08.01.0881 (RC7) This version is for the down level operating systems
(Windows 98, Windows Me and Windows 2000) November 8, 2001
DirectX 8.1a 4.08.01.0901 (RC?) This release includes an update to Direct3D (D3d8.dll) 2002
DirectX 8.1b 4.08.01.0901 (RC7) This update includes a fix to DirectShow on Windows 2000 (Quartz.dll) June 25, 2002
DirectX 8.2 4.08.02.0134 (RC0) Same as the DirectX 8.1b but includes DirectPlay 8.2 2002
DirectX 9.0 4.09.00.0900 (RC4) December 19, 2002
DirectX 9.0a 4.09.00.0901 (RC6) March 26, 2003
DirectX 9.0b 4.09.00.0902 (RC2) August 13, 2003
DirectX 9.0c 4.09.00.0903 Service Pack 2 for Windows XP exclusive
4.09.00.0904 (RC0) August 4, 2004
4.09.00.0904 Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2003 SP1, Windows Server 2003 R2 and Xbox 360 August 6, 2004
4.09.00.0904 Windows XP SP3 April 21, 2008
DirectX - bimonthly updates 4.09.00.0904 (RC0 for DX 9.0c) The February 9, 2005 release is the first 64-bit capable build.[7]The last build for Windows 98 and Windows Me is the redistributable from December 13, 2006.[8] April 2006 is the first official support to Windows Vista [9] and August 2009 is the first official support to Windows 7 and DX11 update [10] Released bimonthly from October 2004 to August 2007, and quarterly thereafter; Latest version: August 2009 [11]
DirectX 10 6.00.6000.16386 Windows Vista exclusive November 30, 2006
6.00.6001.18000 Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008
includes Direct3D 10.1 February 4, 2008
6.00.6002.18005 Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008
includes Direct3D 10.1 April 28, 2009
DirectX 11 6.01.7600.16835 Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 October 22, 2009
7.00.6002.18107 Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2, through the Platform Update for Windows Vista and Windows Update [12] October 27, 2009

 

[erocker]

Vista already has DirectX 11.

 

[Scrizz]

oh yeah

 

[JessicaD]

Driver66,

You cannot "upgrade" from a 32-bit version of Windows to 64-bit or vice-versa -- 32 bit and 64 bit refers to architecture and frame work -- they are not interchangeable. To learn more about the differences to 32-bit vs. 64-bit architecture and which version within Windows 7 would best meet your needs, please go here: http://bit.ly/oj1fV

Jessica
Microsoft Windows Client Team

 

[newtekie1]

Official upgrade chart:

No upgrading from 32-bit to 64-bit, clean installs only.

And while you are doing a clean install, you might as well do a really clean install and completely eliminate Vista from the equation: http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/clean_install_upgrade_media.asp