I have vista home premium 32-bit right now, and i have the disks for the ultimate upgrade. I was wondering if i have to use the 32-bit upgrade for ultimate of if i could use the 64-bit and upgrade my OS to a 64-bit system.
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This KB tells us that you would have to make a clean install: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932795/en-us
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If you use the 32-bit upgrade you don't have to clean install and can keep your files intact.
If you use the 64-bit upgrade, you have to do a clean install. -
You can't "upgrade" from a 32bit OS to a 64bit OS. Doing this requires a clean install.
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Ok thanks for the help, and is it possible to do a clean install with just the upgrade version?
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I'm sorry, it seems I jumped the gun with my response and am a little off. Allow me to clarify...
- A Vista Upgrade Disk (aka Anytime Upgrade) will keep your files intact when installing the newer version (Home Premium, Ultimate, etc) of Vista. You CAN do a clean install with an upgrade disk by selecting "Custom" during the install process.
- You cannot use a 64-bit Upgrade disk to "upgrade" Vista 32-bit. You need to do a "custom" (clean) install while booting your computer from the disk.
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ok thank you for the clarification
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This guide makes it seem like you are able to do a clean install with an Anytime Upgrade disc.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure the Anytime Upgrade, OEM, and Retail discs have every version of Vista on them. You just need a valid serial number. However, a single disc will not have both 32bit and 64bit versions of Vista. You either have a 32bit disc or a 64bit disc. Depending on what you have/what you want, you will need to request another disc from Microsoft. I'm also pretty sure if you already have a Vista license, requesting a disc is free (you just pay shipping).
For example, if you own a Vista license, and have a 32bit disc, you can request a 64bit disc from Microsoft.
In your case however, you need to purchase Ultimate if you want to use Ultimate. You only have Home Premium and you cannot use that S/N for Vista Ultimate.
If you really want Vista Ultimate, go to newegg and buy an OEM copy for ~$179. -
Post edited.
From Microsoft...
Source: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932795/en-us
It seems it is possible to upgrade from 32-bit Vista to a different 64-bit Vista version. Make sure you back up your activation + certificate with Orev's ABR tool as mentioned in the guide posted by synic if you're upgrading an OEM copy of Vista. -
Eh, that's weird...
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Well i got the ultimate upgrade for 70 bucks and i has both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. my OS is 32-bit but id like to upgrade to 64-bit so i wasnt sure if there was any way of doing that with the ultimate disk, thanks for the info.
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You can't do what is typically called an "upgrade", but you can do a clean install. The previous posts in this thread explain the steps needed to do this as well as this guide.
Question about ultimate upgrade
Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by Wohh, Aug 6, 2008.