Vista 32bit to 64bit question?

I can't seem to find this information but I read conflicting information. Is it true that if you have a 32bit version of Vista that you can get a 64bit "upgrade" from them for free?

 

Only if it is a retail license. If you purchased Vista with a computer, or a cheaper OEM version, you cannot get the 64bit CD/DVD. Only retail keys can work on either.

Assuming you can get the 64bit version (as explained above) you can order the 64bit CD/DVD direct from Microsoft for about $10 (shipping fee basically).

 

How did you obtain your copy? OEM - NO. Retail - YES

 

Hmm. I'm going to buy a laptop and it'll be included on it, so OEM. I do want to eventually run 64bit Windows but they only offer Vista Business in 64 bit at Lenovo's site. Will I run into software issues if I get Business 64? And is Vista Business stripped of anything that's in Home Premium?

 

I posted a topic yesterday asking a similar question, as motivated by Lenovo's offering of Vista Business 64 bit preinstalled.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=123869

The biggest issue with 64-bit operating systems, as I understand it is acquiring drivers for the hardware.

While in 32-bit, installing unsigned drivers is possible, in 64-bit it is not (unless you uncheck driver signing, at which point you can't turn it back on until you stop running unsigned drivers on your system).

I thought, however that Lenovo offered Vista Business 64 or Vista Business in 32 -- at least, I remember seeing that for the 14.1" ThinkPad T61 configuration.

One thing to note about the driver issue, then is that with Lenovo offering it preinstalled, you have a pretty good guarantee of most drivers working (if not all), as well as the ability to call support for help if you must. By offering it, they are committing themselves to supporting it.

Vista Business and Vista Home Premium pretty much have the same amount of goodies -- Wikipedia sums up the differences pretty well.

What it has over Home Premium are business-centric additions:

Finally, it has extended support over Home Premium (an extra five years).

I also believe the games that come with Vista are not preinstalled to Business, but can be installed optionally.

But for everyday use, Home Premium and Business are no different -- for ordering on Lenovo's site, if they do not indeed offer Business 32 bit, then the decision between the two is whether or not you want to go with 32-bit for the assuredness of no driver or program compatibility issues, or 64-bit for some minor advantages. (better kernel security, ability to address over 4 GB of RAM, "future-proof" (whenever 64-bit apps become more mainstream).

 

Good comparison of features here. The MS website is convoluted.

 

Wow, thanks you guys are so helpful.

If they're offering it preinstalled, I agree with you, it should be okay driverwise.

No Windows Media Center? That's kind of disappointing. But there is still some kind of Media Player in Vista Business? Is DVD playback supported?
And you can't just update and install them right? I'd be a little happier if they offered Home Premium 64-bit. Kind of weird to offer Business 64 but not Home Premium 64.

I'd like 64-bit support because I do video encoding and the decrease in encoding time is pretty nice (5-20% . I'm more worried about programs I have now being compatible or not, including older games, Photoshop, Firefox, and a lot of freeware stuff.

 

All versions of Vista come with Windows Media Player, so DVD playback will be supported in Business. So yes, it has a media player, and there are all kinds of third party programs for this too.

However, Media Center is a feature specific to Home Premium and Vista Ultimate Edition. This is also true for Windows DVD Maker and Windows Movie Maker HD, which again are only in the "premium" editions (Home Premium and Vista Ultimate), but not Business.

There is a 64-bit edition of Home Premium and Ultimate, but Lenovo does not offer them preinstalled -- so there's no way to acquire either and have it preinstalled unless Lenovo breaks the trend with the T61 and offers Home Premium and/or Ultimate in 64-bit for the T61p. Microsoft's 64-bit DVD Editions page says that the only way to get a 64-bit edition is by owning the retail copy of the 32-bit O.S.; preinstalled on a notebook is an O.E.M. license which does not qualify.

Since the ThinkPad is marketed as a business-class machine, the cost of buying one is that the most options are for the Business version of Vista (like 64-bit preinstalled). I am pretty certain that's the only version of Vista for which an option of either 32/64 bit will be offered, unfortunately. (we can only wait and see, but it doesn't seem likely)

As a disclaimer, this is all from reading the forums and doing searches on the Internet -- someone with firsthand experience with Vista 64 is better suited to answer the question about program compatibility.

I think, though that most 32-bit programs will run fine. The problems will most likely be the minority. One thing to note is that anything that uses 16-bit code will absolutely not work in 64-bit (for whatever reason Microsoft has), so any exceptionally old software is potentially subject to this. Some installers still have 16-bit code evidently, so that is one thing to be aware of.

I too am still trying to make up my mind on the issue, and Microsoft hasn't helped by having five versions of Vista.

 

Thanks for the detailed response. I have older computer games and I am wondering whether they are 32 or 16 bit.

I'll probably end up getting Business 64. I can't accept paying for a 64-bit CPU yet not being able to use it to its fullest.

 

32bit games should run fine in Vista x64. 16bit games will never work at all.
You can dual boot with a legacy OS/ VMWare a legacy OS to play the older computer games.

 

How old is "older"? The only 16bit games you might have are ones that would run on Windows 3.1, and even then, that's very rare. Commander Keen, the old Apogee games, etc., those are all 16bit. Even if that is the case, you can use something like DOSBox to emulate a 16bit environment to play those games.

 

Thanks for all the responses, unfortunately Business 64 is no longer offered with the T61 for some reason.

 

Nor XP Professional either...interesting.

However, it now has the option for a built-in camera, and you can no longer order Intel Wireless with draft-N capability disabled for a discount (but that's not really related to Vista Business 64-bit...).

 

So basically you all are saying is if you get a 64bit version, you can play anything with 32bit. But not 16bit?

What are the vista ultimate extras? Just wondering why I should pay the extra money for Ultimate....

 

64-bit ideally supports any 32-bit program, with the added bonus of being able to take advantage of programs compiled for 64-bit addressing (usually faster). Also, the 64-bit kernel of Vista is supposed to be more secure.

However, no 16-bit programs work -- 64-bit has dropped compatibility for this, so older games and installers that include 16-bit code will not work.

(So yeah, you've got it right.)

The Ultimate Extras are very superficial things like a Texas Hold 'Em game (simply called Hold 'Em, how unique!), the ability to have a video as your background ("Dream Scene")...most of them are very specific, exclusive extras. To read more about some of them, you could read the Wikipedia page on the Ultimate edition of Vista on the Windows Vista editions and pricing page. It also has support till 2017 (the other versions are only till 2012, this is called "extended support"), and the only other version to have this is Vista Business.

If you want to be really special, there's a Vista Ultimate edition with Bill Gates' signature on it, limited to 20,000 copies!

The best idea though would be to look up the extras and see for yourself if you'd want to pay more for the Ultimate Extras, because it's pretty subjective as to whether or not they're worth it. I'd say I probably might bite on Ultimate only for the lengthened support time...but then again, Business has that too. The Extras don't make the sure sale for me, though.

 

Uod I'm a little confused about Ultimate, does it include 32 and 64bit editions on the same disc? OEM-wise, would I be able to use an anytime upgrade disc and install the 64bit version of Ultimate with whatever license Lenovo provides me?

 

If you have the 32-bit OEM version of Vista and use the Windows Anytime Upgrade you are still stuck with the 32-bit version with no chance of upgrading to 64-bit.

The only way you can get the 64-bit version of Vista is if a) you bought it OEM with your PC or b) you bought the retail version of Vista, which gets you the 32-bit with the option of ordering a 64-bit DVD directly from MS

 

The retail version of Ultimate has 32-bit and 64-bit in the box. Any other version of Vista can be used online with your product key to get a 64-bit disc shipped to you from Microsoft.

However, preinstalled on a machine is an OEM license, which is different (as DrewN said above).

So if the manufacturer doesn't offer 64-bit, then even with your licensed version of 32-bit Vista there's no way of getting the 64-bit version.

Unless you want to shell out more money for a retail version of Vista, which I doubt I personally would do.

 

if you have a OEM Vista basic machine, and have the chance to buy Ulimate through a University program (dvd $20), would you do it? And would it be a simple install over Basic? or does it have to be a complete clean install?

Would I still be able to choose 32 or 64bit? Which would you do?

Id rather get the Ultimate DVD, and install it right over Basic.

 

If the version offered through your university is the retail version, then by all means I would do it. That's a great deal for $20 -- no matter what one may say about Vista, that is very affordable. If you don't use it on your laptop (should Basic suit your needs), you have one more license available for legitimite use on another machine.

I'm not sure if you could update the Basic machine using Windows Anytime Upgrade by simply entering the product key from the retail version of Ultimate -- you would have to give it a try. (I have yet to have such an opportunity.) However, a clean install would certainly work (if it's the retail version, for sure -- dunno how buying the upgrade would work).

Again, if it is the retail version of Windows Vista Ultimate, it is said that the DVD comes with 32-bit and 64-bit in the box. Whether to run 32-bit or 64-bit depends on the manufacturer; look through their drivers to see if they have 64-bit drivers available for the most important components. If not, then 32-bit is the better option just for ease of setup and use.

The Ultimate DVD sounds like a good deal regardless of whether or not it's an upgrade or retail version -- I would go for it.

Someone with more experience installing Vista from updates, the retail version or both will be able to provide more concrete examples.

 

A clean install using the upgrade retail version of Vista Ultimate would make the most sense, although you can also upgrade to Ultimate from within Basic -- all you'd need to do is insert your Ultimate retail disc from within the Windows environment and autorun.exe it. A menu will pop up with a "Upgrade" option, select that option and it will give you the option to upgrade, and to select the version. Just make sure that the version you select matches your disc/key, or else you're hosed.

Windows Anytime Upgrade (the option to electronically upgrade from within Windows without a physical disc) is an entirely different animal, which I have actually gone through (Home Premium to Ultimate) and is fairly simple, and is potentially a better upgrade option because the electronic upgrade is about $100 USD cheaper than buying the Retail Upgrade disc, plus the upgrade license key is transferrable and is always stored in your digital locker on Microsoft's website.

In th OP's case, though, getting a $20 Ultimate Retail upgrade DVD aces all other options

 

Im' the OP and I don't have such an option. I'd like it though.

 

^^Yikes! My apologies

 

Uodnelome and DrewN, thanks for the good insight. I doubt the University is offering retail versions. Typically the OS's they sell are licensed copies, and you rarely get anything more than the disc and a code.

 

Here is the thing: I have a MSDN serial number for Vista (obviously Business x86) and tried the number on the x64 version and it worked...The thing is that you have to get hold of a disc containing the x64 version and use the serial provided with the x86 version and it should work. For Business it worked.