could you Please help a beginner out ?

Okay ..... i have searched everywhere. Ebay, Digital Drivers, amazon, even called up microsoft and told them my computer has crashed and my recovery disks are not working ..... but my luck with findiong a windows anytime upgrade disk is just pathetic . i bought a dv7 a while back with vista 32 loaded. its slower than my v6000 i had. i wish to upgrade to home premiun 64 bit and any help and i mean any help in finding the disks is more than welcome.

Regards.

 

as far as i know you can't upgrade 32 bit to 64 bit..
plus it says it on the microsoft page..[#

You can use Windows Anytime Upgrade to upgrade from a 32-bit version of Windows 7 to a 32-bit version of Windows 7 and from a 64-bit version of Windows 7 to a 64-bit version of Windows 7, but you can’t upgrade from a 32-bit version of Windows 7 to a 64-bit version of Windows 7 or vice versa.
#

Windows Anytime Upgrade is only available for online purchase in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.]

btw..do u know the reason for the crash? have u tried rebooting it?

 

As far as i know the key for the 32 bit and 64 bit are the same. so where is the problem ?

 

The word upgrade is the problem Upgrade and clean installation is two difference things.

 

ok, clean install then. Please help.

 

Not many choices there. You are going to need a 64bit cd which you can get from Microsoft (which costs money) or from a friend IIRC.

 

Your best bet is to get a 64 bit DVD from HP. Because technically it is illegal to use a 32 bit product key on a 64 bit installation when the OEM license on your computer is for a 32 bit installation. Your best bet is to contact HP. Most of the time, they'll get your the necessary DVD and license you need for your swap.

 

I'm not so sure this is correct. According to Stallen's Vista Clean Install Guide your vista licence is good for the 32 or 64 bit version of what ever vista edition you have. But you do need the 64bit disk, which is what the original poster asked for. Maybe you can find a vista anytime upgrade disk on ebay.

To quote from Stallen's Vista Clean Install Guide
see the FAQ at the bottom of the first post

• Can I have 32-bit or 64-bit? Yes, it does not matter if your factory installation is 32-bit or 64-bit. If your laptop currently has 32-bit Vista, just use the 64-bit "anytime upgrade", retail, or OEM disk to do the clean install to switch from 32-bit to 64-bit. Or vice versa, if you want to go from 64-bit to 32-bit.

 

While it is true some OEMs have licenses that will let you switch between version, I haven't read an HP OEM license that allows it yet.

I'm quoting from Ed Bott. I think he's a more credible source.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=1514&page=2&tag=col1;post-1514

This was the case under Vista as well. I doubted if Win7 changed any of the licensing terms. I

 

Okay, I was wrong.
It took me a while to find Microsoft's official position on weather you can upgrade from 32bit to 64bit, of the same microsoft operating system, using the same licence key. Officially they state you cannot do this.

However as surfasb stated, "some OEMs have licenses that will let you switch between version". What a pain this is.

 

That quote does not say that you cannot use the same key to go from a 32-bit to 64-bit. That's just saying you cannot just pop in the 64-bit dvd on your current 32-bit machine and install the 64-bit version without losing your data. You have to do a clean install which wipes your data off the machine to go from 32-bit to 64-bit.

If you buy retail version of 32-bit, you can just use the same key. For OEM, you might have to purchase a separate license, but don't quote me on that, because it's been a while since I check on this.

 

This is true about the retail version of Vista Ultimate.

All other versions of Vista have seperate Retail versions, depending on whether they are x86 or x64. Only Ultimate Retail comes with a license to use either x86 or x64.

I specifically remember this because Newegg did not label whether the Vista Home Premiums were 32 bit or 64 bit and people would order them, thinking it contained both, but it did not.

We could dig up 1000s of thread about the OEM licensing back when Vista first came out. Pretty much every OEM that I know of has licenses that are tied only to one version, 32 bit or 64 bit. Makes sense. Why pay for two versions when you are only preinstalling one version.

 

You're talking about the DVD disc. Only Vista Ultimate contains both discs, but other RETAIL versions still use the same key, but you have to order the 64-bit disc.

For OEMs, like I said, as far as I recall, they require separate key, meaning you cannot get a 32-bit and use the key for a 64-bit copy.

 

Ah, you are right.