Installing 64bit over 32bit

[maflynn]

Is this safe/advisable or should I wipe the drive and just with a clean slate?

I've been playing with win7 in a bootcamp partition for about week (as opposed to vmware) and I'm finding that the 32bit version to constraining thanks to the memory or lack there of. I have a 4gig MBP and the 32bit flavor is only giving me just under 3gig.

I have a bunch of stuff installed but nothing huge, in terms of major configurations or customizations. I'm not sure I'll need to reinstall all of my apps once I "upgrade" to the 64bit. If that's the case it probably makes sense to wipe and start over.

Thanks in advance
Mike

 

[balamw]

The upgrade will effectively force you to wipe it. It's a "custom install". So either way you're going to need to re-install your apps.

EDIT: http://mossblog.allthingsd.com/20090804/deciphering-windows-7-upgrades-the-official-chart/ though this doesn't cover 7->7 it shows that all 32->64 "upgrades" are custom installs. (as are 64->32).

B

 

[maflynn]

Thanks for the quick response. I was thinking that my only real option was to wipe and reinstall.

At the very least it will give me peace of mind, as if something goes wrong, I'll be wondering if its a problem or how I install/reinstalled windows.

Regards
Mike

 

[balamw]

FWIW:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/32-bit-and-64-bit-Windows-frequently-asked-questions

If you want to move from a 32-bit version of Windows to a 64-bit version of Windows 7 or vice versa, you'll need to back up your files and choose the Custom option during Windows 7 installation. Then, you'll need to restore your files and reinstall your programs. For more information about performing a custom installation, see Installing and reinstalling Windows 7*.

B

 

[maflynn]

Thanks,

that seals the deal. Looks like I'll be doing that tonight.