Upgrading windows 7 32bit to 64bit

Hi -ive exhausted all options and would really appreciate some help...

I have an operating system which can handle 64bit no problem. I recently bought the windows 7 home premium and by mistake installed the 32bit version (doh!). I then inserted the 64bit disk but keep getting the following message:-

this installation disc isn't compatible with your version of windows, to upgrade you need the correct installation disc. (which I have since it came with both 32bit and 64bit).

Ive tried everything to try to boot from the 64bit disk (including adjusting the BIOS settings) but it keeps on going straight to windows (I also read somewhere the windows 7 disk is not bootable..?)

1. Is it possible to boot from the 64bit disk? If so, how?
2. Is there any other way to upgrade/change from 32bit from 64bit?

Any tips, suggestions etc welcome

Thanks
irish

Irish Lout said:

Hi -ive exhausted all options and would really appreciate some help...

I have an operating system which can handle 64bit no problem. I recently bought the windows 7 home premium and by mistake installed the 32bit version (doh!). I then inserted the 64bit disk but keep getting the following message:-

this installation disc isn't compatible with your version of windows, to upgrade you need the correct installation disc. (which I have since it came with both 32bit and 64bit).

Ive tried everything to try to boot from the 64bit disk (including adjusting the BIOS settings) but it keeps on going straight to windows (I also read somewhere the windows 7 disk is not bootable..?)

1. Is it possible to boot from the 64bit disk? If so, how?
2. Is there any other way to upgrade/change from 32bit from 64bit?

Any tips, suggestions etc welcome

Thanks
irish

Hi irish and welcome

There is one thing you might try unplug the HD and give it no other option.


Ken J+



EDIT you could also put the image on a USB stick if you have one

Hi - tried removing HD, but no luck.

Will try the USB idea...

Any other suggestions?

thanks.

Irish Lout said:

Hi -ive exhausted all options and would really appreciate some help...

I have an operating system which can handle 64bit no problem. I recently bought the windows 7 home premium and by mistake installed the 32bit version (doh!). I then inserted the 64bit disk but keep getting the following message:-

this installation disc isn't compatible with your version of windows, to upgrade you need the correct installation disc. (which I have since it came with both 32bit and 64bit).

Ive tried everything to try to boot from the 64bit disk (including adjusting the BIOS settings) but it keeps on going straight to windows (I also read somewhere the windows 7 disk is not bootable..?)

1. Is it possible to boot from the 64bit disk? If so, how?
2. Is there any other way to upgrade/change from 32bit from 64bit?

Any tips, suggestions etc welcome

Thanks
irish

The retail Win7 upgrade disk is bootable. If you're going from 32 bit to 64, you must boot from the DVD.

In my case, I prepared a bootable 4GB USB flash drive from the .iso downloaded from the Microsoft store:

Use a USB Key to Install Windows 7?Even on a Netbook

(I used MagicISO to mount the .iso, but the freeware 7Zip could have been used to extract it instead.) If you have the DVD, all that you need to do is prepare the USB drive and then copy the DVD's contents to it. It has the side effect of making the Win7 install significantly faster than from the DVD.

What's your motherboard? You probably have an option to select the boot order without changing the order in the BIOS settings. (On my Asus motherboard, it's the F8 function key. I wish they'd picked another one, as this is the same key used to invoke safe mode in Windows.) That would be useful, if only to see whether the DVD (or better, USB flash drive) is visible as a boot device.

Where did you get the DVD? Did you burn the ISO image file to DVD yourself?

You can load the ISO into ImgBurn after selecting "Verify Disk" and it will say if it is bootable in text at left,

then put DVD in drive and click Disk icon to verify DVD against ISO file.

Attachment 41823

Hi - have tried to format the USB and copy/paste my CD contents - but even after changing the BIOS boot order its not booting from the USB. I checked the official microsoft help sites and it says using the diskpart method that:-

You can only create a 32-bit Windows 7 USB key from within a 32-bit Vista or Windows 7.
You can only create a 64-bit Windows 7 USB key from within a 64-bit Vista or Windows 7.

So since Im currently using 32bit it means I cant create the USB key for 64 bit?

Also, have been reading about making the USB bootable and ISO's etc - kinda confusing? Where can I find the ISO - is it within my DVD? (looked but cant find any ISO extension).

This has really got me baffled...