Reformatting and installing 64bit

Hey all,

I currently have Windows 7 32bit installed on my laptop and I wish to upgrade to 64bit.
I've read up that its as simple as inserting a disk with windows 7 on it and reinstalling in upon start up, selecting 64bit instead of 32bit. However I did not use a disk, nor did I get one when I first purchased my laptop and booted it up. Does this mean that I can just restart my computer and re-install windows 7 from within the boot up options there or do I have to download a virtual copy of the installation file?

Any and all help is much appreciated :)

You need a 64Bit Windows installation disc to upgrade from 32Bit.
It will be a clean install (not upgrade).
This tutorial has everything needed to do this, including where to get the 64Bit ISO.
Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

You must have a valid Windows key for this - it should be on the COA sticker on your laptop.

The difference between a 32 bit and a 64 bit OS is not just 32 bits. Internally these operating systems are really very different, so much so that Microsoft did not consider it practical to provide an upgrade facility. That means you must do a clean install of the OS and all applications.

It is wise to check that all important applications are compatible with a 32 bit OS. Most are but there are exceptions. Also be aware that a 64 bit OS must use 64 bit drivers exclusively. Be sure they are available. Do not assume.

   Information

We always assume you have made your Recovery Disks using the OEM manufacturer's Recovery Media Creator app the first day you had your new PC.
& made the Startup Repair CD.
startup repair disc-create

Did you make the OEM manufacturer's Recovery Disks?



You can order OEM Recovery disks from your OEM manufacturer's website.
Most OEM's will ship Recovery DVD's for FREE, (may be a postage fee)

You can order Toshiba Recovery disks from here:
https://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/...rification.jsp

theog said:

Did you make the OEM manufacturer's Recovery Disks?

Instead of the recovery disk, the tutorial that DavidW7ncus states that a backup image is an alternative. Does this have to be saved to a USB device or can it be saved to the laptop harddrive? In all honesty I dont quite understand the recovery disk/backup image thing.


And @AddRAM, by virtual copy I only meant a digital copy rather than the file on disk. As for switching, I was going to reformat my laptop anyway and it has the option for 64bit and therefore use all the available RAM. so I decided I'd go with that this time.

Making the Recovery disks allows you to revert to the factory preinstall if necessary, while a backup image takes you back to exactly as the PC is when you make the image. If neither of those are desirable then you can skip those steps. Recov Disks are only really important if you're still under Factory Warranty since some OEM's require the factory preinstall to be on the PC to ship it back for service. Other reasons might be if you want to sell the PC with the original install on it or to provide the disk to a new owner.

For 4gb or less RAM I usually stick with 32 bit for slightly better performance. You can also see how much RAM your hardware is reserving by typing Resource Monitor in the Start Search box and accessing the Memory tab.

Whether you change bit-version or not, the difference between the factory preinstall and our Optimized Clean Reinstall of Win7 is the difference between the worst possible install of Win7 and an install better than 90% of users have.

So essentially I can skip that process as the warranty is out and I cant imagine anyone buying my computer when I eventually replace it, let alone care about the factory install?

Well it does only have 4gb, however in the Control Panel > System and Security > System it has 4.00 GB (2.99 GB usuable). I was told that running 64 bit would utilise all of it, thus maybe run better. I checked that resource monitor and I've got 1034 MB under hardware reserved and the remaining is split pretty evenly between In Use and Stand By. The little table below that bar goes as follows:

Available: ~1460 MB
Cached: ~1490 MB
Total: 3062 MB
Installed: 4096 MB


Oh I see. Well really my ultimate goal is to just get it to run better/faster. It has been running painfully slowly lately (programs not opening, when they do open they take ages to load up and respond) and im running out of ideas to speed things up. A disk Defrag did next to nothing and I have scanned for viruses multiple times and removed any spyware/malware I have ever found. There is a bucket load of space left on the hard drive (200GB+) so I don't believe that is an issue either.

So do you think installing 64 bit will provide better performance? Or more or less achieve the same result as 32 bit? If so, would I better off just using the 32 bit ISO ?

If you have 4gb RAM and 1gb is reserved for hardware, then it adds up that only 2.99 would appear to be available in your System Properties.

If you plan to upgrade RAM then I would try 64 bit to see how it performs. If you're still running the corrupt bloated factory preinstall then there's no mystery why its running slowly with performance problems. It is the worst possible install of Win7 one can have that is still functioning.

Stick with the tools and methods in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 and you'll have a better install than 90% of users out there.

If you have about 1 GB in hardware reserved it is likely that a portion of this is in use by the video system. This is very common with laptops. Any such memory would not be regained by going to a 64 bit OS.