Help....I think? Upgrade vs. "Full"

Zigzag: thanks--straight and to the point.

Gregrocker: I think you meant to say 32bit, but yes, that's my plan (only with a flash drive since my netbook has no cd/dvd drive).

However, I do not believe that windows RC qualifies as a valid previously existing version of Windows. They specifically say "XP or Vista," which seems a bit ridiculous but really is logical, since the RC was free. It would be like giving anyone who had RC a giant discount (which could make sense, with the beta work RC users did, I suppose).

Upgrade media does not allow 32 to 64 bit installs. Nor is there upgrade media on Win 7 RC.

My plan is the same as above. (Backup my data first), TRY the Win 7 Pro 64 "upgrade" on my desktop with Win 7 Pro 32. If that's no-go, I'll put XP back on my desktop, then install Win 7 Pro 64. Then I'll do the same process (just with the 32bit version) on my netbook, after transferring my backed-up files over to my desktop.

End result: a lovely 64bit Win 7 Pro desktop and a lovely 32bit Win 7 Pro laptop. Weee :)

Thanks for all contributions/suggestions/links

Success. Took ages longer than I thought, since I downloaded about 8 gigs of Win7 Pro installers jsut to be sure, then I backed up about 150 gigs of data from my desktop to the laptop, installed onto desktop, then backed up laptop to the desktop, installed onto laptop, then setup laptop with files, and am going through the sync process STILL.

SO

To install a new version of Win7, you do not have to only have a valid XP or Vista OS. Having any level Win 7 OS will allow a complete install using an "upgrade." No need to bust out the old XP installers.