Upgrading from Vista 32 bit to Windows 7 on Dell Inspir

numbersguy · 24 Mar 2010

I have Vista 32 bit Home premium on a Dell Inspiron. I am trying to use the Dell Upgrade Assistant to make the upgrade to W7. The upgrade assistant DVD worked fine and said I was ready to upgrade to W7. I put in the W7 upgrade DVD and got the message that "installation disc isn't compatible with your version of Windows." I looked at the disk and it says "this DVD supports 64 bit edition only." What do I do to upgrade my 32 bit Vista to 32 bit W7? I do not want to do a complete "clean" install. I just want to update Vista to W7 and not have to reinstall my files and programs.

Anyone out there solve this Dell upgrade problem?

Product FRED · 24 Mar 2010

You have the 64-bit edition disc. You need the 32-bit edition disc. If you have a 64-bit processor, you can perform a clean install of Windows 7 with the upgrade disc. Otherwise, you need to grab the 32-bit disc.

richc46 · 24 Mar 2010

Welcome to the Forum,

This is the only method possible, with an upgrade DVD.

Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version[2]=General Tips

Regardless of the 32/64 bit problem, a clean install is always best.

eduede · 25 Mar 2010

I agree. You should just do a clean install with the disk that you've got (provided you have the system resources to run 64bit Win7).

I did an "upgrade" on Oct 22nd (win7 launch day) and just did a clean install of it over the upgraded version last night. The bottom line is that the upgrade is not really what you want.

My advice would be to do the clean install with you upgrade disc.

One question, though. Is your upgrade disc a microsoft disc or a Dell disc?

Saltgrass · 25 Mar 2010

You may want to ask Dell. Some manufacturers have both versions on one DVD.

numbersguy · 28 Mar 2010

How can I obtain a 32 bit version? I really do not want to do clean install.

richc46 · 28 Mar 2010

There is no known way to go from 32 to 64 or 64 to 32 without a clean install.

housry23 · 28 Mar 2010

I agree with doing a clean install. Upgrades are a hassle and can cause a lot of problems. Clean install is definitely the way to go. Backup all your important documents and folders and everything you want to save. Get all your keys and what not from your installed programs, insert the disc and choose custom install. Choose the drive to install. After you install you should have a windows.old folder. That will have everything from your Vista install on it and you can open it and retrieve anything you need from it. When you get Windows 7 the way you want it, you can then delete the Windows.old folder. Clean install is definitely the way to go. Upgrade installs are a headache and almost everyone I know that has tried it has ended up doing a clean install after the upgrade.

Product FRED · 28 Mar 2010

richc46 said:

There is no known way to go from 32 to 64 or 64 to 32 without a clean install.

He's on Vista 32. He wants to upgrade to 7 32. He had the 7 64 disc.

OP, it is definitely best to do a clean install, but if you insist on upgrading, just call Dell and they'll send you a 7 disc of the same version, just 32-bit instead.