Does Windows 7 Ultimate Edition support both 32 and 64?

[dee2809]

Hello

I would like to ask this straightforward question: does Windows 7 Ultimate Edition support both 32 and 64 bits? I have a legal copy of it and installed it on my Vista Business PC, but it seems to be running at 32 bits only. Is it because of this Vista only supporting 32 bits? How do you tell the bits your OS is running at? I have not been able to find an answer anywhere else, so your help would be appreciated.

Best regards,

Dee

 

[coppertrail]

Determining OS Type

Here's how to tell which version you're running. Ultimate is available in both 32 and 64-bit editions. A single product key will not work with both editions.

 

[zigzag3143]

Hello

I would like to ask this straightforward question: does Windows 7 Ultimate Edition support both 32 and 64 bits? I have a legal copy of it and installed it on my Vista Business PC, but it seems to be running at 32 bits only. Is it because of this Vista only supporting 32 bits? How do you tell the bits your OS is running at? I have not been able to find an answer anywhere else, so your help would be appreciated.

Best regards,

Dee

Hi dee and welcome to sevenforums

Win 7 ultimate comes in 2 flavors 32bit, and 64. If you upgrade from 32 bit you have to upgrade to win 7 32. If your Machine supports 64 bit (thats the determining factor) and you want to go from vista 32 to win 7 64 it has to be done via a "clean" install.

Do you know which version of vista you had?


hope this helps

Ken

 

[dee2809]

Many thanks, I have verified that my PC has a 32-bit version of Windows Vista Business installed. As I cannot uninstall this OS, I will consider purchasing a few new 1 TB HDs to have Windows 7 installed on RAID 3 or RAID 5. Well actually the first thing to do will be to get a paid IT job to purchase them :sarc:.

Thank you,

Dee

 

[logicearth]

Here's how to tell which version you're running. Ultimate is available in both 32 and 64-bit editions. A single product key will not work with both editions.

At the same time, I hope that is what you mean. A CD key will activate either the 32bit or the 64bit version. However, you can only pick one to use that CD key, you must deactivate the first install before using that key on another.

 

[dee2809]

To the best of my knowledge, the initial set-up did not ask which version to install. That's why I got lost as to the version I was running. When you already have 32-bit OS installed on your machine, is the 32-bit version of Win 7 installed with no option given ?

 

[davehc]

I am using Technet downloads, so perhaps circumstances are different. But the DVD,s I have (&4Bit or 32Bit) are seperate. Therefore, according to the DVD you boot, that is the version which will be installed. On my installs, I am not asked for a product key until near the end of the install,so I cannot see how this would influence the choice of version.

 

[harpua]

If you want to install 64 bit version, you insert the 64 bit media (iso, DVD). If you want to install 32 bit version, you use the 32 bit media. Both versions are not on one DVD.

 

[bobtran]

Ultimate retail comes with BOTH 32-bit and 64-bit DVD's. OEM only comes with one or the other. The upgrade only comes with the 32-bit but you can order the 64-bit from Microsoft for $10 after Oct. 22nd 2009. The License key will work for either 32-bit or 64-bit but only one of them. You don't need a new drive you can just do a clean install to upgrade from 32-bit to 64-bit. You will need to reinstall your apps after you do this.

OR

I'm not sure (and I'm sure that someone will correct me if I am wrong) but I believe that you could use "Windows Easy Transfer" to export your profiles, software, and security to an external drive and then restore it all back after upgrading to get your system back the way it was before you upgraded except you would be on Win7 64-bit.

I used this process to move me from my Vista partition to my Win7 RC partition to prep for a "Clean" install of Win7 ultimate RTM 64-bit on my Vista partition, Once I get the RTM installed and activated then I will migrate my full Win7 RC partition to my RTM partition using this process and finally delete the RC partition and add the space recovered to the Win7 RTM partition.

 

[dee2809]

Thank you for the reply. I have three OSs running on my PC on seperate partitions which are Windows Vista Business, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008. If I were to use Windows Easy Transfer, I would have to tranfer all the data and many programs from the first two OSs to Windows 7 64 bits. Is this dooable? Would I have my important program files transferred?

 

[harpua]

It depends. WET doesn't always get everything, especially esoteric apps, but it usually does well for a lot of mainstream apps. It's worth using but it's not a substitute for having your data backed up.

 

[bobtran]

It depends. WET doesn't always get everything, especially esoteric apps, but it usually does well for a lot of mainstream apps. It's worth using but it's not a substitute for having your data backed up.

I agree. You can also choose what does or does not get transferred (of what the WET can transfer) using the "Advanced" option but don't get in a hurry to delete the old partitions. Once its gone, its gone. It has been my experience that you can choose what to migrate off your old partition but you can only import what you exported (No granular import) so only export what you want to move. I only did my apps and documents from Vista to Win7 as my Profiles and Security on Win7 are good as they are. I WILL do ALL for the final build of Win7 RTM.

Once the migration and build are complete do a COMPLETE baseline backup prior to using this new install so you can put it back if something goes wrong in the early stages of use (put it back...fix what went wrong...back it up...continue testing...etc). Once you are completely satisfied with the results then and only then make a final baseline gold backup, delete the old partitions, recombine space, and delete the old backups keeping only the final golden baseline backup to restore to should something go terribly wrong (Virus, drive failure, etc).

Definitely do backups regularly (This is NOT optional if you care about your data at all). Personally I like Windows Home Server for this (other people recommend Acronis for backups: www.acronis.com/), but, this option is a personal choice and requires a little bit of Administration to run a server at home. Its worth it to me in my opinion to receive the benefits provided AND I was willing to build a home server pc (or you can re-purpose an existing PC as a home server).

 

[spoons27]

Can you please verify that only the full versions come with the option of 64Bit as I was under the impression that the upgrade did too.
From Amazon:
[ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=amb_link_84355233_26?ie=UTF8&rh=n%3A300435%2Ck%3AB002DUCMT2%7CB002DGS81C&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0XK6AVX13R3KTDZSV971&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_p=472758913&pf_rd_i=1000321063"]Windows 7 Home Premium[/ame], [ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=amb_link_84355233_27?ie=UTF8&rh=n%3A300435%2Ck%3AB002DUCMTC%7CB002DGS82G&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0XK6AVX13R3KTDZSV971&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_p=472758913&pf_rd_i=1000321063"]Windows 7 Professional[/ame] and [ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=amb_link_84355233_28?ie=UTF8&rh=n%3A300435%2Ck%3AB001XCWGII%7CB002DGS83K&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0XK6AVX13R3KTDZSV971&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_p=472758913&pf_rd_i=1000321063"]Windows 7 Ultimate[/ame] all ship with 32-bit and 64-bit discs; however, please be aware that only one registration code is provided with each order and this will be applied to whichever disk you choose to register.

 

[bobtran]

Can you please verify that only the full versions come with the option of 64Bit as I was under the impression that the upgrade did too.
From Amazon:
Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate all ship with 32-bit and 64-bit discs; however, please be aware that only one registration code is provided with each order and this will be applied to whichever disk you choose to register.

Amazon states that the upgrade versions will ship with both x86 and x64 in the same box.
Hopefully this is true.

Bottom line is: We probably won't know until the upgrades actually ship on or around Oct 22nd.

With Vista upgrades (or other than Ultimate retail) you had to order the x64 media from Microsoft for an additional $10 as they only shipped with the x86 version.