Upgrading windows 7 32bit to 64bit

I recently upgrade my computer from window vista 32bit to windows 7 32bit. really happy with it until I tried to install some software which is only available in 64bit.

i know i can do a custom install upgrade to go to 64bit from vista.

is it possible to use the 64bit upgrade disk to upgrade windows 7 to the higher software without purchasing more software?

I know my computer is capable of running 64bit.

how would i go about doing this?

Any advice and help would be grateful.

David

To answer your first question, yes it's possible to install the Windows 7 X64 version, but as you stated you'll have to do a clean or "custom" install as Windows 7 calls it. You can use the same product key that you used to do the Windows 7 X86 upgrade from Vista. Remember though, you can only use the product key with only one installed version at a time, not both.

To install it first be sure that your DVD drive is set at the "First Boot Device" in the BIOS settings. Put your Windows 7 64-bit install DVD in the DVD drive and save the DVD drive setting to your BIOS and reboot the computer.

You may see a prompt in the POST screen to "Press any key to boot from CD/DVD drive". Do that within 4-5 seconds and the install will begin, be sure to delete all partitions and create new ones and install to the C partition.

BE SURE you have all the X64 drivers downloaded before installing so you have them handy after the Windows 7 install completes. Save the drivers to a thumb drive, external hard drive or a CD-RW disc.

thank you for that, that kinda makes sense not the most computer literate. i tried to do the 64bit install from windows vista and it came up with a weird error message so i gave up and took the easy option at the time

You do an "upgrade" install from 32-bit to 64-bit. It's just not possible. That's why Vista wouldn't let the install continue. You have to do it as I explained in my previous post.

Check out this handy tutorial from Paul Thurott's SuperSite for Windows: Clean Install Windows 7 with Upgrade Media