Upgrading from 32 bit to 64 bit Vista install question

Yup, either a) install in the OS partition or b) wipe the drive(s) clean including partitions and start fresh.

I did b) since the recovery data is mostly for 32-bit vista.  The other utilities are included on the grey bootable cd that came with your system anyways.

before you do anything, go and download all the drivers you can for 64 bit and save them somewhere (USB drive etc..) to use afterwards.

:smileyhappy: 

'Got my 32 bit disk from Dell today'

Are you downgrading?

:smileyvery-happy:

lol

---

@tglas47 wrote:
Got my 32 bit disk from Dell today. First, the "Which type of installation do you want" has the upgrade option disabled. So i assume I am doing a clean install, correct? When I get to the "Where do you want to install windows?" section it shows "Disk 0 partition 2 recovery" and "disk 0 partition 3 OS" do i want to format both of these, or just write over the OS. Thanks

---

Little confusing...Title says upgrading from 32 bit to 64 bit. Then you say "Got my 32 bit disk from Dell".

 

Are we to assume you got a x64 bit from Dell and want to upgrade to x64 bit.

 

If so, do not format the Recovery Partition, reformat the OS partition and install to that partition. You must have already backed up any data on the OS partition, because this partition will be wipped of all data. You will then have to reinstall all the applications you wish to use after the x64 bit install.

 

Hope this helps.

---

@tglas47 wrote:
What is the first thing I should re-install after geting vista installed? Do I have to re-install the BIOS from Dells site?

---

Your BIOS needs to be latest version for your system. If it is not, then you should update it.

 

The suggestions given by Davet50 are the recommended approach.

 

The only other suggestion I could make is install you anti-virus program of choice before getting online. I have not done this and received nasty code as I was downloading the MS updates.

 

You might also download and install your video driver from the manufacturer of your video card and not use the MS provided version. The MS version is not the best one to use.

 

Hope this helps.

After you get the OS installed, do not let it do any windows updates just yet. Open device manager and look to see what if any devices have yellow ? or red X next to them. Those devices will be the ones you will need to install the drivers for.

Once you have all the devices in device manager clear, then you can go ahead and start the windows update.

I would suggest that you set your update option to just notify me when updates are available. This way you can controll the way updates are handled. So if you find you will have a large number of updates to do, I would recommend you just chose a few at time, do the updates then test the system out for a bit before you move on to some more.

Stupid question perhaps - but why would he want to retain the Recovery Patition for the 32-bit OS?  Would this be of any use once the 64-bit OS is installed?

 

 

---

Hanspuppa wrote:

 

If so, do not format the Recovery Partition, reformat the OS partition and install to that partition. You must have already backed up any data on the OS partition, because this partition will be wipped of all data. You will then have to reinstall all the applications you wish to use after the x64 bit install.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Message Edited by Hanspuppa on 10-13-2008 11:23 AM

---

Since Dell is now supporting the upgrading of system to 64 bit there is no real reason to save the Dell partiton.

  What I did was order another hard drive with a bigger cache, installed Vista 64 bit to the new drive, and then copied over settings, email, documents, music, etc. over to Vista 64 bit. I kept the 32 bit recovery option there as a backup. I have over 1TB in combined drive space, I don't think I'll be running out of room soon.

  Also upgraded to Acronis True Image 11, so I'll make my own 64 bit Vista recovery partition/restore setup once I get everything ready. I like to give it a few weeks to make sure I haven't forgotten anything, then do a recovery image. May also make an image and copy it over to the OEM drive, then copy that image over to external media.

  Since I play a few games, I installed them to the OEM drive and it works out a lot better that having games on the same drive. (Less latency issues. *shrug*)

---

@jronesi wrote:

Stupid question perhaps - but why would he want to retain the Recovery Patition for the 32-bit OS?  Would this be of any use once the 64-bit OS is installed?

---

Not a stupid question at all. As a matter of fact, something to consider.

 

The Dell Recovery Restore Partition usually requires between 10-15GBs.

 

If his hard drive has a large enough capacity that he can allow this much to be used, at some point he may want to go back to 32 bit with all his Dell software intact.

 

But if he chooses not to want to go back or has the Dell supplied disk for re-install if neccessary, then he can delete the Restore partition and gain that disk capacity.

 

There is also another hidden partition located at the front of the hard drive that is approximately 50MB, that contains data to use the Dell Recovery Restore data.

 

This also can be removed, however it is a very complicated task that is done within the CMD prompt and is very specific.

 

The program can be downloaded from Microsoft.

The program name is diskpart_setup.exe.  

 

It requires several DOS commands that have to be done correctly.

 

This has to be a personal decision.

 

Thanks for the input.

 

Hope this helps.

 

---

@tglas47 wrote:
Got my 32 bit disk from Dell today.

---

What's the process to get an upgraded media disk for x64?

I purchased an XPS 420 and at the time of ordering i specifically asked the operator if they could supply it with Vista x64, only to be told they don't support it because there are no 64bit drivers fro some of the hardware.

Anyways, a week later i saw that Vista x64 is on the supported OS list and the drivers for all of my hardware are there. Will dell exchange my media for x64?