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Inspiron 660s Windows 8 64-bit - need 32-bit
Howdy,
Have some friends that own a trophy shop that purchased some Inspiron 660s machines that come loaded with Windows 8 64-bit. They have an engraving machine (gigantic printer) that is too old to create 64-bit drivers for. (As per the vendor, the other engraving machine does have 64-bit drivers available and works fine.)
Is it possible to get Windows 8 32-bit for these machines? (I attempted contacting support and they did not seem to understand.)
I see that on the download page for these machines, there are only Windows 7 and Windows 8 64-bit drivers and not 32. Has anyone tried to load Windows 8 32-bit on one of these machines and have the Windows drivers work without any issues? I'd hate to have to buy copies of Windows 8 32-bit, but if it will work...
Thoughts? ideas?
Thanks
Philip_Yip
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January 16th, 2013 18:00
I would recommend creating the Dell DataSafe Recovery Media for Windows 8 64 bit before trying anything. You can use this for reinstalaltion in case anything goes wrong.
32 bit is non-standard so it will be harder to obtain the drivers for this system but you can Intel directly.
Now before wasting money on a Windows 8 32 bit license please download the Windows 8 32 bit 90 day evaluation for developers. You may find the download link here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/jj554510.aspx
Once you have installed this, run the Intel Driver Update Utility, most the system drivers are from Intel so this should cover them.
The non Intel drivers are mainly Realtek. The Realtek LOM Ethernet, Storage Card Reader and Audio driver for this model is 32 and 64 bit. The extracted files have 32 and 64 bit directories.
Install of these and then check the Device Manager for errors... See Windows Reinstallation Guide/Upgrading to Windows 8 for more details:
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/software-os/f/3524/t/19480753.aspx
Test the engraving machine to see if it works.
If it doesn't work you will need to try Windows 7, see Windows Reinstalaltion Guide above and use a Digital River .iso without a product key for a 30 day trial are also given in the WIndows Reinstallation Guide.
sliverbaer
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January 17th, 2013 05:00
Thanks for the info.
That was my plan, make a recovery disc and then load with Win8 to see what happens. I had purchased win8 for myself at launch and it came with a 32-bit disc. Was planning on testing with that and then purchasing licenses if it works.
Fingers crossed.
Thanks.
sliverbaer
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February 3rd, 2013 12:00
In the event anyone else is looking to do the same...
I learned that new machines actually have the oem product key for windows embedded into the motherboard. When I re-installed from my Windows 8 Pro 32-bit disk, it automatically activated windows using the embedded product key for Windows 8. (It did not use my key nor did it activate for pro.)
So if you need the 32-bit OS and you can get the media, you are good to re-install. Which is better since there's no dell pre-loaded bloat-ware.
All the drivers loaded fine, I just went to the Intel website and did the auto-driver-check. Chipset and video were updated. Everything else works fine. It was then easy to get the older print drivers to work in the 32-bit load.