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Running Windows 8, 32 bit would like to upgrade to 64 bit. How?
To do this I'm suppose to do a clean install. That's essentially a drive wipe isn't it? I don't want to lose any of my stuff. Could I possibly keep my 32 bit drive as a boot drive and install another drive to run the 64 bit OS for programs that I want to migrate to 64bit?
ieee488
4 Operator
4 Operator
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11.1K Posts
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November 15th, 2013 17:00
Google dualboot Windows
Philip_Yip
9 Legend
9 Legend
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November 16th, 2013 04:00
I am assuming you have purchased a Windows 8.0/8.1 upgrade product key as Dell do not generally sell Windows 8.0/8.1 32 Bit systems. The first thing you need is Windows 8.1 64 Bit media. Unfortunately Microsoft have made deployment of Windows 8.1 extremely awkward.
You need to run the downloader on a 64 Bit Windows system otherwise you will only get 32 Bit installation files. I don't know why there is no direct download link.
Anyway the best way to proceed is to install Windows 7 64 Bit from here:
http://philipyip.wordpress.com/windows-7-sp1-iso-download/
Install without using a product key for a 30 day trial. Once you have installed Windows 7 64 Bit follow the steps here to download a Windows 8.1 .iso:
http://philipyip.wordpress.com/download-windows-8-1-iso/
Then clean install Windows 8.1 64 Bit. Most of your 32 Bit applications will run in Windows 8.1 64 Bit with absolutely no problem unless they are extremely old and/or specialised.