Windows 7 64-bit Question

[Joel Crane]

I bought Windows 7 Professional from Digital River on the $30 Student deal. I selected 32-bit, only to be given a very nice machine with a 64-bit processor and 8GB of RAM a few months later. I could run 32-bit Windows 7 on the new machine, but 4GB of RAM would be wasted.

I asked Digital River for a 64-bit key, as I understand that retail copies of Windows 7 come with both 32 and 64-bit discs.

Digital River emailed me back saying that my 32-bit key will work to move Windows to the new machine, but it just doesn't. Any ideas?

I installed without activating it, and this thing is blazing fast!

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

I am pretty sure that the 32-bit and 64-bit keys are different. Can't use one in lieu of another. Perhaps you need to press them a bit more? Or is your version not a retail copy?

[Joel Crane]

It's an upgrade copy, which is probably the problem.

[Joel Crane]

I got it working!

I'm a fan of clean installs. With 32-bit Windows 7, I was able to format my hard drive and remove the previous version of Windows before performing a clean install with the upgrade key.

With 64-bit Windows 7, I had to install it without a product key, and then perform an in-place upgrade on the fresh install before my key would work. A quick call to Microsoft for a verification code was needed since I've reinstalled it before and am now moving it to a new machine.

So there is one difference between 32 and 64 bit editions when using an upgrade key, 32-bit upgrades can be clean installed, 64-bit must be either upgraded or double-installed.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

That is just so weird. Windows 7 upgrades still mystify me. It's almost like voodoo at times.