Windows 10 32 bit to windows 10 64 bit?

justaquestion
justaquestion Posts: 737 Forumite
in Techie Stuff
Hi folks,

A few question if its ok,

I got the free upgrade of windows 10 from windows 7 32 bit, and just wondering now (as I think I can do a clean install) if I choose windows 10 64 bit, will it activate ok?

I was under the impression that it wouldn't that I have to stick with 32 bit windows 10, but doing a search on net, brought back some pages that it could indeed work, to successfully activate a 64 bit, just need it for music making applications as I can utilise more RAM. Anyone have any experience of getting a previous 32 bit windows 10 activated as a 64 bit using 64 bit media intall?

One last question if it did work, can I more or less download an ISO with the creators update on it, as otherwise updating it form scratch would take a while?
Many thanks.

Comments

  • Mista_C
    Mista_C Posts: 2,202 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    You can switch to 64 bit using your current activation but it must be a clean install.

    I download the Windows 10 media today and although I'm not sure it has the creator's update (I was rushing to install on a Christmas present before the Daughter got home so not delved into it) it was certainly a different beast than what I installed a few months back.
  • Carrot007
    Carrot007 Posts: 4,534 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Win 10 licenses are not specific to a bit version. And movign to 64 bit is a nice excuse for a fresh install which is always a good thing!

    Back in the update from win 7 I updated a few computers on win 7 32 bit to win 10 32 bit and then just did a clean install of 64 bit. They eventually let you do the install as a fresh one so you could go straight to 64 bit but it was too late by then!

    If you download the instalaltion media to put on a disk USB from MS then it will be the most up to date currently available.
  • wongataa
    wongataa Posts: 2,619 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Mista_C wrote: »
    You can switch to 64 bit using your current activation but it must be a clean install.

    I download the Windows 10 media today and although I'm not sure it has the creator's update (I was rushing to install on a Christmas present before the Daughter got home so not delved into it) it was certainly a different beast than what I installed a few months back.
    When you download it you will get whatever is the current version at the time you downloaded it. You won't get past versions.
  • Neil_Jones
    Neil_Jones Posts: 8,906 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    wongataa wrote: »
    When you download it you will get whatever is the current version at the time you downloaded it. You won't get past versions.

    Not that it matters because if it can get on the internet during installation and it finds a newer build it'll download that automatically before you get anywhere near the desktop.
  • Mista_C
    Mista_C Posts: 2,202 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    wongataa wrote: »
    When you download it you will get whatever is the current version at the time you downloaded it. You won't get past versions.

    Yes, I understand that but I thought being so vastly different may offer a clue as to whether the creators update was integrated into that package.
  • Neil_Jones
    Neil_Jones Posts: 8,906 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    You can get the past versions of the Windows 10 installers if you want them, though by default the first thing they'll do given half a chance is upgrade to the latest build. This is more for people who find that a certain build doesn't work properly on their computer.

    You can get links to the ISOs from windowsiso.net which in a lot of cases actually links to (effectively hidden) files on Microsoft's servers.
  • wongataa
    wongataa Posts: 2,619 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Mista_C wrote: »
    Yes, I understand that but I thought being so vastly different may offer a clue as to whether the creators update was integrated into that package.
    If the creators update was the current version when you downloaded it then that is what you got.
  • phillw
    phillw Posts: 5,593 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    edited 30 November 2017 at 12:00PM
    Mista_C wrote: »
    download the Windows 10 media today and although I'm not sure it has the creator's update (I was rushing to install on a Christmas present before the Daughter got home so not delved into it) it was certainly a different beast than what I installed a few months back.

    If you downloaded it from microsoft then it's the fall creators update. The only thing that jumps out at me as different is there is now a "People" icon on the task bar.

    I've only installed 32 bit windows 10 on a computer that is 32 bit only, so I've never upgraded. However everything points to you being fine with activation, but you will effectively be doing a clean install.

    I would take the opportunity to get a new hard drive and install on that. That way if anything goes wrong you can put your old hard drive in and you're instantly back up working. Things that can go wrong are problematic device drivers, you forgot to back something up, you don't have the key or disc to install some software that you need.

    There is an argument for installing Windows 1511 first, because starting with 1607 any clean installs have stricter driver signing requirements. There are still some hardware drivers out there that cause me some issues. However that is a personal decision that only you can make, because in some ways it does offer you greater security.
  • Mista_C
    Mista_C Posts: 2,202 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    phillw wrote: »
    If you downloaded it from microsoft then it's the fall creators update. The only thing that jumps out at me as different is there is now a "People" icon on the task bar.

    Microsoft have made a bunch of changes especially in settings. Not only that but Cortana starts prattling at you during the install.
    I've only installed 32 bit windows 10 on a computer that is 32 bit only, so I've never upgraded. However everything points to you being fine with activation, but you will effectively be doing a clean install.

    I would take the opportunity to get a new hard drive and install on that. That way if anything goes wrong you can put your old hard drive in and you're instantly back up working. Things that can go wrong are problematic device drivers, you forgot to back something up, you don't have the key or disc to install some software that you need.

    There is an argument for installing Windows 1511 first, because starting with 1607 any clean installs have stricter driver signing requirements. There are still some hardware drivers out there that cause me some issues. However that is a personal decision that only you can make, because in some ways it does offer you greater security.
    Thanks for the advice but I'm not after help. It's a new laptop I'm working on for my daughter but I'm doing a clean install of Windows 10 to get rid of all the default bloat.
    No need for anything to be backed up anyway, any data is saved on my servers and gets backed up automatically from there.

    Good advice though :beer:
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