32-bit to 64-bit?
 

My friend wants me to get him a copy of windows 7 edition b/c I can get a student discount on them. He has Intell QuadCore q9550 and it can support 64-bit. I'm asking, since he has 32-bit XP on his PC right now can he use the Win7 64-bit upgrade? (I only get discounts on upgrades, can't get a clean install)

Yeah.

Do explain, rat.

Uh, not much to explain really.
Yes, if someone owns 32-bit XP, then they should qualify for a 64-bit Windows 7 upgrade.

What do you mean by qualify? Is it compatible going between the two? Is there any known problems when upgrading from 32bit to 64bit without doing a clean install?

I highly recommend backing up all your data and doing a clean install. 32bit to 64bit is not pretty. That's why I asked packrat to explain himself.

Oh, yeah. Here I thought it was a qualification question (i.e. can get discount on upgrade from vista to 7, but not xp). Yeah, definitely back all your data up. The upgrade from XP to 7 is there (Microsoft would be FOOLS to not support this), but extremely slow according to many people.
I would recommend doing a clean install anyways. Also, it is possible, and apparently relatively easy, to modify the Win7 upgrade to act as a clean install disc.

I know I saw the upgrade path table before, and here it is:

http://luken.org/wordpress/wp-conten...1-750x1024.png

Since you are coming from Windows XP, a clean installation is your only option. Back that thang up.

Strange. I could swear I saw people talking about upgrading from XP to 7 being built into the installer, even a whole review bitching about the length of the process.

Would that be just choosing the custom option below on the Upgrade version of the disc?
http://res2.windows.microsoft.com/re...619b9d6445.jpg Because I did that when upgrading my pc and it still kept files.(edit)

(Edit) Thanks, I actually just found this about 3 seconds after posted.


HOW TO DO A FULL INSTALL WITH AN UPGRADE DISK:
1) Put in the Upgrade disk and boot into it.
2) Install the OS, but DO NOT enter your product code!!! Select skip instead.
3) After install in complete, run Setup from INSIDE the new install and this time enter your Product Key.

You mean like Microsoft's own article documenting the process?. I never said you cannot use a Windows 7 Upgrade disc and Activation Code to go from XP to 7, just that you cannot perform an in-place upgrade installation.

Well according to me this will be depends upon the application and how it has been coded. Some of the code just be recompiled with a 64-bit compiler. But it will just work if the code has been designed with portability in mind. I think that main problem you can face when switching to 64 bit is that the size of pointers are different.