VISTA 32bit - 64bit Upgrade Mess

[El]

Hi there.

I currently own a Sony VAIO running on VISTA Ultimate 32bit. This version
was upgraded from Windows VISTA Home Premium through Windows-Upgrade-Anywhere.

Because of various issues with VISTA and my Laptop I decided to upgrade to a
faster machine with 4 Gig Ram. I now would like to upgrade me VISTA Ultimate
32bit to VISTA Ultimate 64bit to remove the 3 Gig RAM restrictions.

Unfortunately no one at Microsoft could really tell me how to do this. This
is a all a big mess and trying to find information is really hard.

The company I run has a Microsoft Action Pack subscription and I now even
have 10 VISTA Business/Ultimate licenses... but again... all for 32bit. I
really don´t understand why it needs to be so hard to simply swap a 32bit
acquired license for a 62bit one. It´s an unnecessary restriction.

From a Microsoft Hotline I learned that swapping 32bit/64bit is no issue if
I bought a boxed version of VISTA Ultimate. The funny thing is that the same
Hotline told me months ago that there is no difference between buying a
"virtual license" through Upgrade-Anywhere and buying the boxed version.

If someone here knows an address/email of a person at Microsoft that can
actually help me out of this situation, I would be really thankful. This is
driving me mad.

Best regards,
Elmar

 

[Mike Brannigan]

Hi there.

I currently own a Sony VAIO running on VISTA Ultimate 32bit. This version
was upgraded from Windows VISTA Home Premium through
Windows-Upgrade-Anywhere.

Because of various issues with VISTA and my Laptop I decided to upgrade to
a
faster machine with 4 Gig Ram. I now would like to upgrade me VISTA
Ultimate
32bit to VISTA Ultimate 64bit to remove the 3 Gig RAM restrictions.

Unfortunately no one at Microsoft could really tell me how to do this.
This
is a all a big mess and trying to find information is really hard.

How to do this - simple insert your x64 Vista DVD in the drive and perform a
clean install - no upgrade is possible.

The company I run has a Microsoft Action Pack subscription and I now even
have 10 VISTA Business/Ultimate licenses... but again... all for 32bit. I
really don´t understand why it needs to be so hard to simply swap a 32bit
acquired license for a 62bit one. It´s an unnecessary restriction.

Check you pack again the Action Pack contains Vista Business 32 and 64 bit.
The 64 bit is disk X13-80626

 

[Max]

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/2057/ordermedia/default.mspx

 

[El]

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/2057/ordermedia/default.mspx

Thanks Max. I´ve been pointed to this URL before (and forgot to mention it
in my initial post, sorry) but unfortunately that doesn´t work my VISTA
Ultimate product key.

 

[El]

How to do this - simple insert your x64 Vista DVD in the drive and perform a
clean install - no upgrade is possible.

Maybe my post was misleading. I know how to install an OS. My question was
how to get a Windows VISTA Ultimate 64b install medium that I can stick into
my new Laptop and feed it with my existing license for VISTA Ultimate 32b.

In other words: I bought Windows VISTA Ultimate online and was told that
it´s the same as buying the boxed version. The boxed version has both the 32b
and 64b installation option. Now I need to know where to claim for that
option to move to 64b and get some kind of installation DVD. Of course I
would be paying for shipping and packaging.

Check you pack again the Action Pack contains Vista Business 32 and 64 bit.
The 64 bit is disk X13-80626

I´ll check. Nonetheless I would rather want to use my purchased Ultimate
version because -as I understood it- Business hasn´t got the BitLocker
feature.

thanks,
Elmar

 

[Mike Brannigan]

OK so if you want Bit locker then you need to buy either an upgrade to
Ultimate at your own expense by any channel route you wish or take out a
volume license deal with Microsoft and use Enterprise Edition instead.

If you already have purchased retail Ultimate then you get the 64-bit DVD in
the box.

I'm confused now as to what you actual issue is.

If you want Bit locker then Ultimate or Enterprise are your only options -
these have nothing to do with the Action pack which includes 64 and 32 bit
Business.
You can buy an upgrade to Ultimate if you wish from any source you want.

So what is your issue now?

 

[El]

OK so if you want Bit locker then you need to buy either an upgrade to
Ultimate at your own expense by any channel route you wish or take out a
volume license deal with Microsoft and use Enterprise Edition instead.

This is what I wrote in my first post. I own a valid VISTA Ultimate Upgrade
License 32b purchased through Window-Anywhere-Upgrade.

If you already have purchased retail Ultimate then you get the 64-bit DVD in
the box.

There is no Box. It was purchased by Anywhere-Upgrade after the local
Microsoft Hotline told me (March 07) that the versions and licenses where
identical.

I'm confused now as to what you actual issue is.

I have Ultimate 32b Upgrade -> want to install Ultimate 64b on new Laptop

If you want Bit locker then Ultimate or Enterprise are your only options -
these have nothing to do with the Action pack which includes 64 and 32 bit
Business.

No they haven´t. I just mentioned that I have ADDITIONAL Actionpack licenses
but that these discs don´t include an Ultimate 64b version.

You can buy an upgrade to Ultimate if you wish from any source you want.

Gosh, I know that. I did purchase a retail upgrade online... in March 07.
Home Premium to Ultimate 32b via Anytime-Upgrade. I need to the 64b version
of that and I can´t get it because I don´t have a 64b Ultimate disc nor seem
to have the type of license that enables me for ordering a DVD on:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/2057/ordermedia/default.mspx

The application rejects my Ultimate-Product key as invalid for obtaining an
installation DVD.

So what is your issue now?

I need information on how to get a Windows Vista Ultimate 64b Installation
medium that works with my purchased upgrade Product key and I don´t know how
to do it.

Elmar

 

[MyronH]

Hi there.

I currently own a Sony VAIO running on VISTA Ultimate 32bit. This version
was upgraded from Windows VISTA Home Premium through Windows-Upgrade-Anywhere.

Because of various issues with VISTA and my Laptop I decided to upgrade to a
faster machine with 4 Gig Ram. I now would like to upgrade me VISTA Ultimate
32bit to VISTA Ultimate 64bit to remove the 3 Gig RAM restrictions.

Unfortunately no one at Microsoft could really tell me how to do this. This
is a all a big mess and trying to find information is really hard.

The company I run has a Microsoft Action Pack subscription and I now even
have 10 VISTA Business/Ultimate licenses... but again... all for 32bit. I
really don´t understand why it needs to be so hard to simply swap a 32bit
acquired license for a 62bit one. It´s an unnecessary restriction.

From a Microsoft Hotline I learned that swapping 32bit/64bit is no issue if
I bought a boxed version of VISTA Ultimate. The funny thing is that the same
Hotline told me months ago that there is no difference between buying a
"virtual license" through Upgrade-Anywhere and buying the boxed version.

If someone here knows an address/email of a person at Microsoft that can
actually help me out of this situation, I would be really thankful. This is
driving me mad.

Best regards,
Elmar

From what I've heard, you can't use an upgrade to change the system type
from 32 bit to 64 bit
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/windowsanytimeupgrade/faq.mspx

Looks like you would have to get either a full retail or OEM copy of
Ultimate in order to move to 64 bit. If you have an available 64 bit
Buisiness licence in your pack, then you should be able to load that and then
use an anytime upgrade to Ultimate on the target system, but that is the only
thing that I can suggest (other than buying a new copy).

I could be wrong and there is a way to work around this issue, but I've
never seen what it may be. I would be interested in if it's possible, but
then again, the anytime upgrade is almost the same price as an OEM version of
Ultimate 64 anyway, so that is the most likely route that I'll take.

Regards,

 

[El]

Hi Myron.

From what I've heard, you can't use an upgrade to change the system type
from 32 bit to 64 bit:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/windowsanytimeupgrade/faq.mspx
Looks like you would have to get either a full retail or OEM copy of
Ultimate in order to move to 64 bit. If you have an available 64 bit
Buisiness licence in your pack, then you should be able to load that and then
use an anytime upgrade to Ultimate on the target system, but that is the only
thing that I can suggest (other than buying a new copy).

Thanks for your suggestion. That indeed is an option. I just think it is
very customer unfriendly to restrict people from being able to "convert" an
Upgrade of the same Software from 32b to 64b. Anyhow your link provides an
definitive answer to this.

I could be wrong and there is a way to work around this issue, but I've
never seen what it may be. I would be interested in if it's possible, but
then again, the anytime upgrade is almost the same price as an OEM version of
Ultimate 64 anyway, so that is the most likely route that I'll take.

You are right. But I really don´t want to spend more money on software I
already purchased. So I will probably just shut up, settle for Business 64b
and silently hope that Microsoft will rethink the way sell their major
product line at some point.

Thanks again,
Elmar

 

[MyronH]

Hi Myron.


Thanks for your suggestion. That indeed is an option. I just think it is
very customer unfriendly to restrict people from being able to "convert" an
Upgrade of the same Software from 32b to 64b. Anyhow your link provides an
definitive answer to this.


You are right. But I really don´t want to spend more money on software I
already purchased. So I will probably just shut up, settle for Business 64b
and silently hope that Microsoft will rethink the way sell their major
product line at some point.

Thanks again,
Elmar

Since you're looking for Ultimate for the Bitlocker capability, you might
want to consider True Crypt or some other 3rd party encryption software.
Here is the link to true crypt: http://www.truecrypt.org/

Someone else was enquiring on another site about Bitlocker with Vista
Business a few days ago and that was the suggestion to them.

Regards,

 

[Mike Brannigan]

OK - so this has nothing to do with your Action Pack then?.
Or are you trying to (after you have removed it from whatever machine you
installed it on if you did use it) use the anytime upgrade you bought which
was an upgrade from Home to Ultimate 32-bit as an upgrade for one of your
Action Pack Business Edition machines and you want this to be a 64-bit
system?

So if you bought an anytime upgrade and were shipped an anytime upgrade CD
then I assume you now want the 64-bit anytime upgrade DVD disk ?
In which case contact
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Don Farmer]

I bought a retail box of Vista Home Premium. It is 32 bit. In the printed
material there is this:
"If you need CDs or a DVD-ROM of the 64-bit software, simply visit
www.windowsvista.com/1033/ordermedia for information on how to obtain this
software."
I want 64-bit and visited this link. However, there is a problem with the
web site. Supposedly, it will be fixed real soon now. I found this out by
calling 1-800-834-6037.

 

[El]

So if you bought an anytime upgrade and were shipped an anytime upgrade CD

then I assume you now want the 64-bit anytime upgrade DVD disk ?
In which case contact
(e-mail address removed)

I will give it a try, although I still think that it might not work with 32b
key. Otherwise I need to go with the Action Pack Business Version.

Thanks for your patience Mike.
Elmar

 

[Reddox]

Im in the same problem. I participated in the windows feed back program, had
an option of Office 2007 or Windows Vista. I picked Vista, as it did not tell
whether it was 342bit or 64bit, so I figured both media was on the dvd.

I just got the DVD today, and its only 32bit Ultimate... ouch! I tried the
link above to get the 64bit media, but it only gave me an option to order the
32bit media .... how do I get the correct (64bit) media?