Downgrade Vista 64 to Vista 32.

[Michel Leduc]

Hi,

I bought Vista 64 business edition (oem) with a new computer that I built.
I re-installed pretty much all my software and transfered all my data from
my old computer.

The last program I needed to install is running BDE (Borland Database
Engine).
I found out (the hard way) that BDE is NOT compatible with Vista 64 (or XP
64)... (this incompatibility wasn't mentioned on the software manufacturer
requirement page, but after my call to them now it is !)

So it seems that I need to downgrade to Vista 32 and do a fresh install.

Is there a way to downgrade to Vista 32 without having to buy a second time
Vista ?

Thanks

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Hi,

I bought Vista 64 business edition (oem) with a new computer that I built.
I re-installed pretty much all my software and transfered all my data from
my old computer.

The last program I needed to install is running BDE (Borland Database
Engine).
I found out (the hard way) that BDE is NOT compatible with Vista 64 (or XP
64)... (this incompatibility wasn't mentioned on the software manufacturer
requirement page, but after my call to them now it is !)

So it seems that I need to downgrade to Vista 32 and do a fresh install.

Is there a way to downgrade to Vista 32 without having to buy a second
time
Vista ?

Thanks

No. A preinstalled copy of Vista does not entitle you to a free dvd of the
other bitness the way the retail copies do. Since you have x64 preinstalled
you do not also get a free x86 dvd. You need a retail x86 dvd and for
reasons explained below, you need a full edition pk and not an upgrade pk.

Also, it is imperative when doing a retromigration (x64 back to x86) that
you do NOT do it by performing a Custom install from the desktop of the
existing x64 Windows even though x86 Setup will run in your x64 desktop.
That produces a flawed installation of Windows. You MUST perform a classic
clean installation by booting with the x86 dvd and using the Disk Tools to
deleted the present partition and create a new one. You cannot do that with
only an upgrade product key using the x86 dvd.

Please see the thread "Report on retromigration installations (x64 to x86)"
on microsoft.public.windows.64bit.general posted on 7/13/2008 for the
results of testing this.

You may view the thread here:
http://groups.google.com/group/micr...eneral/browse_thread/thread/e3d32fb1e42735a1#

There is an explanation of why a clean install is necessary.

An alternative here is to run the database in a virtual machine using MS
VPC. That would not require any partitioning or rebooting and you can keep
your x64 installation intact. That, however, also requires an additional
Windows license, but it can be any OS that BDE will run in (Windows 2000,
XP, Vista). If you already own such a copy of Windows then I would use it
to set up a virtual machine and test BFE in it to see if that will work for
you.