Switching from Vista Ultimate 64-bit to Home Premium 32-bit

[LAB Enterprises]

Does anyone here have experience/suggestions for switching for 64-bit to
32-bit Vista? My sisters HP Pavilion laptop came with Vista Ultimate 64-bit,
however, a $4000 program we just bought so she can work for herself will NOT
run on Vista 64-bit (actually it's usb dongle is the part that doesn't work
under 64-bit but they have no plans of changing this so we are having to
change the os), so we are buying the full version of Vista Home Pro 32-bit
for her.

I'm planning to reformat her drive and install it from scratch, but wondered
if anyone else has done this or has notes? Anyone know of a step-by-step
anywhere? I've never installed Vista and its been years since I installed
even XP, so... do we have to do a special formatting or anything to change
it to 32 bit? Like the OFS versus FFS from years ago?

Thanks in advance!

Lori

 

[DP]

Let me give you an initial warning. Eventually the more knowledgeable folk
will weigh in.
The computer was set up for 64-bit, so that means it has 64-bit drivers.
Which means you're going to need the 32-bit drivers. They may be on the
Vista install disk. They may not. Other responders will tell you how to
handle that issue.
And are you positive the dongle will work with 32-bit Vista? The company
assures you of that?

How did you wind up with 64-bit Vista? Did your sister order it that way?
Why?
(Just wondering, since getting 64-bit Vista is hardly automatic. You really
have to take a few extra steps to get it.)

 

[John Barnes]

You should have no problems, but you should make sure you have 32-bit
drivers for all functions on the computer available. You may have to load
the SATA driver during the install to see the drive to install on. After
the install you will need to install the other 32-bit drivers.

 

[Mick Murphy]

As John said, check thedriver side of things 1st.

First of all, at Power on, right at Startup, hit F2 or Delete, and go into
BIOS.
It will tell you which Key to use for BIOS at the bottom of tha screen.
Set your Boot order to boot from CD/DVD drive 1st.
You will use the UP and DOWN Arrows to do it
Have the 32bit DVD in the Drive; reboot.

Follow instructions to delete the existing partition of Vista, format the
Drive, install Vista.

Any further questions, repost!

 

[Jeffrey Kaplan]

Previously on microsoft.public.windows.vista.general, LAB Enterprises
said:

Does anyone here have experience/suggestions for switching for 64-bit to
32-bit Vista? My sisters HP Pavilion laptop came with Vista Ultimate 64-bit,
however, a $4000 program we just bought so she can work for herself will NOT
run on Vista 64-bit (actually it's usb dongle is the part that doesn't work
under 64-bit but they have no plans of changing this so we are having to
change the os), so we are buying the full version of Vista Home Pro 32-bit
for her.

Home Premium does not have built-in encryption. If she wants to use
the Encrypted File System to protect her data against a physical theft
of her computer, she'll need Vista Business or higher. For this
reason, my employer is reimbursing me the upgrade price to go from Home
Premium to Ultimate on my laptop.

--
Jeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org
The from userid is killfiled Send personal mail to gordol

Peter's Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord, #38.
If an enemy I have just killed has a younger sibling or offspring
anywhere, I will find them and have them killed immediately, instead of
waiting for them to grow up harboring feelings of vengeance towards me
in my old age.

 

[LAB Enterprises]

Yes, I know I'll have to get the new drivers - not an issue since I have a
very similar laptop already running Home Premium 32 bit and have all the
drivers she will need since we are set up on the same network. And yes, the
dongle works fine with 32-bit Vista, just not 64-bit Vista. They were
actually demoing the program this week on 32-bit Vista machines.

She bought a refurb HP Pavilion and didn't know there was any difference -
it had Vista ultimate 64-bit installed on it. I bought an HP Pavilion at
Office Depot brand new and it had 32-bit.

Lori

--
Shop for clothes, boots, gothic, jewelry, collectible, Egyptian and more!
LAB Enterprises - (e-mail address removed)
Read our blog with links to all our stores at www.Labeshops.com

Let me give you an initial warning. Eventually the more knowledgeable folk
will weigh in.
The computer was set up for 64-bit, so that means it has 64-bit drivers.
Which means you're going to need the 32-bit drivers. They may be on the
Vista install disk. They may not. Other responders will tell you how to
handle that issue.
And are you positive the dongle will work with 32-bit Vista? The company
assures you of that?

How did you wind up with 64-bit Vista? Did your sister order it that way?
Why?
(Just wondering, since getting 64-bit Vista is hardly automatic. You
really have to take a few extra steps to get it.)

 

[LAB Enterprises]

Thanks. No worries on encryption.

Lori

 

[LAB Enterprises]

Thanks. I know about bios settings so that’s not a problem. My biggest
concern was if there was a different file system you have to use for 64 vs
32 bit ala the old FFS thing but it doesn't appear to be so not too worried
about it.

Lori

 

[LAB Enterprises]

Thanks. I have a nearly identical HP Pavilion with the 32 bit drivers
already, so this isn't a big concern. We are networked too so she should
just be able to search my drive for the suitable drivers when we get to that
point.

Lori

--
Shop for clothes, boots, gothic, jewelry, collectible, Egyptian and more!
LAB Enterprises - (e-mail address removed)
Read our blog with links to all our stores at www.Labeshops.com

You should have no problems, but you should make sure you have 32-bit
drivers for all functions on the computer available. You may have to load
the SATA driver during the install to see the drive to install on. After
the install you will need to install the other 32-bit drivers.

 

[John Barnes]

Just because it is a similar model doesn't mean the drivers will work. Best
go to the HP website and download the specific drivers for HER machine.

 

[Richard G. Harper]

No, that won't work. You need to download the proper driver packages. Just
having them installed on "a nearly identical PC" won't let you browse for
them and load them. Neither is "nearly identical" good enough even if it
would work. Laptops are notoriously finicky about drivers and the wrong
ones can be a very bad thing to have.

 

[LAB Enterprises]

Right, that is the plan for any that we otherwise don't have. She doesn't do
much on her pc though, so the only drivers she has really is nvidia (the
identical card in mine), wifi (the identical card in mine). Which is why I
said I already have the same drivers in mine. The only real difference in
our specs is that hers came with ultimate 64 and mine had home 32 bit vista.

Lori

 

[John Barnes]

There are numerous drivers associated with the motherboard that may not be
the same unless you have the identical MOBO.

 

[LAB Enterprises]

yes, I know. Thanks. I already downloaded all of those and put them on a
thumb drive. Vista Home Pro should be here next week so I'll you all know
how it goes after the install

Lori

 

[John Barnes]

Sounds like you are all set. Good luck.

yes, I know. Thanks. I already downloaded all of those and put them on a
thumb drive. Vista Home Pro should be here next week so I'll you all know
how it goes after the install

Lori

 

[LAB Enterprises]

Well guys, I have to say, switching from Vista ultimate 64-bit to Home
Premium 32-bit went super smoothly. No issues whatsoever. We formatted the C
partition, installed VHP 32bit, and read the drivers we had already
downloaded from a thumb drive and were up and running immediately. Actually
one of the smoothest windows installations I've ever done.

Thanks for all the advice

Lori