# Windows Vista 32bit to Windows 8 64bit



## andybuck (Oct 13, 2012)

I plan on getting Windows 8 64bit upon its release. However, I am confused as to what license I will require.

I currently have a HP laptop (pavilion dv6760ea) running Windows Vista 32bit.

I will be upgrading the laptop HDD to a SSD and also (hopefully) upgrading to Windows 8 64bit.

My plan is to do the following:

install the new SSD, 
re-install Windows Vista 32bit (also have a question regarding this too, see below*),
upgrade from Vista 32bit to Windows 8 64bit (via custom installation).

All my data will already be backed up due to the drive swap, so losing any data is not a problem, all I need to know is that it is possible to upgrade using an Upgrade license of Windows 8 64bit.

Or, will I need a full OEM license of Windows 8 and start from scratch?

* Question regarding re-installing Windows vista;

As the laptop originally came with a 250GB HDD with a HP custom install of Windows Vista, and I will be fitting a 128GB SSD, I don't think I can use the original recovery disc as it will not be able to use the same drive partition settings (something like 9gb for recovery).

Can I instead use a plain standard (legal) copy of the Vista installation disc and use the Windows license key from the bottom of the laptop? Or will this flag as an invalid license key when validating Windows?

Thanks in advance for your replies, if any further information is required I'd be happy to try and provide that.

Andy.


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## peterh40 (Apr 15, 2007)

If the license key at the bottom of your laptop is for Vista, then yes you can use that with a standard copy of Vista as long as the editions match up (Home Basic, Home Premium, Pro or Ultimate).
And I believe that users with Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 can upgrade to the retail version of Windows 8 (see http://www.itproportal.com/2012/10/08/preparing-yourself-for-windows-8/)


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## andybuck (Oct 13, 2012)

Thanks for your reply, that article answered my questions quite nicely, wish I'd seen it myself.

Also thanks for the Vista advice, should be all set for the upgrade now on the 26th.


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

Why install Vista at all? A 32 bit to 64 bit move will not be an upgrade process, you will have to reinstall all your software anyway. Simply install Windows 8 onto the brand new SSD.


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## andybuck (Oct 13, 2012)

Triple6 said:


> Why install Vista at all? A 32 bit to 64 bit move will not be an upgrade process, you will have to reinstall all your software anyway. Simply install Windows 8 onto the brand new SSD.


I assumed that I would need Vista installed to use the Upgrade license?

As far as I was aware the Windows 8 Upgrade edition dvd can only be installed if Windows XP/Vista/7 is already present, otherwise I would need a full Windows 8 dvd?

Currently the Windows 8 upgrade is pre-ordering at £49.99, whereas the full version is £77.49, so if I can save myself £27.50 I would like to do so if it just means installing Vista first.


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

With Windows XP you could simply provide the previous CD during installation as proof, with Vista you simply install it twice; first time without a key, the second time with a key, with Windows 7 there were several methods. All much cleaner then an actual upgrade. Looking further into this, those options may no longer be possible. You can apparently upgrade from the Windows 8 Consumer Preview though. 

If installing a previous version of Windows is the only way to use the upgrade method then only install the O/S and no programs, drivers, or updates before doing the install. In that scenario I'd recommend doing a format of the drive rather then having it backup the previous system/data, an option to format the drive supposedly given in the upgrade procedure.


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

> Currently the Windows 8 upgrade is pre-ordering at £49.99


That seems high. Have you looked around? The Upgrade is supposed to be available for $40 US, which I think is about £25.


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## Scorchi (Oct 29, 2012)

Hope this helps someone who experiences a similar problem. I was running windows 8 64 bit preview on my old XP server and with the current price of windows 8 pro at £25 thought I would upgrade it. It was a breeze you click on buy, it runs the advisor tool, you click preserve files and settings it runs and it upgrades. It took a couple of hours but hey it had a lot of work to do. So that was successful. Two of my children had Samsung R510 laptops running 32 bit vista home premium but both have dual core intel chips that could run 64 bit (so I thought). So I backed up their files using windows easy transfer tool, took another file copy backup (as I am paranoid) and ran the upgrade. Same thing happened easy upgrade then I checked and found it had installed the 32 bit version of windows 8. There was no point in the upgrade you could select either 32 or 64 bit. So I ran it again and this time created the media to upgrade via USB stick. You've guessed it it installed the 32 bit version again. I was now into the small hours of the morning and decided to take the drastic step of wiping the laptops, installing the 64 bit release preview version of windows 8 and then ran the upgrade again using the licence key I bought at the start of the vista upgrade. Result is two happy children with Laptops that are faster and using all 64 bits and one very tired Father who can't believe Microsoft didn't think of enabling a 32 to 64 bit upgrade path. The upgrade advisor is very useful in telling you which programs you will need to reinstall. You should also use something like Belarc advisor to take a snapshot of all your licence keys before you start the upgrade process.
Hope this helps people.


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

By the way, I realize now that the £49.99 is for DVD and £25 is for download ("Upgrade" version in both cases).


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