32 to 64 upgrade

[lupi]

Fudge me, just went to install a new program on my htpc and found out that somehow the Win8 install there is only 32 bit mode. How painful is it going to be to find the 64bit install program and upgrade? All media data on non-OS hard drive so getting the OS up will be the difficult part.

 

[Bubbaleone]

Have your Windows 8 product key ready and make sure you’re on the PC you want to upgrade because the following MS link allows you to download setupbox.exe, which automatically downloads the image that matches the bitness of your system.

You can opt to install straight from the web, download to a USB flash drive, or create an ISO image. I've always prefered working with ISO so I only have to download once and always have a stock copy handy if I want to edit/mod the .wim.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/upgrade-product-key-only

 

[ViRGE]

Fudge me, just went to install a new program on my htpc and found out that somehow the Win8 install there is only 32 bit mode. How painful is it going to be to find the 64bit install program and upgrade?

Officially you can't upgrade, so by that definition the answer will be "fairly painful". You can use Windows Easy Transfer to help expedite the process, but you're going to have to do a fresh OS install. There's no possibility of doing a straight upgrade and keeping your installed programs as-is.

 

[corkyg]

32 bit to 64 bit requires a fresh install. As Virge says, you might be able to mitigate program and data transfers, but, it is a pain.

 

[lupi]

Since it's mostly the media storage unit, programs installed outside of the OS where very limited. I was in the process of isntalling one and it gave me an error (was a 64bit version) and that's what started the process. Guess when I originally put 8 on it from xp it screw up somehow and went with 32.

Ended up having to download the win8 install program on one of my win7 machines as it wouldn't work from the 8. Just deleted the previous 8 OS drive from within the setup program and it installed 8-64 just fine from there. One somewhat quirk though was that after it finished it swapped the assignments of the D and E drives from the former install.