Installing Vista 64 bit over Win XP MCE

[fritzfield1234]

Is there any way to run the Ultimate upgrade of Vista 64 without erasing the info on the HD? The Vista Ultimate 32 bit upgrade worked fine and kept all my data files and programs intact. When I decided to jump to the 64 bit Vista that was included in the upgrade, the 64 bit install essentially reformatted my HD.

My daughter wants to upgrade her XP MCE to Vista 64 bit, but I don't know how to do it without erasing her HD.

She has the hardware: 64 bit AMD X2 64 CPU and 4gig RAM

Are there any solutions with what I have to work with now?

 

[JustaGeek]

Just go for the dual-boot configuration.

Add a partition, or a separate drive, and transfer your documents from within the OS.

If something doesn't work, or is not compatibile, just boot back into the XP.

Good luck!

 

[spyordie007]

As memory serves it's the x86 to x64 architecture change that stops you from upgrading. You can upgrade XP x64 to Vista x64 and x86 XP to x86 Vista but not x86 to x64.

Not that I've ever tried any of them...