Upgrading my wife's laptop to 64-bit

[XMan]

I ordered my wife a Dell laptop for Christmas. I'm planning on yanking out the small hard drive and upgrading it and upgrading the memory to 4GB.

Can I use an OEM install of Vista 64 with the Dell key? It's only a 2GB laptop so the restore disk will only be 32-bit.

 

[RebateMonger]

You didn't say if the new Dell comes with Vista 32 or Vista 64. If you ask, Dell will likely provide a Vista Install DVD for the original installed version.

You could also use various cloning software to copy the contents of the original drive to a new, larger drive and partition.

If you use a generic OEM Vista x64 DVD, you'll likely have to call Microsoft to Activate it with the Dell-specific COA Key. But that shouldn't be a big deal.

 

[XMan]

It came with 32-bit. All of the useful applications are on seperate media, so I may just call take the calling MS route and end up with a relatively clean install.

 

[daveshel]

No, the product key for the 32-bit OS will not work with Vista 64. I would be afraid of having a hard time getting the drivers you need. Seems like every time I do a 64-bit install it doesn't install a NIC driver, which makes it harder to get the rest.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Same key should work for both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the same OS. HP --> HP, Ultimate --> Ultimate.

I've done it using the tools/instructions here.

 

[DrGreen2007]

the key works on both versions of Vista

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: daveshel
I would be afraid of having a hard time getting the drivers you need...

Dittos for the proper BIOS...

I own a Toshiba A215 - and Toshiba offers x64 downloads on their website...fortunately!

LoL! Took them about a year, but... better late than never, you know?

The thing is... Toshiba offers 2 different versions of BIOS (x86 & x64), sooo...

Personally, I wouldn't start messing with my wife's new lappy unless I had all my ducks in a row!

Here's a snappy of the Toshiba download page: http://www.vindsl.com/images/V..._Toshiba_Downloads.png

Better make sure Dell offers all this stuff...