windows vista retail upgrade qustion

[kevinf2090]

does the retail versions of vista have both 64bit and 32 bit versions included. also i have heard that the upgrade version is not bootable and doesn't allow you to do a clean install and only a upgrade; is this true

 

[slpaulson]

Originally posted by: kevinf2090
does the retail versions of vista have both 64bit and 32 bit versions included. also i have heard that the upgrade version is not bootable and doesn't allow you to do a clean install and only a upgrade; is this true

No, it only has 32 bit. There is an insert in the upgrade package that will direct you to a site where you can get the 64 bit edition for the price of shipping.

From what Microsoft has been saying, you have to have XP installed on the PC you are upgrading, and you can't just insert a CD from your old Windows.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: cRazYdood
From what Microsoft has been saying, you have to have XP installed on the PC you are upgrading, and you can't just insert a CD from your old Windows.

Was just reading on winsupersite.com, and it says otherwise:

Understanding your installation choices.

How you acquire Windows Vista play a large part in any decision about how you will actually install the operating system. At a high level, you have the following basic choices:

Clean install. With this method, you boot the PC from the Windows Vista install DVD, run interactive Setup, format the PC's hard drive, and install Windows Vista as the only OS. This is probably the rarest way to get Vista on a PC. You can use a "Full" or "Upgrade" retail version of Windows Vista to perform a clean install, though you will need "qualifying media"--typically a Windows XP or 2000 CD that proves you qualify for the Upgrade version.

Upgrade. Here, you insert the install DVD from a "Full" or "Upgrade" retail version of Windows Vista while running Windows XP and perform what's called an in-place upgrade. The Setup process is similar to that of a clean install, but most of your existing applications and all of your data files will be available and working properly once the upgrade is complete. Unfortunately, there are a number of qualifications to the upgrade process in Windows Vista. First, you can only upgrade certain versions of Windows XP to certain versions of Windows Vista. Here's a chart that explains which XP versions can be upgraded:

From here: http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/winvista_03.asp