Operating Systems Inquire

[TehRageQuit]

I have a Inquiry about my computers hardware, and operating system instillation instructions.

In the spoiler below is a summery of my hardware, and following this line will be my questions.

When I gotten this computer It came with Windows Vista 32bit, and my hardware seems to be able to handle 64bit operating systems, Ive come to this conclusion from looking up the hardware on the manufactures sites, How can I install Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit onto the hardware I have?
I have been told before that you can't just install 64 bit on to a once 32 bit.

Spoiler

Operating System
Windows XP Professional 32-bit SP3
CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo E4700 @ 2.60GHz 45 °C
Conroe 65nm Technology
RAM
4.00GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 400MHz (5-6-6-18)
Motherboard
Intel Corporation D975XBX2 (J3E1) 46 °C
Graphics
Acer X223W (1440x900@60Hz)
1024MB ATI Radeon HD 5670 (VISIONTEK) 49 °C
Hard Drives
466GB Western Digital WDC WD5000AAKS-00D2B0 (SATA) 37 °C
Optical Drives
HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GH22NP20
Audio
AMD High Definition Audio Device

Information provided by Speccy

 

[Jayro]

Just pop in a 64-Bit Windows disc, and install it. You can't UPGRADE from 32-bit to 64-Bit, you will have to start a fresh installation.

 

[Arras]

What Jayro said. What was installed on a PC really doesn't matter, but you will have to do a fresh install.
Also, it might be worth installing 7 instead of Vista. Of course if you have a working Vista serial and you don't want to shell out for or pirate Win7, Vista is fine too.

 

[TehRageQuit]

Can I use Gnome to partition my current hard-drive and have the two installations on the same HDD.

I have tried Win7 and it never worked, I had it installed correctly but it never booted properly, it would just start to boot up but when It was set to auto boot to Win7 it wouldn't load, just get to a black screen. and when it was selected through boot manager it do the same thing.

 

[migles]

Can I use Gnome to partition my current hard-drive and have the two installations on the same HDD.

I have tried Win7 and it never worked, I had it installed correctly but it never booted properly, it would just start to boot up but when It was set to auto boot to Win7 it wouldn't load, just get to a black screen. and when it was selected through boot manager it do the same thing.

i don't think thats possible but i am not sure, you can backup your files and start a fresh installation..

 

[DinohScene]

64 bit Win 7/vista would run pretty smooth on it.

I'd personally 2 physical drives when dual booting.
less chance to mess up ;p

 

[tbgtbg]

Not to be all "let me google that for you" assholeish, but just google up the names of any two OSes along with dual boot and you should be able to find plenty of info out there that could come in handy setting up whatever you want on your system.

 

[Originality]

When dual booting, you generally need to partition your drive (unless you have more than one hard drive, which is advisable). One OS per partition.

If it doesn't boot, then either the installation got corrupted (so check the source of the installation) or just the boot sequence (check BIOS and GRUB to make sure everything is in the right order).