Trying to upgrade to Win7 ultimate 64 bit from 32 bit

[drakorex]

I tried booting it from a flashdrive, hoping to just enter the keys and upgrade, but it says it started from the disc and to restart my laptop and launch the installer again. When I do, it says it isn't compatable with my current version of windows and that I don't have the right OS to run it. Any ideas?

 

[trumpet-205]

Your Windows 7 key comes with the laptop right? In that case that key is locked to whatever Windows the OEM shipped with. You cannot use that key on a generic Windows 7 installation.

 

[drakorex]

No, I got the key that goes with the specific copy of windows. Reason for the upgrade is I want to make my emulators run smoother.

 

[trumpet-205]

No, I got the key that goes with the specific copy of windows. Reason for the upgrade is I want to make my emulators run smoother.

So you saying you bought the key on your own, not key that is on the laptop sticker?

If yes, then what key did you buy? OEM? Upgrade? Or full retail?

 

[Rydian]

You can't do a standard Windows upgrade from 32-bit to 64-bit. It only contains the update data for 32-32 or 64-64, not going from one to the other.

You'll need to back up your stuff and choose the "custom" option from the 64-bit installer, which is "remove old, install new" (thus backing up your stuff). That should be all you need to do, unless the actual license key upgrade feature is more complex, I've never done both at once myself.

 

[tbgtbg]

I would try taking the flashdrive out of the equation and try to install from disc, just to see what happens.

 

[drakorex]

I don't have the disc, that's why I'm using the flashdrive. Thank you Rydian, you've been most informative.

 

[Lacius]

Rydian is right. You have to use the "Custom" option. All your files will still be backed up to a Windows.old folder from which you can recover your files (you should still backup anything important), but you'll have to reinstall all your programs. If you're having issues, make sure you're booting directly into your installation USB/DVD instead of launching the setup after booting into your OS.

On a side note, I don't see why you're downgrading to a 32-bit OS unless it turns out you installed a 64-bit OS when you shouldn't have (i.e. low RAM, etc.). Misread your issue

 

[Originality]

Question: who said 64bit makes emulation smoother?

 

[The Milkman]

Question: who said 64bit makes emulation smoother?

Who said that?

 

[drakorex]

64 bit OS allows for more ram access, doesn't it?

 

[Rydian]

64-bit allows programs to use more than 2GB (3GB in rare cases) of RAM... but I doubt the emulators you're running are using nearly that much.

 

[The Milkman]

64 bit OS allows for more ram access, doesn't it?

Yeah, but that doesnt really affect emulation. Rydain will probably correct me, but I believe all RAM does is allow for additional tasks and process, but doesnt really make programs run faster.

 

[The Milkman]

64-bit allows programs to use more than 2GB (3GB in rare cases) of RAM... but I doubt the emulators you're running are using nearly that much.

Really? I thought it was more then 4GB.

 

[Psionic Roshambo]

Yeah, but that doesnt really affect emulation. Rydain will probably correct me, but I believe all RAM does is allow for additional tasks and process, but doesnt really make programs run faster.

Some programs do see increased performance going to 64 bits, but they have to be coded to take advantage of the new instructions, and yes there are new instructions. lol

 

[drakorex]

I figured if it would help run all my other programs more efficiently (glovepie, and everything else) with the hope of not bogging the emulators down. For example, I can play Sonic Rush with Desmume for a while, and eventually it wil slow to a laggy unplayable mess. So you're trying to tell me that the 64bit versions of emulators like desmume and dolphin are no better than 32bit??

 

[drakorex]

deleted

 

[FireEmblemGuy]

Really? I thought it was more then 4GB.

64-bit operating systems can address systems with 4GB of RAM or more; 32-bit operating systems generally won't 'see' more than 3GB or so on a machine regardless of how much is actually there. I don't know if 32-bit systems place a limit on how much RAM single programs are using but I can't imagine anyone would try to run a single program taking up 2-3GB of RAM with a machine that can only use around 3GB.

As for emulators, unless you've got something else clogging up your memory (a bunch of memory-intense programs running in the background, especially web browsers) there's not going to be a noticeable improvement in most cases.

 

[The Milkman]

Some programs do see increased performance going to 64 bits, but they have to be coded to take advantage of the new instructions, and yes there are new instructions. lol

Well I know programs have 32-bit and 64 bit versions, what im saying is that with emulation, if the slow down is really noticeable, RAM wont help, CPU will.

64-bit operating systems can address systems with 4GB of RAM or more; 32-bit operating systems generally won't 'see' more than 3GB or so on a machine regardless of how much is actually there. I don't know if 32-bit systems place a limit on how much RAM single programs are using but I can't imagine anyone would try to run a single program taking up 2-3GB of RAM with a machine that can only use around 3GB.

As for emulators, unless you've got something else clogging up your memory (a bunch of memory-intense programs running in the background, especially web browsers) there's not going to be a noticeable improvement in most cases.

Ahhh, I was thinking that it went directly from the limit.

 

[Rydian]

Yeah the per-process RAM limit isn't mentioned too often because nowadays if somebody is running a program that actually needs to agree more than 2GB of RAM, it's likely on a machine with a 64-bit OS in the first place.