Possible to go from 32-bit to 64-bit windows 7?

shorty28898shorty28898
edited April 2010 in Science & Tech
I have an intel core 2 duo T8300 and running windows 7 32 bit. Is there anyway to backup some programs so i don't have to re install them if i wanted to run 64-bit windows 7?

Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited April 2010
    You have to completely reformat and reinstall.
  • shorty28898shorty28898
    edited April 2010
    Thrax wrote:
    You have to completely reformat and reinstall.
    okay thank you, is there much of a speed difference between the two?
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    edited April 2010
    Probably not. The major differences are covered here: http://www.w7forums.com/windows-7-64-bit-vs-32-bit-t484.html

    The tl;dr version though is unless you have 4GB or more RAM or regularly work with programs that are 64-bit optimized, you likely won't see any difference between the two.
  • miragemirage
    edited April 2010
    There is no upgrade path from x86 to x64 but you can just install x64 over x86. Windows will create a windows.old directory and move everything there while installing a fresh 64-bit windows on the computer. The Windows.old directory is useful to move some of the programs without reinstallation, or restore program settings after reinstalling the additional software. You can do the followings for example, -
    - move the complete Steam directory from Windows.old\Program Files to \Program Files (x86) and just double click the steam executable to start it without reconfiguring and downloading all of the games again. You can reinstall just Steam package to restore start menu items and icons; it will preserve everything from previous x86 installation.
    - restore your bookmarks from your old Firefox proflie
    - some programs just work without reinstallation after moving them like Steam. Or, you can reinstall and copy the settings from your personal directory in Windows.old (like game saves)
    etc. etc.

    You can finally delete Windows.old after you are sure that there is nothing useful left.
  • RichDRichD Essex, UK
    edited April 2010
    mirage wrote:
    There is no upgrade path from x86 to x64 but you can just install x64 over x86. Windows will create a windows.old directory and move everything there while installing a fresh 64-bit windows on the computer. The Windows.old directory is useful to move some of the programs without reinstallation, or restore program settings after reinstalling the additional software. You can do the followings for example, -
    - move the complete Steam directory from Windows.old\Program Files to \Program Files (x86) and just double click the steam executable to start it without reconfiguring and downloading all of the games again. You can reinstall just Steam package to restore start menu items and icons; it will preserve everything from previous x86 installation.
    - restore your bookmarks from your old Firefox proflie
    - some programs just work without reinstallation after moving them like Steam. Or, you can reinstall and copy the settings from your personal directory in Windows.old (like game saves)
    etc. etc.

    You can finally delete Windows.old after you are sure that there is nothing useful left.

    This will work for some stuff but surely you loose all the registry settings that are added when you first install the software? This sounds a bit dodgey in as far as it sounds like a surefire way to introduce a whole stack of registry issues which can lead to all sorts of error messages when running the software. I agree in principle that you dont need to reformat and that you can just install the X64 version and backup the old version to windows.old but I would say that you should only copy out profile elements and saved files. You should re-install all software from scratch.

    Just my opinion.
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