OEM Vista Home Premium 32-bit to 64-bit

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AyeAyeCaptain

Level 1
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Feb 24, 2011
585
Hi guys, please forgive the use of the outdated OS.... I have a computer (pre-built laying about....) that has 32-bit OEM installed... a friend of mine who has MDSN is sorted me legit 64-bit iso download out... Question is, as i am a bit rusty...

1) will it take it fine, or require to ring up microsoft (what would i say?)
2) with it been prebuilt could someone give my brain freezed head a step by step of how to go about things to make sure get as little hiccups as possible.... what drivers etc would I need to source... or will it not matter as not going up to 7 or higher...

Current spec is
Q6600
4GB DDR 2 RAM
775 socket FoxConn G31MX Motherboard (limited to 4GB Ram.... lol but at least can make full use of the ram when done)
9800GT Zotac 512mb
500 watch cheap Artic..

Old Zoostorm prebuilt...

Thanks in advance for any input, really out of touch and rusty (need to get my head back into the game!)
 

OokamiCreed

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May 8, 2015
881
She isn't out of date yet. Still have until 2017 before end of extended support. Windows 7 ends in 2020. Neither have mainstream support other than Windows 8 and 10.

Windows lifecycle fact sheet - Windows Help

The ISO's are universal for both OEM and non-OEM (tried and tested on my OEM HP computers - I have 3 of them with 3 different codes. Also works for Dell computers so should work fine for anything including custom builds). I've gotten an OEM disk with my last HP computer and it worked for for non-OEM. The only thing that I saw be OEM is the key itself (when activated, you'll see OEM in the system area of control panel at the bottom).

Obviously you will need a key to activate Windows Vista. I believe Windows Vista, like 7, allows you to skip initial insertion of key. I'd skip then type in when computer is loaded otherwise you might have to call an automated service to activate it (sometimes it happens, sometimes it don't - it probably has to do with me not having internet until computer is fully installed with wifi driver - if you run Ethernet, you'd be fine so I'd go ahead and type it in).

Ethernet should work without drivers and the only real thing you would need a driver for is that graphics card. This is the driver you need: NVIDIA DRIVERS GeForce 341.92 Driver

Driver supports Vista 64 and up.

I've probably reinstalled Windows OS (from XP up to 10) at least 200 times so I'm pretty confident that this information is accurate. Personally for all other drivers, I use Slimdrivers (free with no real limits). Sometimes drivers are hard to find manually and Slimdrivers hasn't ever installed the wrong driver once on my computers. Some don't recommend driver updaters though so it's up to you. Not all of them are bad.
 

AyeAyeCaptain

Level 1
Thread author
Feb 24, 2011
585
Thanks for taking the time to reply, much appreciated. :D I feel a lot more confident in updating now.... will go for a full clean install and backup my docs/pics.... can re-download all my steam games due to been on 150Mb Fibre optic line... 150/12 :)

Will be doing this later, will let you know how i get on ;)
 

OokamiCreed

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May 8, 2015
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Also forgot to mention that no key is exclusive to 32 or 64 bit. You can install 32 or 64 bit with that key and it will activate fine so the upgrade from 32bit to 64bit Vista (or any other Windows OS) won't be a problem to worry about.
 

OokamiCreed

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@OokamiCreed I doubt 32 bit key can be used to activate 64 bit version.

Keys don't have specifications on what bit you can use them with. You are more than welcome to look it up, test it yourself (like I did), or ask Microsoft.

The only thing a key cares about is what version of Windows your using. Vista Home Basic can only be used to activate Vista Home Basic for instance. No more, no less. I've already used the key I'm using now to activate both Windows 7 Pro 32bit (what it came with) and then installed Windows 7 Pro 64bit to fully utilize the 4GB of RAM it came with. I also used that Windows 7 Pro key to activate Windows 10 Pro 64bit.
 

Paul B.

Level 4
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Dec 21, 2014
186
The COA key will work, or better in my view, you can preserve the original OEM activation.

I would also get the right drivers, they may make the unit run cooler and faster.
 
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