You cannot upgrade from 32 bit Vista to 64 bit Windows 7

The debate has been raging since last Friday when $29 student upgrades to Windows 7 started going into a never-ending reboot.

“For those that have purchased Windows 7 from Digital River and receive the error ‘We are unable to create or save new files in the folder in which this application was downloaded’ when going through the ‘Unloading the Box’ [step] Microsoft Answers

Considering the millions of successful upgrades, the people who are having trouble are not statistically significant but it it’s your computer then it is a nightmare.

In the age of Internet, the word of this problem traveled like a brush fire. That’s one good thing about Canadian Press or Associated Press: you wouldn’t hear about this until next week if all you did was read the papers.

The problem is specific to the Digital River down-loadable upgrades. Warning: the phrase down-loadable upgrades may make readers dizzy. At $29 a pop, Microsoft didn’t want to manufacture a DVD and a box.

“We are aware that consumers are encountering difficulties installing Windows 7 where the customer is currently running a 32-bit version of Windows such as Windows Vista, but purchased the 64-bit version of Windows 7,” Michael said.(a Microsoft support person)

Here it is plain and simple – want to install Windows 7 64 bit? You must perform a clean install (wipe your hard drive) and install from zero. Upgrades are only from 64 bit Vista to 64 bit Windows 7.

Clean installs are usually better in the long run but take planning – as in backup everything – and more time to re-install software, drivers and preferences.

I must admit, I missed that in all the reading I’ve done – too much small print – and the two computers I upgraded so far have been 32 bit to 32 bit and 64 bit to 64 bit.

With story from Computerworld