CJ Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 I have a fully working (cough) version of Win 7 and was running the 32 bit version. I have now upgraded to 4gb RAM and decided to upgrade the Win 7 to 64 bit too but I am unsure as to what to do. Do I just do a reinstall? Or do I go through the upgrade folder on in the files? All the Win & program is on an external HD as opposed to a cd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamanC Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Exit all Windows-based programs. Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER. If you receive the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue. Locate and then click the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetServicesMsahci In the right pane, right-click Start in the Name column, and then click Modify. In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK. On the File menu, click Exit to close Registry Editor. To complete throw windows 7 32bit disc in bin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Style Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Have you upgraded to a 64 bit motherboard as well? 64 won't work on a 32 bit motherboard (Presuming that's what you were running in the first place). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creative Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Exit all Windows-based programs. Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER. If you receive the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue. Locate and then click the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetServicesMsahci In the right pane, right-click Start in the Name column, and then click Modify. In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK. On the File menu, click Exit to close Registry Editor. To complete throw windows 7 32bit disc in bin. And what does this do? I have my desktop as 32bit and want to go to 64 but can't be arsed re installing everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 Exit all Windows-based programs. Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER. If you receive the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue. Locate and then click the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetServicesMsahci In the right pane, right-click Start in the Name column, and then click Modify. In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK. On the File menu, click Exit to close Registry Editor. To complete throw windows 7 32bit disc in bin. I did all that and the value was showing 0 already. Does that now mean my system is running 64 bit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 Have you upgraded to a 64 bit motherboard as well? 64 won't work on a 32 bit motherboard (Presuming that's what you were running in the first place). I haven't upgraded the MB. This is the system spec here (prior to upgrading the RAM). http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=1546945 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guigsy Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Interesting, I needed to do this recently (32 to 64) but and everywhere I looked couldn't find a cheat that didnt mean reinstalling windows. although I assumed it must be possible. I ended up having to wipe the drive. And buying a SSd which is awesome All the ms literature says upgrades from 32 to 64 can't be done. Does that reg tweak just enable it to see the ram rather than run 64 bit apps etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Have you upgraded to a 64 bit motherboard as well? 64 won't work on a 32 bit motherboard (Presuming that's what you were running in the first place). If the board can take 4GB I'm almost positive it will handle 64bit no bother. It's not really the board that holds it back though, it's the processor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 I did all that and the value was showing 0 already. Does that now mean my system is running 64 bit? I could be wrong but I think that's just a way of getting it to install on a HDD/USB stick rather than to actually change to 64bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imi Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 I did all that and the value was showing 0 already. Does that now mean my system is running 64 bit? if you right click on "My Computer" it should bring up the Spec of the PC, PRocessor, Memory, etc - it will also highlight whether your Win7 is 32 or 64 bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 if you right click on "My Computer" it should bring up the Spec of the PC, PRocessor, Memory, etc - it will also highlight whether your Win7 is 32 or 64 bit. Still 32 bit. Every site I looked at has said I need to back up the HD and then reinstall Win 7 as a new 64bit install. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imi Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Indeed, the kernel and core if completely different. I dont see how one can switch from 32 to 64bit - not as if its MAC OSX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamanC Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 It was something I pulled from a e-reference. Never tried it, so absolutely no idea if it works. Your always best to just do a full reinstall anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Still 32 bit. Every site I looked at has said I need to back up the HD and then reinstall Win 7 as a new 64bit install. Ahhh so that's what you're doing. Don't do a backup of the drive then. Just copy and paste the things you want to keep into your external drive. There is no point in backing up your system as you're not going to need it again anyway... unless you're worried about the x64 edition not working? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 Ahhh so that's what you're doing. Don't do a backup of the drive then. Just copy and paste the things you want to keep into your external drive. There is no point in backing up your system as you're not going to need it again anyway... unless you're worried about the x64 edition not working? Good thinking my friend. As per the other thread, I have now started to move "stuff" off the C drive onto the external drives and then will then attempt to change to the 64bit version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 If anything at least you won't be bored for a while Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 If anything at least you won't be bored for a while True - and so hopefully wont be spending on tat. Although I wouldn't bet on it. Now, what number is the shopping channel? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 It all went swimmingly up until I tried to look at the files on my external HD's. The Seagate freeagent has managed to lose loads of stuff off it - as in when I click open up the directories theye are not there. However, when I use the start and search function, there are files listed under E/general that dont appear previously. I am confused. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 What's freeagent? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 What's freeagent? Sorry. It is a 500gb ext HD currently labeled E drive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Sorry. It is a 500gb ext HD currently labeled E drive Are the files possibly hidden? Default setting after a reformat is to not show hidden files. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 Are the files possibly hidden? Default setting after a reformat is to not show hidden files. They were not hidden prior to the upgrade and seeing as I only changed the C drive and not this Ext HD I am stumped as to why they have disappeared. I need to look and see if any are hidden but cannot find the option for that yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 They were not hidden prior to the upgrade and seeing as I only changed the C drive and not this Ext HD I am stumped as to why they have disappeared. I need to look and see if any are hidden but cannot find the option for that yet. Open up My Computer (or any window), click "Organise" then "Folder and Search Options". Click "View" then click "Show hidden files and folders". If they weren't hidden prior to the upgrade then it's not that though. Being "hidden" is part of the file/folder attribute and not down to the OS. If you can search and find them via the search option then right click on the file and click "open file location" (or something like that). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 Well, that worked my friend and I thank you very much. Now, why they decided to become hidden is anyones guess but at least now they are back. I'm pretty sure I will be posting more "help" shouts soon enough though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Well, that worked my friend and I thank you very much. Now, why they decided to become hidden is anyones guess but at least now they are back. I'm pretty sure I will be posting more "help" shouts soon enough though. Probably just a folder that has been hidden ages ago but went un-noticed due to hidden files/folders being shown previously. Any file that goes into a hidden folder will obviously not show regardless of whether it is individually hidden or not Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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