I have been using Windows 7 (both BETA and RC version) for several months now on a test machine. I purchased a full copy of Windows 7 over the Christmas break so that I could upgrade my development desktop from Vista and keep it current. Let’s just say the upgrade was less than spectacular.

I had a 32 bit version of Vista but noticed I had 2 DVD’s in my Windows 7 packet… One was 32 bit the other was 64 bit. I thought since I recently upgraded to a dual core Intel I would take advantage of the 64 bit now available to me. Without warning or hesitation, the installation started in a flash but then soon bogged down into a quagmire. After waiting over 6 hours for files to copy, the screen showed it was only 12% done. Something was clearly wrong.

I aborted the upgrade and attempted to boot into the remaining scraps of Vista that may still be lurking. No luck. The install had wiped it too clean on the Vista side and only installed 20% on the Windows 7 side.

After much investigation I found that you cannot upgrade from 32 bit Vista to 64 bit Windows 7. Thanks for telling me! Some kind of warning or denial screen would have been nice. Luckily I backed up everything and had to proceed with a complete re-installation of Windows 7… Which isn’t a bad thing. It’s always best to start with a clean slate, but I have SO much software, dev tools, add-ons, and utilities that it took a day and a half to install them all.

So be warned that even though your fresh new packet of Windows 7 comes with both versions, you can only upgrade to a version you currently have installed. I wonder how Windows 8 with 128 bit support will handle updates?