Evening all,

 

I have an ancient but perfectly usable Compaq 6910p laptop which was fine for most of my needs. I've started using Evernote quite a bit and it's a memory hog so I decided to beef things up a little andI fitted a new battery pack, upped the RAM to 4GB and bought a 250GB SSD to replace the original 75GB device.  The RAM went in fine, as did the battery pack, but I then discovered that as my "free" Windows 10 pro extended itself from the prior Win7 32 bit install and as a 32-bit install could only see 3GB of my 4GB of RAM.

 

I spent quite a bit of time Googling{tm} and determined I could create a Win10 reinstall CD which would allow me to setup afresh on the SSD.  So far, so good.

 

But, this is Windows so there's always a gotcha.

 

I can't see how to reinstall from my created Win10 CD but installing a 64-bit version instead of a 32-bit version - I need the 64-bit install to see all of my installed RAM.

 

Can anyone shed any light, please?

I'm a bit confused, if you want the 64 bit you download and install the 64 bit version.  You may need a new license.

Sorry, some clarification here:

 

I originally had Win7 pro 32bit on the laptop (upgraded from Vista 32) and took a free upgrade to Win10 - which also installed as 32bit.  Using this tool from MS I can create a reinstall CD and my digital licence will automagically transfer to the new (replacement) hard disk at no cost to me.

 

What I cannot so far determine is how to tell the reinstall process to install as 64bit instead of 32bit but without having to buy another licence (which I shouldn't need).

 

(Removed comment)

Edited 23 February, 20197 yr by xman

Install the 32bit version off a USB stick      

Windows will automatically pick up it has been activated for the 32bit version

If you want to install a 64 bit version pick up an old Win 7 COA license they still work. Install Win 10 first  ignoring license input. When installed go to the control panel - System - under activation change product key, use your new/old Win 7 license number

Down load the latest Windows here https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

You will need a 8gb usb stick.

Good luck

Hopefully you when the update from Win 7 to 10, your license was linked to your MS account. If you install using the 64 bit media skip the bit where it asks for the license and activate it later in settings using your MS account. I believe you can even more licenses from PC to PC using this method. 

My download ISO from MS  to convert from W7 to 10 let me choose the version ( 32/64 bit) at install. Only problem is that's a bit of a pain, having to install W7 first and then upgrade to W10, and then sit back whilst Windoze updats W10, and in meantime creates havoc with the system.

https://superuser.com/questions/1134869/switch-from-32-bit-free-windows-10-copy-to-64-bit

 

Might help.

 

You might run into issues with some of the hardware you've replaced. MS fingerprints your system in order to assign you a license. If you change anything significant (HD, mobo, cpu) it can throw a wobbler.

 

I think I recently ended up buying a cheap W10 license just to get round the issues. You can get them for not much more than £10

6 minutes ago, Aspman said:

.You might run into issues with some of the hardware you've replaced. MS fingerprints your system in order to assign you a license. If you change anything significant (HD, mobo, cpu) it can throw a wobbler.

 

 

Had no issues after I bunged in a SSD and reinstalled Win 10 from a CD. That's not to say the OP won't have issues, just saying it wasn't an issue for me.
 

Just now, Lee01 said:

Had no issues after I bunged in a SSD and reinstalled Win 10 from a CD. That's not to say the OP won't have issues, just saying it wasn't an issue for me.
 

 

I have and haven't had issues having done it quite a few times.

Last time I figured the £13 for a license was money well spent in terms of saving my time and sanity.

If it's an upgrade license (ie. From win 7 or earlier) the license is a digital license and even if it was a OEM license before it isn't now, so it should be free to move from PC to PC ( when they are linked to your MS account). I've moved licenses from a physical PC to a VM and then back again.)

Likewise- I've got a digital licence, from my Win7 install . All I do is to install W7 from the key and then upgrade to W10 .Bit of a bind having to do a double install , but then once W10 has installed all the latest updates, it's back to smooth running.

Many thanks for all the responses; my options appear to be to either do a fresh clean install of Win10 64 and let the digital licence catch up or if for any reason that barfs fresh install Win7 64 and upgrade again.

 

I'll update the forum as and when I bite the bullet

 

Don't know if this applies, but I've found that some of my older programs won't work on W10, but will work on W7. I've also found that if I do a clean install of W7 first , then install those problem programs, then upgrade to W10 all is well. I suspect my problems are due to W10 installing drivers for my MB and these drivers won't let me install these programs, but if I install them prior to W10 update, all is well.

30 minutes ago, VWD said:

Don't know if this applies, but I've found that some of my older programs won't work on W10, but will work on W7. I've also found that if I do a clean install of W7 first , then install those problem programs, then upgrade to W10 all is well. I suspect my problems are due to W10 installing drivers for my MB and these drivers won't let me install these programs, but if I install them prior to W10 update, all is well.

That sounds like you need to run the older programmes in "win7 compatibility mode". Have had this in work with stuff from pre win7 on newer systems.

Right click on the icon for the programme, choose "run as" and theres a compatibility listing. Also make it "administrator" user... sometimes if you dont it forgets the comp setting and has another wobbley the next time you run it.

Oh- this lot work ok on W7. Even after using the MB install disc. Problem comes if I don't install them in W7 befor I upgrade to W10. I've found that if I install W7, thn Asus MB drivers and then the affected programs ,and then upgrade, then all is well. I suspect that during the online update process, these programs are updated by W10 and all is well.  No need to use compatibility mode. Also , I notice that all the drivers for the MB are updated by MS.