REPLACE 64BIT WITH32BIT

[Tom Perrett]

Installed the 64bit and want to replace it for my own reason with the 32bit.
Downloaded the 32bit ISO and burned a DVD and the DVD runs and comes up with
do I want to install and reply yes and then it says insert the DVD labelled
64 bit, then I can't get any further, tried to find if there were any command
line switches for setup to overwrite the 64bit request but I can't find out
about any.

[T]

On 04/24/2015 11:16 PM, Tom Perrett wrote:
> Installed the 64bit and want to replace it for my own reason with the 32bit.
> Downloaded the 32bit ISO and burned a DVD and the DVD runs and comes up with
> do I want to install and reply yes and then it says insert the DVD labelled
> 64 bit, then I can't get any further, tried to find if there were any command
> line switches for setup to overwrite the 64bit request but I can't find out
> about any.
>
>

Hi Tom,

You have to wipe and start over. And, you have to use
the specific 32 bit iso. There is no command line switch
that I know of.

Here is the last iso, which is 10041:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/preview-iso-update-1503

-T

[Paul]

Tom Perrett wrote:
> Thanks all for your replies, muggins put his brain into gear and realised I
> was doing the wrong thing by trying to run SETUP from within Win10 64 and
> needed to just boot off the DVD, of course that worked like a charm.
>
> Thanks for the help folks
>
> Tom

Yes, you're not allowed to do an upgrade install,
changing 64 bit to 32 bit or vice versa. Upgrade installs
happen by running setup.exe from the DVD, with Windows
already running.

You need to do a clean install, by booting the DVD.
Blow away the OS, to change from 64 to 32 or 32 to 64.

You could even install two copies on the hard
drive if you want. A 32 bit and a 64 bit, and have
the boot manager list both OSes. The best way to do
this, is to define an empty partition before starting
the second installation (and make sure the installer
puts the new OS there!). If you don't do that, Windows
has a tendency on MBR disks, to created an Extended and a
Logical partition within the extended - and most people
are unprepared for such a mess.

I discovered this purely by accident one day, installing
Win2K on a Win2K disk (total, two copies). I expected it
to use up a Primary partition slot, and instead, it
created an Extended partition and put a logical partition
in it. The logical cannot boot - it requires the
boot manager and boot files in the first OS Primary
partition, to bootstrap things. An OS left in a
Logical partition, there's not much you can do with
it later, if you need to delete the first OS installed.
That's why I consider what the installer does in
that case, to be so counter-productive. If you feed it
your own partition choices, you'll get a better result.

Paul