Windows 7 OEM licence- cover 32it and 64bit?

ajf · 28 Apr 2011 at 13:14

If you buy a laptop with 32bit Windows 7 installed, does the COA or OEM licence cover the install of 64bit instead if I can get the media?

Looking at some pre-built Dell laptops forwork but they all have 32bit installed but have 4Gb RAM!
We have a couple of Dell OEM 64bit DVDs.

Andrew

Dano · 28 Apr 2011 at 13:19

ajf · 28 Apr 2011 at 14:21

Meatball · 28 Apr 2011 at 14:38

If you use an unbranded Microsoft Win7 disk you can kill two birds with one stone; remove all the preinstalled bloatware and install a fresh 64-bit install

.

Makhaira · 28 Apr 2011 at 21:59

Erm, I might get shot down, but I believe OEM only covers the version specified on the C of A. Retail gives you both 32 and 64, but I think OEM is just the one version.

Dano · 28 Apr 2011 at 22:11

Makhaira said:
Erm, I might get shot down, but I believe OEM only covers the version specified on the C of A. Retail gives you both 32 and 64, but I think OEM is just the one version.

Pretty sure it'll work with both.

Meatball · 28 Apr 2011 at 22:31

OEM and Retail licences cover you for both 32bit & 64biy installs.

cmndr_andi · 28 Apr 2011 at 22:36

I have a toshiba laptop that came with Win 7 Pro 32bit pre-installed. Using my sisters Win 7 Pro 64bit retail disk I did a reinstall. On the bottom of the laptop where the code is, it said "Windows 7 Pro" but didn't mention which version (32bit or 64bit).

However, when I loaded into windows the code on the bottom didn't work with the automatic verification. The next thing I did was try activating it over the phone - this worked fine and the machine is now fully WGA approved and working great.

dynamis_dk · 29 Apr 2011 at 19:15

I'll 2nd this - I've setup 32 and 64bit using the same key to see which was better for a laptop I have. Didn't activate over the internet but over the phone worked fine.

Burnsy2023 · 30 Apr 2011 at 00:07

Makhaira said:
Erm, I might get shot down, but I believe OEM only covers the version specified on the C of A. Retail gives you both 32 and 64, but I think OEM is just the one version.

An OEM Vista and 7 licence gives you the right to use 32 or 64bit. They only ship the media for one of the above when you get the system builder licence though.

Crowort · 30 Apr 2011 at 04:47

cmndr_andi said:
I have a toshiba laptop that came with Win 7 Pro 32bit pre-installed. Using my sisters Win 7 Pro 64bit retail disk I did a reinstall. On the bottom of the laptop where the code is, it said "Windows 7 Pro" but didn't mention which version (32bit or 64bit).

However, when I loaded into windows the code on the bottom didn't work with the automatic verification. The next thing I did was try activating it over the phone - this worked fine and the machine is now fully WGA approved and working great.

The problem was you used a retail disc and not and OEM one.

cmndr_andi · 30 Apr 2011 at 11:55

Crowort said:
The problem was you used a retail disc and not and OEM one.

Yea, I reckoned that might have been the issue - but I didn't have the OEM disk to hand. I had a google and it seemed that it would work with a retail disk - so long as you activate over the phone - which I can confirm worked fine.