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Partitioning Questions - 32bit Vista + 64bit Windows 7 - Printable Version

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Partitioning Questions - 32bit Vista + 64bit Windows 7 by M73A on 07-15-2010 at 07:48 PM

Basically... I have a laptop that has 32bit Windows Vista but it has 4gb of ram

Because of the 32bit I can only use 3gb.

I found this is it possible to install 64bit windows 7 on the new partition and take full advantage of the ram?

Is there any complications from doing this?


Thanks

RE: Partitioning Questions - 32bit Vista + 64bit Windows 7 by djdannyp on 07-15-2010 at 07:57 PM

Do you have a 64 bit processor?

RE: Partitioning Questions - 32bit Vista + 64bit Windows 7 by M73A on 07-15-2010 at 07:58 PM

yep

RE: Partitioning Questions - 32bit Vista + 64bit Windows 7 by matty on 07-15-2010 at 08:05 PM

I wouldn't imagine so however Windows 7 is far superior than Windows Vista... why keep Vista? To me that would be a waste of space.

RE: Partitioning Questions - 32bit Vista + 64bit Windows 7 by prashker on 07-15-2010 at 08:05 PM

Definitely possible, and will work.

Look into PAE first, as you may be able to use 4GB on 32bit should your BIOS support Memory Remapping. (edit: However I just realized the latter is Windows 7, so dunno, install Win 7 x64 :p)

RE: Partitioning Questions - 32bit Vista + 64bit Windows 7 by M73A on 07-15-2010 at 08:11 PM

its a pretty new laptop... just I purchased it for uni just before the uptake of 64bit... if it does support PAE how difficult is it to set up?

is it something u have done before?

RE: Partitioning Questions - 32bit Vista + 64bit Windows 7 by djdannyp on 07-15-2010 at 08:16 PM

I know you can definitely shrink a hard-drive like that

I have Vista installed on an old machine at work at shrank the hard-drive into two partitions to test the Win7 beta on it....and successfully reversed it again.

One thing to note is that it'll replace the bootloader, so you'll have to rebuild the Vista bootloader if you ever do decide to get rid of Win7.......but I'd echo the sentiments above.....Vista is just Win7 done very badly, scrap it off and use the whole hard-drive for Win7

RE: Partitioning Questions - 32bit Vista + 64bit Windows 7 by prashker on 07-15-2010 at 08:16 PM

quote:
Originally posted by M73A
its a pretty new laptop... just I purchased it for uni just before the uptake of 64bit... if it does support PAE how difficult is it to set up?

is it something u have done before?
Takes like 1 command in the command prompt

Open command prompt as administrator
enter: BCDEdit /set PAE forceenable

Assuming your BIOS supports it (and is enabled if you can enable it, it's possible the option doesn't exist in the bios but it supports it by default).....right click Computer -> Properties

Should no longer show "(3.0GB Useable)" and be 4GB :p

I've tried it on 3 machines in the past, but none of them support it.
RE: Partitioning Questions - 32bit Vista + 64bit Windows 7 by M73A on 07-15-2010 at 08:17 PM

if my machine doesnt support it will anything go wrong?

if i restart and it still shows 3gb how do i disable it?

RE: Partitioning Questions - 32bit Vista + 64bit Windows 7 by prashker on 07-15-2010 at 08:19 PM

quote:
Originally posted by M73A
if my machine doesnt support it will anything go wrong?

if i restart and it still shows 3gb how do i disable it?
Nothing will go wrong.

Even keeping it enabled won't do anything wrong, but if you really want to.

BCDEdit /set PAE forcedisable

:p
RE: Partitioning Questions - 32bit Vista + 64bit Windows 7 by M73A on 07-15-2010 at 08:21 PM

quote:
Originally posted by SonicSam

Assuming your BIOS supports it (and is enabled if you can enable it, it's possible the option doesn't exist in the bios but it supports it by default).....right click Computer -> Properties

Should no longer show "(3.0GB Useable)" and be 4GB


Just tried this bit as i was curious...


[Image: 49479211.jpg]


Does this mean its already enabled?

If my laptop is running with 4gb of ram, and it is this slow/laggy I am VERY disappointed!

At least it saves me installing Windows 7 64-bit! :P
Task Manager says this:

[Image: 49887961.jpg]

Now I'm confused...

edit:

Just tried running the commanded and restarting... Task Manager still says 3069 and computer properties still says 4.00gb :(
RE: Partitioning Questions - 32bit Vista + 64bit Windows 7 by prashker on 07-16-2010 at 12:18 AM

:zippy: Isn't this good?

RE: Partitioning Questions - 32bit Vista + 64bit Windows 7 by M73A on 07-16-2010 at 09:43 PM

quote:
Originally posted by SonicSam
:zippy: Isn't this good?
no! lol stupid windows needs to make up its mind about how much memory it has... ¬_¬
RE: Partitioning Questions - 32bit Vista + 64bit Windows 7 by Menthix on 07-16-2010 at 09:54 PM

Install Windows 7. The system being slow/laggy won't be solved by having 1GB more addressable or not, but moving from Vista to 7 in general does fix slow/laggy issues. More addressable ram would just be added benefit.

RE: Partitioning Questions - 32bit Vista + 64bit Windows 7 by CookieRevised on 07-17-2010 at 01:55 AM

quote:
Originally posted by M73A
quote:
Originally posted by SonicSam
:zippy: Isn't this good?
no! lol stupid windows needs to make up its mind about how much memory it has... ¬_¬
It means it sees 4GB physical ram in "Your computer" * but it can only use/address 3GB for the OS's system memory**

* Hence the window you see is about your computer, the hardware... and it is also titled as such...

** Task manager is all about the software, the OS. It doesn't care about hardware.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946003
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605

quote:
Originally posted by SonicSam
quote:
Originally posted by M73A
if my machine doesnt support it will anything go wrong?

if i restart and it still shows 3gb how do i disable it?
Nothing will go wrong.
Be carefull though. See the extra info in KB 929605 (second link above)
RE: Partitioning Questions - 32bit Vista + 64bit Windows 7 by M73A on 07-17-2010 at 07:58 PM

hm, thanks cookie. I shall definitely be disabling it as it didn't work!

* M73A opens up command prompt!