Windows 7 32bit to Windows 10 64bit?

m7md5alid21

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Dec 11, 2021
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I do have the .iso file downloaded (media creation tool refused to work). I have a flash drive (but no DVD). How do I go about performing a clean installation?

My CPU DOES support x64.

Is there any way were I can directly switch from Windows 7 32bit to Windows 10 64bit (with or without formatting) without having to use a DVD?
 
Hello @m7md5alid21 welcome to CF! 👋

You’ll likely need to perform a clean install. It should be possible to put the ISO onto the flash drive, and boot from it to do the install.

You can use a boot drive tool to put the ISO onto the USB. My go-to is Balena Etcher but if that doesn’t work, Rufus is particularly good for Windows images.
 
Hello. Thanks for the help.
I used Rufus and was able to “put the ISO into the flash drive”. However, when I boot into my BIOS settings, I don’t see a “boot” option there! Am I doing it right? Do I need a CD in addition to the USB drive?
 
How old is the PC? Unless it’s particularly old it should be possible to boot from USB, this is usually done using a different key to the one you would use to access BIOS.

Otherwise have a look in the BIOS for a ‘boot order’ setting, and ensure USB/removable drive is the first one in the list.
 
The PC IS old but I don’t know “how old” exactly.
I believe USB is the 3rd in the list (I checked!). How can I make it the 1st? What is the boot key if it wasn’t the BIOS?
 
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Boot keys will vary between brands and even models. Usually though to put it to top of the list in BIOS, you can highlight the USB drive and either press F5/F6 on the keyboard, or the + and - keys on the keyboard to move options up an down.

Often the BIOS will tell you what key to press at the bottom. If the USB is coming up as a boot option though then it’s likely the machine will be able to boot from USB - most machines from the past 10-15 years can.
 
Okay great news the USB is at least [trying] to boot

As the message advises you’ll need to remake it in Rufus: Set the ‘target system’ to BIOS rather than UEFI as older machines can’t understand UEFI booting.
 
Okay I’d potentially look at using something other than RUFUS.

When you attempted to use the microsoft provided media creation tool what was the error?
 
I’d recommend running the Media Creation tool again. Make sure you select the option to create media, rather than to upgrade the PC or it will likely fail with that error.

Otherwise it appears you made the USB correctly with Power ISO but there’s some sort of problem with the image you downloaded - was it from a legit source?
 
I was able to run the media creation tool and perform the installation. This time when I boot, after pressing “Install Windows”, I get a message saying: “a media driver your computer needs is missing”. When I choose the USB from the drivers list, the PC don’t recognize it.
 
a media driver your computer needs is missing
This may be referring to the hard disk in your machine, it does seem a bit odd that Win10 isn’t taking it but if it’s a particuarly old machine this can happen.

If it’s a really old machine you might want to consider an alternative OS such as Linux Mint. It’s not Windows but it’s a good way to breathe life in older PCs and will let you do basic tasks like web browsing and writing documents long after Microsoft stop supporting the hardware.
 
I need a x64 Windows system to be able to run some software that can’t be run on Windows x32 so I thought might as well go for Windows 10. Will I likely go through the same troubles if I were to create a clean installation for Windows 7 x64 using tge MCT?
 
If the system shipped with 7 then in theory a clean install should go through more smoothly but if there were special drivers originally ‘slipstreamed’ by the manufacturer then there may be some difficulty if that’s the case.

Do you have the PC make/model? I’ll look up to see if there’s any particular hardware that might be causing the problem.
 
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